Amangalla

My husband and I stayed at the Amangalla for 2 nights. The location of the hotel, our room, the service, the spa, and the property itself were all absolutely wonderful. We had amazing service from everyone, but I want to point out: Pathum our butler, Choden and Lekh at the spa, and Chaminda at the hotel restaurant went above and beyond. We highly recommend the Amangalla and we hope to stay there again if we return to Sri Lanka.

Amangalle This is a lovely colonial and well positioned hotel building in Galle which should be wonderful. Unfortunately, in our opinion, there is a lack of ‘Aman-ness’ with the whole atmosphere of the hotel, along with the attention to detail, being somewhat average. Our suite was austere in that it was not at all relaxing and comfortable. Although it reflects the colonial heritage, it felt like being in a museum. See pictures. The fruit plate was a nice touch along with the evening gift on the bed. The outside space was lovely and the guys waiting on there were helpful. The pool, however was murky and the tiles slimy. Sadly, the restaurant and service was nowhere near five star. Many items on the breakfast menu were unavailability and the food average. As an example, eggs were either underdone or overcooked. We ate one evening meal in the very quite restaurant. The curry was tasteless and lacking spice (even though we asked for it to be spicy) and the other insipid chicken dish was served with an inedible roti. We also tried the afternoon tea once (we could have had four as we were sadly there for four nights) as that was not worth having again. What really stood out, however, were the staff. There were too many standing around and were quite, frankly, clueless. We saw our so called ‘butler’ twice in four days. Having stayed at Amangiri a couple of years ago, the two hotels are poles apart. Aman you can do so much better….

After 10 days of fairly fast travel we were SO very glad to end up at Amangalla for some much needed relaxation! Though we very much enjoyed our walks around the town and especially the walk on the rampart in the evening, it was the complete comfort and calmness of the Amangalla facilities that really made it for us. We spent several hours both days by the pool, in a shaded cabana, with cold refreshing drinks. Our room, though directly over the dining and common area, was VERY quiet at night and we slept very well. Staff were amazing - friendly and extremely professional. I would gladly visit Galle again, especially as a respite from otherwise busy trips!

On 5th January while we were passing through Galle we were lucky enough to visit the Amangalla hotel. The hotel manager was very kind and guided us through the hotel by explaining the its history. we were fascinated by the atmosphere and decided to stay there for the afternoon tea, so we could taste an excellent tea. That was a great experience!

We stayed at Amangalla in January 2026 for three nights. The headline is the property is excellent. We chose Amangalla because Amanjiwo in Java was one of the great hotel experiences of my life. So the benchmark for Amangalla was very high and, while generally excellent, it didn't quite reach it. The hotel itself is beautiful and well-located. The history is great without it feeling like you're sleeping in a museum. The pool area is incredibly pretty. The staff are always very obliging and helpful. The bed, pillows, linen are all fantastic. Our room, a top floor chamber overlooking Church Street, was not my favourite. The building is historic, and there are certainly all sorts of architectural limitations I'm not aware of, but I really didn't like the room design. I can handle a bath tub in the open, but having the vanity sinks as the first thing you see when walking in- with all of our toiletries- I really didn't like. Even as a happily married couple I do like a little more bathroom privacy! Note that, again because of the history of the building, these rooms are stairs access only- worth asking if that's an issue. I noted in the compendium (how nice to have a real compendium and not a QR code!) that 'you can ask your butler for an upgraded room' means that I'm not the only person to dislike this. The street facing rooms can get some atmospheric noise- no different from a historic building in any city. The shutters (and ear plugs) were absolutely fine for me but if you are light sleeper maybe seek out the garden facing rooms instead. The trade off of the noise (and stairs) was the view from our room was lovely. Food is fine. But at Aman level, I kind of want to be a bit better than 'fine'. I noticed this was an issue across Sri Lanka in numerous top properties- the industry is clearly developing but the quality of hotel dining has not yet reached what is being charged. So this was not a specific-Aman issue, but at Aman prices (we were charged an eye-watering sum for a very ordinary bowl of pasta) it is acute. There are also no shortage of good-enough-if-not-great options in Galle Fort itself, all within minutes walk. The Sri Lankan items on the menu were notably better than the Western (no kidding!!). Our private dinner was really beautiful- and the food was the best we had on our stay. A lot of care and effort went into the evening and it made us feel very special. The free afternoon tea for residents is basic. Amangalla is not the only top end property in Sri Lanka doing free afternoon tea but this was by far the most simple- two dry scones with accompaniments and a pot of tea. We only did it once and didn't bother for the rest of our stay. The staff are wonderful but I felt like I was constantly having arrangements checked and double checked. This was a bit of a surprise as we'd had quite a lot of email correspondence before our arrival and, apart from the spa, almost everything seemed to be news to the actual property when we arrived. The spa is fabulous. The hydrotherapy is fun. Not really my thing, but a nice inclusion and I enjoyed my brief complimentary visits. I hesitated whether to write a review because the criticisms I have the property are very hyper-critical, but with the Aman reputation (and price) they did stick with me. I also want to be very clear that we had a wonderful stay at Amangalla and will stay there again if in Galle, but hopefully as the local industry develops some improvements start to trickle through.