Wonderful hotel in the heart of Galle Fort. Aside from the beautiful colonial setting, the best part is the service. It is not mechanical, but delivered efficiently and friendly. They really want you and invest into you to ensure you have the best experience. Would love to visit again.

From the moment you pull up to the gorgeous Amangalla, just up from the centuries old church upon which the street is named, you are transported back in time to an era through the grand entrance. We were welcomed by the wonderful Karen Merrick General Manager and the absolutely impeccable Pathum. After a lovely refreshment and a tour we were shown to our room, which was just beautiful. Words actually fail me in terms of the feeling one has... We live in Dubai where the standards in hospitality are at times impossibly high, and we have traveled and stayed at many high end hotels over our years, but the memories of our stay at the Amangalla will remain forever. Thank you so much to ALL of the Amangalla team, which I wish I could name every single person, you made our all too brief stay something so incredibly special.

Quintessentially Aman. 1. A gorgeous, historic property that - like Amans in Venice, Beijing and Siem Reap - balances the comforts you expect while maintaining its vintage setting. AC is nice and strong in the rooms, WiFi works great. 2. Intuitive service, remembering your preferences from one day to another, staff seeming to pass our favorite dishes along to the chef so they appear in another meal. 3. Excursions are outstanding - we chose the Roti dinner which has lots more than Roti on the menu and is something we will never forget. We also did the Geoffrey Bawa tour which took us to Lunuganga as well as other properties he designed in Bentota. It was a great day away from the Fort. We also had lazy days by the pool which is a great way to pass time. 4. Food - outstanding! A good balance of traditional Sri Lankan cuisine and western food. They were debuting healthy and vegan options on our last days in town. The chefs are very curious for your feedback. 5. Strong management - the GM is seasoned, affable and eager for feedback and added to the thoughtful touches throughout our stay. There are a number of employees who have been on board since Aman took ownership as well as many new employees eager for experience. Amangalla is very different from Amanwella in terms of experience, and so visiting both properties in one holiday is a great idea. These were Aman number 14 and 15 for us, and both properties reflect exactly what it is that has made us repeat Aman guests.

We fell in love with Sri Lanka during a one week visit and Amangalla is part of the reason why. We stayed at both Aman properties in the country, and while we preferred Amanwella overall for its staff and quieter, more laid back atmosphere, we surely would have regretted missing the history, quality of spa treatments, unique experiences and general refinement that sets Amangalla apart from other hotels we’ve stayed at. If you can book a package that includes both Amans here, we highly recommend that you do so. Strengths: The garden house where we stayed is absolutely beautiful, extremely spacious, and offers a very large and private wraparound balcony to watch wildlife and enjoy a drink. We found very little online in terms of video or images of this room category, but we expected a lot, and were disappointed in no way whatsoever. The food may have been even better here than Amanwella, which is saying quite a bit. Some of the activities offered, though not all, are certain to stay in our memory a lifetime. In particular we recommend the roti private dinner experience and the cinnamon plantation visit. The tea plantation visit, on the other hand, was not a good fit for this calibre of hotel. Area for Improvement: Though we were generally quite happy with the level of service we received, it did not quite match up to our experience at Amanwella. For example, we had to remind folks here on a few occasions that we are vegetarian, despite making it very clear ahead of time and on arrival that we are indeed. It should be noted, however, that Amangalla is completely able to accommodate a vegetarian diet both from the menu and off.

This is undoubtedly a beautiful property crammed with amazing history. Lovely rooms, grand public areas, a decent size swimming pool surrounded by cabanas and beds and a great location by the city walls. This is the sixth Aman we’ve stayed at. Dinner was very good indeed; they have a super experienced chef although we found the gazpacho far too spicy to the point we couldn’t eat it. There is Tabasco in it and we joked with the chef that the sous chef must have emptied the bottle in! Service was generally excellent throughout the whole property. There were a number of little niggles. The room a/c was showing 24.5 degrees at night despite being set at 22 degrees and never going lower. (We were advised that the 20 year old a/c does not go lower than 22). After lots of fiddling by the team the second night was definitely cooler. The safe malfunctioned; hard soap wasn’t replaced in the shower; we were offered cocktails and canapés as a benefit but told we couldn’t have a gin and tonic or whisky instead by both our butler and waiter until management intervened; a half eaten mango was left in the room; at times the room service was too obtrusive with someone in our room to service it around five times+ a day which is great but a little over the top; the prices are Aman with a glass of mango juice at breakfast comIng in at just under £10 etc. We found our beautiful room noisy; not because of the hotel but because of lots of surrounding noise from the town and further afield. 5.30am prayers from the temple woke us up on Day 2 which we totally get; there were late fireworks in the evening; often rather a lot of noise from the street. This a busy noisy little town; don’t stay here if you want tranquility and peace. When going into the restaurant on our first night many of the tables carried reserved signs, possibly for non resident guests who are an important source of business for the hotel; in my view Aman needs to handle this better. Perhaps they should reserve the best tables for hotel guests first and foremost or leave one side for residents. Overall these are all small things but they did affect our experience. However what we both felt this property lacked was something intangible but the source of our delight at other Aman properties. It’s that ‘thing’ (AMAN DNA perhaps) that allows Aman to charge double or so above Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons etc. where we normally stay. This place lacked the calmness and tranquility of Luang Prabang and Bali; it missed the generosity of spirit and warmth of all the other five properties (although Karen was lovely); it didn’t have the peace & professionalism and slickness of a busy hotel like Aman in Courcheval. Sadly Amangalla struck us like just another beautiful hotel, generally well run in a fabulous building. I don’t know if Aman as it expands can keep its soul and I don’t know if our experience was atypical. But nickel and diming over for instance a gin and tonic rather than a cocktail is NOT Aman’s style. There are many luxury properties in and around Galle; I’m not sure I would necessarily recommend paying the premium to stay here. Come here for dinner or afternoon tea by all means.