Kalundewa Retreat

A beautiful heaven of tranquility complemented by a rich landscape of exceptional trees , paddy fields and lakes. The combination of nature and leaving with great food selection . Grace full staff and unique accommodations are a rare blend of luxury of this retreat. A destination to remember

This stay was a disaster. Ours was quite a late booking and we paid US$900 for two nights in Kumbuk chalet, a substantial discount to the rack rate. We arrived at the reception area and were struck immediately by signs of decay. The roof was sagging under the weight of rotting debris, the lamps had rusted, the communal dining area looked unappealing. We were shown to the chalet and yes, the general location is attractive though we thought the lake was a bit swampy. As with the reception area there were signs of decay, missing seals on doors, old debris on the glass bathroom ceiling, mould and filth above the bathroom mirror. It looked to us like the whole project had entered a run to fail phase, so strong was the sense of neglect. You join a WhatsApp group to order meals from a limited menu and sadly the offerings were extremely poor. We ordered a dinner for 8.00pm that arrived stone cold at 8.45. Meals are evidently cooked at premises elsewhere and then trucked in. Because of the mosquitos and insects you cannot eat on the deck outside the chalet after dark. If you eat inside there is no table but you can sit next to each other at a sideboard. Alcohol is not served or sold. The food was poor. On our second night we found a large rat in the bathroom. It disappeared into a hole behind the toilet. Shining a torch in there we could see leaves and other debris, it was obviously quite at home. We asked reception to take a look and they sent two men with a serviette. We guess they hoped to catch the rat in the serviette. We could almost see the funny side. When we were leaving we had our final breakfast in the reception area. We ordered coffee that never came. We ordered the fresh fruit platter, that came twice. The manager came to our table and asked us about our plans for the day. No mention of the rat. We read reviews before we came and should probably have taken more notice of the comments on maintenance. With hindsight we can also see that there are reviews that, how can we put it, might be of other premises. This is a resort way past the end of its useful life. We travel very extensively but have never encountered such a forlorn place.

Wow. Luxurious property with the friendliest staff. The food was everything was picked from their farm. So fresh, generous portions, and organic! Our stay was simply amazing. We stayed in both the Floating Villa, and then the Bankee Chalet. Highly reccomend. Everyone in that visits Sri Lanka should come here.

We had a very particular Nil room. You have to reach the and leave the room with a boat. To get out from the room you need to contact the reception with wifi which was not available all the time .This made a challenging stay and also very particular.You are in the nature .As all is widows it might be a little bit hot in day time. Altogether very particular stay with a very attentive staff .