Ahu Bay

We chose Ahu Bay for the first stint of our honeymoon in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. ... and it was the perfect first leg! Our room was huge, overlooking the beautiful bay, bed was comfortable, bathroom large and practical. Service impeccable and friendly, with our "host" always helping us through WhatsApp. All meals where great, with both traditional curry options and international dishes. Point for improvement: Beverages always took ages to arrive. When ordering a glass of wine, it should come to the table before the first dish 15-20 minutes later. Location is really great: You get to see wonderful sunsets from the open restaurant/lounge/pool room, and the beach is 20 meters from the hotel. Keep in mind: All beaches in Sri Lanka are public. This is something Sri Lankans are proud of, and rightly so, but it also means that there will be people right outside the hotell being VERY eager to sell their services. This is of course not the hotel's fault, and while we unfortunately ran into a rather aggressive man, who was angry we didn't chose his tuktuk services, the hotel's personell kept an eye out for him after we mentioned the altercation, and were "present" from then on, so that we felt totally safe on the beach after that. While our stay at Ahu Bay was romantic and luxurious, some words about getting there need to be said: Traffic off the highways in Sri Lanka is TERRIBLE. On the regular roads, buses drive extremely aggressively, overtaking cars that overtake tuktuks that overtake bikes and pedestrians - all at the same time. So: Chose your means of transportation carefully! We got a taxi from the official taxi stand at the airport outside Colombo, and luckily, our driver was a careful family man, who never took any chances. For shorter journeys in Sri Lanka, we sometimes used Uber and tuktuks, and found ourselves in several extremely dangerous situations. We stuck to our initial driver for all longer journeys, and wholeheartedly recommend doing the same, if you find someone who drives safely. Most drivers actively want to give you their WhatsApp, so it's easy to stay in touch. Ahu Bay is in a rather remote area of the SouthWest coast, underdeveloped when it comes to tourism. Hikkadua beach is only a half an hour drive away, a beach town where you can swim with giant turtles, and is highly recommended as a day trip. Later on our journey, we stayed at Cape Weligama, a sister hotel of Ahu Bay, and should we visit Sri Lanka again, we will definitely try a third hotel in the Resplendent Ceylon hotel group, the Wild Coast Tented Lodge. That's how seriously this hotel group takes hospitality: We trust they will be great next time too!

Rooms was lovely with a delightful pool. Great views over the beach. Excellent food and great service. Not sure I agree with some of the other reviews about the beach it was plenty big enough, they provided a lifeguard and also we had no issue swimming in the middle between the rocks on either side where it is sandy. With so few guests there were no shortage of beach loungers or cabanas either.

Gorgeous Property! What a beautiful hotel! We stayed in an exquisite villa with the beach at right outside our doors. The enjoy the sunsets from our bed was truly spectacular. A lovely and welcoming staff who catered to our every need. The food was good - but I prefer the menu at their sister property, Kayaam House. But Ahu Bay has THE BEST coconut toffee! Thank you to wonderful staff who were so kind and helpful, especially Nilanga and Kasum.