The Elephant Stables

We stayed at the Riverdale Bungalow managed by The Elephant Stables - this is not located on The Elephant Stables property and was booked through their website as one of their suites. Riverdale Bungalow is absolutely stunning! When you stay here you have the entire two bedroom bungalow to yourself as well as a Butler and Chef. The bungalow is luxurious and extremely well appointed with two sitting rooms decorated beautifully, a large main bedroom with an incredibly comfortable four poster bed fitted with high quality linen, and a huge ensuite (accessible from both bedrooms). There is an expansive outdoor living area and an incredible infinity pool with amazing views over the valley, river and back towards Kandy. We had incredible service from Manjula the Butler and Tyron the Chef. Dinner, breakfast and drinks were of a high quality and substantial. All prices at the bungalow are in $USD so a little higher than other places, however you get what you pay for and it is a premium service and location. The infinity pool and pool side beds are incredible and we enjoyed the amazing views whilst having a refreshing dip. Joel, the Manager at Elephant Stables was incredibly helpful and responsive via emails prior to our stay, and visited us at the bungalow to make sure our stay was going well. Joel also assisted in arranging tuk tuks into Kandy Railway Station when we left at a very reasonable price. Unfortunately we accidentally left medication in our suite, not realising until we reached our next accommodation at Nuwara Eliya. Joel and his team arranged for this to be couriered to our hotel and we had it by 8:30am the next morning. I cannot recommend highly enough the incredible and luxurious Riverdale Bungalow!

This was our third hotel on our Sri Lankan tour and again we were not disappointed. A small 6 bedroomed privately owned hotel in a quiet location with fabulous views across to the mountains. The owner/manager Nahil has a warm friendly manner creating a very personal experience and making you feel nothing is too much trouble. We ate at the hotel restaurant both nights enjoying beautiful traditional Sri Lankan food and at breakfast although other options also available. Thank you Tyronne for your wonderful cooking and attention to detail. Room quiet, clean and with a lovely balcony overlooking the garden. Nail brought us up drinks so we could enjoy the view and the abundant nature all around us. Bed extremely comfortable and we were sorry to leave. Used the laundry service which was well priced and all clothes came back clean and pressed. Thanks to everyone at Elephant Stables for making out stay with you so special

An absolutely ideal place to stay when visiting Kandy. All the staff were extremely professional and friendly, and Indika the chef was outstanding, providing the most delicious Sri Lankan curries and egg hoppers. The views over the town were stunning.

What a beautiful place to stay on this leg of our Sri Lanka adventure. The hotel is real boutique and traditional. The room and the grounds are lovely and whilst you are only a hop and a skip from Kandy you feel you are miles away from a thriving city. The staff are all wonderful. A special mention to Nihal who looked after us our entire 3 day stay and who was so friendly and attentive. And also to head chef Indika whose food is simply delicious. The traditional Sri Lankan meal we had on our first night, and which consisted of 11 different dishes, was simply superb. The breakfasts are equally as scrumptious with the egg hopper and Sri Lankan omelettes being my favourite. Also the full English breakfast we had on our last minting before our train to Ella was delicious and will certainly help ensure we aren’t hungry for the rest of our day. Indika has real passion and pride in his job and ensuring guests eat lovely freshly sourced produce. The rooms are lovely and peaceful here. Of our trip through Sri Lanka so this is without doubt the nicest hotel we have stayed so far given the hotel’s location, the rooms, the food and the staff. If we ever return to Kandy we will certainly be staying here again.