Sam's Hut Arugambay

The beach is just around the corner, and the area is peaceful even though the busy street is only a few meters away. We spent two nights at Sam's Hut after a horrible night in another hotel, and the host found us a really nice, clean room. The bathroom was clean and the beds comfortable. The room seemed new, the grounds were lovely, and the staff were so kind they even cleaned our tuktuk. We'd definitely come again.

We'd planned to eat breakfast here, but after the room situation we changed our minds. We had booked an eight-person dorm plus a triple room for 11 people. I called the owner three days before arrival, then twice on the day, and he said everything was fine and told us to come. Once we got there, though, he said the dorm was unavailable because of repairs. At first he offered another triple room in place of the dorm, which would have meant squeezing eight people into a small room. We objected, since two triple rooms weren't an acceptable replacement for the dorm we'd booked. He eventually agreed to provide two triple rooms after we pointed out that he hadn't told us the dorm wasn't available. Four of us had to sleep in each triple room, uncomfortably. The bathrooms weren't well maintained and the handle was rusty, though it worked. The rooms and bathrooms weren't very clean, but were acceptable. I wouldn't recommend this place. If you go, be ready for surprises. I'm curious how it has so many positive reviews.

We booked the eight-person room for five of us, with AC at extra cost, but when we arrived the roof was open with only leaves on top, so all sorts of things could get into the room. There were no mosquito nets over the beds, the bathroom had all kinds of animals, and, unsurprisingly, the AC we'd paid extra for wasn't available. The place looked totally different from its online listing, so we didn't want to stay. The owner said we'd still have to pay the full price, but in the end we didn't have to, thanks to some cancellation rules. Don't stay here. They just want to scam you. There are so many better places nearby than this s***hole.

We had three people sharing two beds, one large and one small. The AC worked well, the bathrooms were decent, and all the beds had mosquito nets, which many nearby places don't have, so watch out for that. The local Sri Lankan breakfast was great, about 1000x better than the lazy hut. It's more bohemian, but not much worse than blue wave.