Ocean View

The staff made a strong impression with their knowledge, helpfulness, and care to make our stay good. We spent 16 days here and are already planning to return. Ocean View is close to the golden Bentota beaches as well as local shops, restaurants, and travel facilities. It’s about 90 minutes south of Colombo airport, and Galle is 45/50 minutes by train. One of the most authentic and welcoming holiday experiences of my life.

The complimentary breakfast was really nice and filling, and the staff were kind and helpful, so service gets 5/5 from me. But the rooms were terrible. There are two room types, and I made the mistake of booking non-AC rooms for my family group of 6. We visited in April, and with no AC it was very hard to sleep. There were huge flying cockroaches and mosquitoes, and the mosquito nets and bedding were dusty. The booking site pictures seemed to show the rooms when they were new, which felt a little deceptive and led me to expect clean rooms. The bathrooms are okay, but there’s hardly any space. It feels overpriced for what we got. I think the good reviews are for the sea-facing rooms. Make sure you book the AC ones.

We’re back for our second visit, it’s a little favourite of ours. The food is served at reasonable prices, and it’s well worth a stay. It’s a clean, good hotel about 50mts from the beach, with a great view from the balcony or terrace. There’s no pool, but with the beautiful sandy beach right on the doorstep, do you need one? The view is rather like an English railway station, and yes, there’s a rail line next to it. In my opinion it’s no problem, and adds to the charm of this small family-run business.

The room was average in size, and the staff were friendly and polite. It’s right by both the beach and the railway line. I only found out at check-in that there was no AC. The Wi-Fi could be better, and the beach-facing back side felt dim compared with the nearby hotels. Some extra lighting there would help.