Cardamon Hotel Nilaveli

The meals were delicious, with a good range and quality. We found the place perfect for a relaxing stay, and the staff were genuinely friendly, attentive, and always ready to help with a smile. An amazing property. We’ll definitely be back, and highly recommend it for a memorable stay.

A delicious breakfast and such a friendly atmosphere. The team at Cardamon Hotel welcomed us warmly and made us feel at home, with kindness and care that went beyond what we expected. The peaceful, beautiful setting made the stay feel special from the start. A huge thank you to the hotel team for helping arrange a surprise birthday celebration for my wife. Everything was beautifully set up, and celebrating with the team became one of the most unforgettable moments of our lives. We’re grateful for all the love and support, and would recommend this place for its service and welcoming feel. Thank you again, Cardamon Hotel team. We hope to come back soon.

We meant to stay two nights, but ended up staying 11. The people working here were especially lovely and made the whole stay so nice. Our comfortable room faced the pool and sea, and the bed was comfortable too. The AC was absolutely silent, and the pool was great and kept very clean. There are loungers in the shade of palm trees, and the beach is good for swimming and walks. We ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the restaurant, and really enjoyed the food, especially the parota at breakfast. There are other nice places to eat nearby as well. The hotel was closing for a week of maintenance after our visit, so we checked out some other beachfront hotels, but none came close to Cardamon’s level. We hope to return next year.

EDIT: Below is my original post in quotation marks. I’m disappointed by the hotel’s response to my review and its lack of accountability. It seems to blame the public, restaurant and hotel guests, and ocean tides for litter on the beach. However it gets there, litter on your property is your responsibility. Tides and currents wash rubbish onto many coastlines, but that doesn’t mean it should be left there to wash out and return the next day. If it needs to be collected daily, then staff should collect it daily. I picked up the litter in the outdoor restaurant area in only 10 minutes. It was a small, achievable task. I hadn’t planned to add this, but since the response blames everyone else, I will: you serve plastic straws with every drink. They’re unnecessary. I specifically asked for no straw with my second drink because I’m mindful of my personal environmental footprint, but it still came with one. Some of the straws on the beach are from guests ordering from your menu. Reducing or eliminating plastic straws would also save the business money, since it wouldn’t need to keep buying them. Other restaurants use reusable metal straws or simply serve drinks without one. I’m not disputing the need to collect leaves and fruit. I understand that’s a safety issue. My point is that litter should also be treated as a safety issue and collected along with them. Hard plastic can cut people’s feet, as I saw happen, and all rubbish poses a risk to the environment. I’m not asking you to clean the entire main beach, and I’m not blaming you for rubbish across all of Nilavell. But the litter in your beach area, where the restaurant operates, is your responsibility to maintain. It takes 10 minutes a day. It isn’t difficult. If you’re assuring me that staff take good care of the beach where your hotel is situated, I suggest speaking with the person working Thursday 21st May 2026 between 3pm-4pm. I saw what happened: they ignored the rubbish and only collected leaves and fruit. That’s why I picked up all the rubbish myself and brought it directly to your staff to show them. Please take responsibility for the land you operate on. Don’t blame ocean tides, your guests, or people passing by. “I watched a staff member walk around the beach area collecting fallen leaves and fruit while completely ignoring the plastic and litter. I asked why he was only cleaning up biodegradable material, and he had no answer. I then walked around the beach restaurant area and collected the rubbish myself. It was especially disappointing because the location is only 2km from Pigeon Island Marine Park, a protected area. After collecting rubbish for a second time, I asked again why he wasn’t picking up the plastic. He told me the coconut tree leaves were ‘dangerous’ and that it was a safety issue. If safety is the concern, hard plastic should be collected too, especially since I saw a tourist cut his foot very badly on hard plastic while leaving the ocean. He needed medical attention, and a doctor who was also a tourist had to step in because the wound was so deep. I’m very disappointed by how little care was shown for the beach environment where the hotel and restaurant are located. If someone is responsible for cleaning the beach, they should collect the plastic instead of ignoring it. I had planned to return for dinner that day, but chose not to.”