Laughing Leopard Hostel

The beds were clean and comfortable, and there was plenty of hot water for showers. It’s a great, very social hostel, and the family dinner was fantastic. 10/10, stay here if you’re coming to nuwara eliya! 😁

The hostel lost one of my clothing items in the laundry. It was sentimental, and after paying a lot for the service, that wasn’t good enough. I understand they had plenty of people’s laundry to handle, but there’s no excuse for losing or mixing up clothes. I later heard another guest had socks lost and received free drinks, free laundry, and a free night, while I wasn’t offered anything. The dorm mattresses were hard, and there was some mold in the bathroom. EDIT: Nearly three after I posted, they responded to my review with a lot of lies. They offered me a free plain white T-shirt to replace my lost clothes, not a branded one they sell. They did not remove the laundry cost from my bill. I have full evidence of what I paid, which was the full amount with nothing taken off. I never got aggressive, raised my voice, or screamed at any staff during this interaction. Finally, the woman in question told me numerous times what she received, so I have nothing to lie about.

The bathrooms were disgustingly dirty, and the final bill had fake extra charges. Their “pay on exit” policy felt intentionally deceptive and like it was being exploited. We were four people and first booked one night, then asked to stay a second. The hostel agreed without mentioning any problem. While we were relaxing in our room, the host suddenly came in and demanded that one person leave and move to another room because they had overbooked. We hadn’t been told about this beforehand. Of the six hostels we’ve stayed in so far in Sri Lanka, this was by far the worst. I’ll never return.

Stay away from this horrendous hostel. Staff quote one price and then charge another, and add random items to your tab, probably their drinks since they drink all day. They try to fleece you. I can’t recommend it.