Taru Villas Mawella - Tangalle

We stayed at Taru Villas Tangalle at the end of August 2024, for 4 nights. This quiet, peaceful location, on a beautiful beach, was the start of our first trip to Sri Lanka. The staff were professional, polite and extremely kind - Gihan our villa manager, answered our constant questions very patiently! Nothing was too much trouble, the room we had in the ‘social’ area was large, well equipped and spotlessly clean, as was the whole hotel. However, the food was the stand out factor for us, we couldn’t fault it at all. We ate there each night, each course beautifully presented and of a very high standard. The breakfasts were equally impressive, eggs Benedict probably amongst the best we have ever had. We moved on to 4 other places on our trip and honestly nothing compared to the service, staff and restaurant at Taru Villas. We would highly recommend this destination and hope to return one day.

We always stay in villas in Sri Lanka as we like our privacy - mainly at Taru Villas when managed by herself as the standard were very high - the best. We have just left Taru Villas , Mawella (Karumba) , after a three night stay . We have been there few times before . It is sad to see standards drop in so many areas but specifically maintenance of the place and it is less clean , eg furniture and walls marked . One side of the bed had no electrical power , one safe didn’t work , no fan in the gazebo so hot to use . Cockroaches in the bedroom . Staff needs more training. The service from our butler (Ruwan) was excellent, and the cuisine was well presented and enjoyable . Cant see us returning unless standards get back to where they used to be .

We stayed at the Kurumba house which was perfect for our family of 4. We loved the large and spacious patio, huge lawn and privacy from the rest of the estate. Having a butler was also very convenient. The Kurumba House is perfect for families or for two couples, a point to note is that the rooms are not interconnecting however that wasn’t an issue for us. The rooms and interiors in general are very lovely and well appointed. Mawella beach in front is spectacular, not a surfing beach, but the kids had plenty of fun body boarding and there are free boards on site. Food is excellent, breakfast especially was of a high standard. Cocktails were well made. They can also organise tuktuk visits to nearby sights like the Hiriketiya beach or blowhole. A few points that would make this place better 1) food prices are on the high side for the kids menu. For eg a margarita kids pizza cost more than the regular pizza 2) the Sri Lankan food was a tad repetitive due to the accompanying vegetable sides being constant. Maybe this is a feature of the cuisine but more variety would be nice 3) proactive suggestions from staff regarding best times to visit places would be helpful. For eg: we visited the blowhole and the staff helped organise transport but unfortunately we didn’t know that the timing of our visit coincided with low tide, and hence we couldn’t really enjoy the spectacle at all. These small touches from staff would go the extra mile in making this place even better