Ambewella Vacations from $1,293

From the entrance with the beloved, always smiling security uncle Sanath to Jawfer the ready to help out with anything and everything Concierge to Zeenath the best head of reservations we’ve ever met, coordinating with me from day one and throughout made our stay an extra special one. We chose VAUX as a newly married couple to give us the homely feeling and it sure did. The layout was really modern including all the basic essentials. The 2 bedroom apartment had a wonderful Terrace and ample space to accommodate many guests. The rooftop swimming pool was another added beauty at VAUX. Our guests loved the place and we in fact extended our stay as the price we paid was well worth the experience we had. We are looking forward for a next stay at VAUX and special thanks again to Zeenath for always keeping in touch making sure we had everything going well!!! Much Love

Decent quality 3 star hotel on negombo seafront. Nice garden facing the beach and great views of sunsets. Guests were a mixed crowd of locals and foreign tourists. Check in process was slow and inefficient. Staff seemed to struggle to process a group booking ahead of us and told us to wait. This took more than half hour. The older lady who showed us to our room incorrectly told us that there was no room service. Her younger male colleague confirmed there was room service and said he was frustrated with this older ladies capability to do her job. We struggled on our first night as the air con didn't work. The maintenance staff struggled to fix the issue and we had to be moved. Many of the sockets were not to the current Sri Lankan /UK standard. In other words they were the 3 round pin sockets.. Buffet on the saturday was very good and wide ranging. Sunday was a lot worse, we think it may have been cos there were less guests All in all a mixed bag but the staff are reasonably friendly, garden is nice. Rooms need updating but compared to some so called 4 star rival hotels i would say this place is decent value for money.

The house was wonderful to stay in and visit. The only comment and this is a more philosophical one - what is the balance between originality and being fresh for a guest to inhabit? I think this needs careful thinking through. The house is wonderfu and its a great place to stay if you love Bawa architecture, but some areas could do with cleaning more thoroughly or replacing. There is no benefit in a knackered old japanese paper lantern when an identical one can be bought online cheaply, or an old blanket that has seen better days or a musty wardrobe - all these can be fixed without undermining an important piece of architecture. Beyond that, the house is wonderful, the staff are great and the house is in a great location in Colombo and I would recommend it as a place to visit if you are interested in Bawa's architecture.

Fabulous room, very tastefully appointed, with a huge bed and good size en-suite shower room. The staff are, without exception, friendly helpful and obliging. The architecture is unusual, attractive and interesting, with a little bit of a safari lodge feel to it. The villa is a little bit remote but there is easy access to local facilities via taxi, or Tuk Tuk. Our only slight disappointment was the limited range of choice from the menu available in the evenings and the portions were sometimes less than might be expected. In summary, a fabulous place to relax for a few days among quiet surroundings and you may be lucky to have some interesting wildlife visitors.