Villa Araliya

I'd forgotten Negombo existed as a place to visit. Maybe it's because it's so close. It takes around an hour to drive there from Colombo and it's just fifteen minutes from the airport. It's like going to Moratuwa for a vacation. Sometimes, Moratuwa can take longer to get to.

But exist it does and, even better, Negombo has a nice, relatively cheap collection of places for eating, drinking and staying. We stayed at the Villa Araliya in Negombo because we wanted something nice but relatively low priced.

The hotel is located on the land side which means you have a bit of an amble to go to the beach. But given Negombo's average beaches, you might find yourself spending more time in the hotel pool than anything.

A sister property to Serendip Stone Bungalow in Kandy, Villa Araliya is the creation of its owner, Palitha who has personally designed the buildings as well as the interiors. The Wallawua style trellis work, columns and verandahs, terracotta and cement flooring is blended with touches of contemporary design. Guests have a choice of double rooms or apartments which can be rented for even one night.

There are two types of rooms, all airconditioned. The standard ones - we were quoted USD 55 bed and breakfast - have a huge four poster bed and a pretty big, brand new bathroom.

Villa Araliya is a fully vegetarian hotel which meant we ate out most of the time: if we weren't meant to eat animals, they wouldn't be made out of meat.