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Galle Fort Hotel, Galle, Sri Lanka |
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| In 2003 we gave up our careers and made a seachange to Galle Fort in Southern Sri Lanka. Our new home is the perfect place to relax and rejuvenate whilst experiencing the fascinating, living cultures and rich history of this spectacularly beautiful island. And did we mention the great shopping!
Many people find Sri Lanka and Galle Fort in particular a nostalgic reminder of old Asia. Vegetable carts, cobblers and hundreds of old bicycles, Morris Minors and even bullock carts laden with cinnamon navigate the Fort's tiny streets. Women make intricate hand made lace and men cut the most brilliant sapphires on pedalled polishers for export to Paris, London and the finest jewellers of the world.
Just as ours did, your life will change once you come through the huge wooden gates of the Fort. Slowing down, you find time to appreciate the warm smiles and welcome waiting for you here.
As for us, after two years of hard work and every obstacle you could imagine (plus some you certainly wouldn't) 28 Church Street has been beautifully restored, making our dream of Galle Fort Hotel a reality. |
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Photo Gallery of Galle Fort Hotel |
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| » Accommodation |
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Guests have a choice of 11 large and shuttered rooms and suites, including a blue-and-white suite decorated with Chinese porcelain, another with traditional Peranakan decor, and two-level loft suites with mosquito net-swathed four-posters, opening off open-sided galleries overlooking a beautiful courtyard. The white sheets are talcum-soft, the pillows of the sort you want to take home, the floorboards are teak and the paintwork lime-washed; although the feel is minimalist, the comfort factor is high and the detailing perfectly apposite.
The Loft Suites
More like a small villa these large, double storey, fully air-conditioned suites have a romantic loft bedroom overlooking the garden and pool from your antique four poster bed.
The Blue & White Porcelain Suite
A fully air-conditioned suite with twenty foot ceilings and its own separate dressing/bathroom. The monumental, Dutch windows and shutters open onto a spectacular, columned walkway which frames the courtyard, swimming pool and garden. The towering, bedroom walls feature C18th, blue & white porcelain imported by the Chinese to the Galle area. The antique Sri Lankan cabinets and four poster bed make this one of our most spectacular and romantic suites. A day bed can be used as an extra bed for one teenage child.
Le Grand Apartment du Comte de Mauny
This grand and massive apartment occupies the entire top floor of the old wing and has two fully air-conditioned king size bedrooms with their own attached bathrooms and oversized showers. The 115 foot long suite is 22 feet wide (more than 2500 square feet in all) with its own private, full- length, colonnaded verandah with shuttered windows and is the largest hotel suite in Sri Lanka.
The Cheng Ho Pavilion
To commemorate the visit of Admiral Cheng Ho to Galle in 1406 this oversized, double-storey suite, with six meter ceilings, has been decorated with antique Chinese and Peranakan fittings. The fully air-conditioned, mezzanine bedroom has an antique-style, carved, Chinese, Opium-bed, 100 thread cotton sheets and mosquito net. A screen made from rare, antique columns provides privacy from the generous living area below. The two-storey outdoor bathroom has 6 meter columns with a huge, elevated waterfall shower which makes bathing seem like a fresh tropical downpour. A day bed can be used as an extra bed for one teenage child.
The Library Suite
This oversized, fully air-conditioned suite has two king size beds and a large separate bathroom with a large, open shower. Perfect for two people wanting a king size bed each.The library houses a fine collection of Kandyan hat pins bejwelled with rough cut semi precious gems and glass as worn in the Kandyan Perahera by celebrants dressed as members of the royal family. A matching chest and almirah of 'tiger’ satinwood and 'king' ebony are the main feature of a very cosy sitting area which opens as a balcony onto the archway of the main building.
The Garden Rooms
Three very generous rooms, air-conditioned with a modern King Size four poster bed with white cotton sheets and a canopied mosquito net. The bathroom has a shower, Grohe taps and an Italian basin. The tiny, private, parterre garden and wall fountain is beyond double French doors and your verandah provides a comfortable daybed to overlook the pool and garden. Perfect for afternoon tea or reading. Accommodation for 2 people only. These rooms book early
The Mews Suite
The staff quarters to the Markan Markar Villa occupied an entire lane running down the side of the East Wing.
Through a beautiful arched, double storey vault andbehind a pair of huge wooden doors is Galle Fort Hotel's latest suite. The Mews Suite is more like a tiny villa. As well as the benefits of all our suites: air conditioning, king size bed, talcum soft sheets and stealable pillows, the double storey Mews offers a huge outdoor daybed in its own private courtyard garden.
Upstairs the kids can hang out in their own mezzanine or share the large single, antique four poster. Down the antique jackwood stairs is your large granite shower, the main king size bed and antique doors and windows which open the villa to the garden courtyard and the private entranceway beyond which is lined with giant Ginger Plants.
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| » Facilities |
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| The inner courtyard, with a small garden and 10-metre swimming pool, one of the largest in the Fort, offers a tranquil and exclusive area for guests. But a sense of history does not mean that the Galle Fort’s guests will gather dust; far from it. The charming bar-cum-cafe is becoming a favoured meeting point, with the Australian owners encouraging a genial atmosphere where intelligent opinions are to be shared, not hidden. An exciting restaurant, somewhat expensive by the standards of Southern Sri Lanka, yet very much in tune with Fort prices, receives positive feedback for its classic Asian-West dishes, freshly and locally bought, and overseen by the owner-chef Christopher Ong. The staff ensures a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Meals can be taken on the terrace, the bar or in a grand dining room. Samanthe, the in-house male masseur, is trained in traditional Thai and Swedish Oil massage. A UNESCO award of distinction was given to the Galle Fort hotel in 2007 for "conservation excellence" and for "capturing the spirit of the Fort."
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| » Leisure |
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| Lying within the walls of the 17th century Galle’s Dutch Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Galle Fort Hotel is an ideal base from which to explore its heritage and see life unfold each morning within the Fort. Hours can be spent exploring the maze of narrow streets lined with Dutch and British period buildings still in use, the sturdy ramparts looking out to sea, the growing collection of art galleries, antique shops and restaurants. There are some fine beaches just outside of the Fort including Wijeya, Unawatuna, Mirissa and Hikkaduwa.
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Galle Hotels |
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| Closenburg Hotel *** |
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Galle ] |
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