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Heritance Ayurveda Maha Gedara is an adults-only Ayurveda resort on the beach at Moragalla, Beruwala, in a Geoffrey Bawa building that was Aitken Spence's first hotel. Formerly the Neptune Hotel, it was completely refurbished and has run as a wellness resort since late 2011, and today the hotel group markets it simply as Heritance Ayurveda. "Maha Gedara" means "ancestral home", a nod to its place as the group's first property. Guests come for physician-led Ayurveda programmes, daily treatments, yoga and meals planned around their body type, on six acres of gardens running down to the Indian Ocean.
There are 64 rooms in four categories, all in the whitewashed, arched style of the original Geoffrey Bawa building, with air conditioning, an in-room safe, Wi-Fi, a rain shower, a hair dryer and bathrobes. The names below are the hotel's own.
Every room takes a maximum of two adults (one in the single Classic rooms), and as the resort is adults-only there are no family rooms or extra beds for children.
Each stay begins with a free consultation with one of the resort's Ayurveda physicians, who examines you and draws up a personal plan of treatments, herbal preparations and diet. Guests on a programme receive four customised treatments a day, and the plan is designed so you can carry on with it at home. The programmes on offer are Rejuvenation, Skin Health, Smoke & Alcohol Detox, Women's Health, Mindfulness, Stress Relief, Weight Management and an Immunity Booster stay, or a package customised around your own goals. Rejuvenation runs for a week or more, while some programmes, such as Stress Relief, ask for a minimum of two weeks, so check the length before you choose your dates. There is more on the tradition behind it all on our Ayurveda page.
The treatment centre is led by a Chief Ayurveda Physician with a team of resident physicians, graduates in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery, together with therapists and nutritionists. The centre has four consultation rooms, 28 treatment rooms, its own Ayurveda pharmacy and an area where the herbal preparations are made, as well as a hall for yoga and meditation. If you have a medical condition or take regular medication, speak to your own doctor before you travel and mention it at your consultation.
Daily yoga is at the heart of the timetable: the resort holds classes every morning and on four afternoons a week, eleven sessions in all, alongside guided meditation. Between treatments there are swimming pools surrounded by frangipani trees and sun loungers, a library of books in several languages, a TV lounge, a fitness centre, a shopping arcade and a crafts centre, and the garden opens straight onto the beach for a walk by the sea.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served as buffets in the restaurant, which looks across the garden to the ocean. The menus are planned with the resort's doctors and follow Ayurvedic principles to balance the doshas, mixing traditional Sri Lankan dishes with healthy Western options, with choices for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and other diets. The kitchen uses local ingredients and no artificial flavours, additives or animal fats, and your physician will tell you which dishes suit your plan.
The resort stands on the Galle Road at Moragalla, on the northern side of Beruwala, with its lawns running down to Moragalla Beach. Close by are the historic Ketchimalai Mosque and the Barberyn Island lighthouse off Beruwala harbour, and the Buddhist temple of Kande Vihara is a short drive away. For a gentle outing on a rest day, visit Brief Garden, created by Bevis Bawa, or Lunuganga, the country estate of his brother Geoffrey, or take a boat along the mangrove-lined Madu River. If you prefer the train, Beruwala station is on the coastal line from Colombo.
The resort is about 82 kilometres in a straight line from Bandaranaike International Airport, and the hotel puts the drive from Colombo at about 1 hour 45 minutes using the Southern Expressway. After a long flight, the calmest start to a programme is a private transfer from Colombo airport to Heritance Ayurveda, with a driver waiting in the arrivals hall to take you straight to the resort.
It suits adults who want a structured Ayurveda programme by the sea rather than a beach holiday with the odd massage: couples, friends travelling together and solo guests, who are well served by the single Classic rooms. Allow at least a week, and two for the longer programmes. For other places to stay nearby see our hotels in Beruwala, or the other Heritance hotels around the island.
In September 2027, I spent my holiday at the Heritance Ayurveda Hotel and experienced Ayurveda for the first time. Right from the start, I was given a very warm welcome. I felt this warmth, combined with professionalism and a hig…
The perfect place to relax and just enjoy nature and ayurvedic treatments. This is clearly a place I can recommend, and I look forward to having a vacation here again.
The hotel skimps on everything, falsely pretending to "care about guests." 1. Water. Ayurveda implies a lot of oil and constant procedures with it. But in the spa center of this hotel there are no showers. They were at the co…
Ratings and reviews provided by TripAdvisor for Heritance Ayurveda.
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