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4.5
#6 of 51 guest houses in Colombo
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Governor, Hand-written Deed and Peppercorn The year was 1892 and what was known as "Ceylon" was under British rule. Governor Havelock transferred the title to the land (on which the bungalows are built), by a hand-written deed to the Havelock Building Company on the payment of Rs. 1307/- and a Peppercorn. The present owners purchased the properties in the mid 1980's and lived there. The Havelock Place Bungalow was first opened to guests in December 1999. In the city, yet miles away... If you've ever visited the Bungalow, you would have noticed how discreet we have been about our presence. To the casual passer-by, the Bungalow appears to be nothing more than an old colonial home. Only a plaque with the name 'Havelock Place Bungalow' engraved on it, indicates that we are open to guests. No wonder the Bungalow continues to be Colombo's best kept secret! We are conveniently located so if you are in the mood for a visit to the Museum, Independence Square, or Temples, or would like to go on a shopping spree, you can get to your destination in a matter of minutes. It's a jungle. But definitely not the concrete type... When you enter our gates and walk along the paved pathways, you realize you are in an oasis, away from the bustle of the city. Trees are an intrinsic part of the Havelock Place Bungalow experience. You can enjoy your breakfast while watching our garden come alive with a variety of birds and butterflies, or relax on a bench and gaze at the stars as night approaches. The surrounding foliage lends a quiet charm to every part of the Bungalow. Welcome to the Bungalow!
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Quaint
Historic Hotel
Languages Spoken
English, Hindi, Sinhala
Location
6, Havelock Place Colombo 5, Colombo Sri Lanka
The Havelock Place Bungalow
390 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
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A haven of paradise…. From Sajith's welcome to our arrival to Nevil's service to the cuisine of the chef's Gini restaurant: everything was top notch. A well-furnished room, a comfortable bed. (Remember to adjust the air conditioning correctly... Otherwise you may be cold at night.) A spacious shower. The whole team is great. The Gini restaurant…..to do and redo. Flavors, great originality for our palates….. and excellent quality products. A caring staff. I recommend it with no hesitation !
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Date of stay: January 2024Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The place is beautiful. The room was large and very comfortable, with air conditioning. Also, it had direct access to the pool. The restaurant is great with high quality dishes. Very friendly and helpful staff. Recommended 100%.
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Date of stay: August 2024Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is a wonderful place. It's located just off the Havelock rd, in Colombo 5, but the road is better known among cab drivers as Sri Sambuddhathva Jayanthi Mawatha. Anyways, if you are into esoteric hotels with ambience and well-preserved old world charm, this is the right place to stay. The staff is attentive and very helpful with tips and reservations. Also, the in-house restaurant serves delicious food - still dreaming about the dishes and desserts written on the outdoor chalkboard menu... We will be back!
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Date of stay: March 2012
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Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We arrived during the Boudisze and Eid new year days....... Minimum reception staff, restaurant closed, no breakfast (not even toast and an egg) And the rooms not redone between 2 nights. I hope it was because of the dates and that this nice hotel is not always so poorly maintained The setting and the garden are pretty and well cared for The staff were smiling and friendly, but we didn't have the chance to experience the experience we hoped for.
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Date of stay: April 2024Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The toilet would not flush. The floor was not swept. The bottom sheet was gritty so that I had to brush it off before I could use it. The staff was rude and not helpful. For an early breakfast, they sent me out with four slices of plain white loaf bread, two thin slices of cheese and an apple. I kid you not! That was it. The lighting was such that I was afraid I would leave things behind, since I could not see in the darkness.
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Date of stay: May 2017
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Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed at The Havelock Place Bungalow for two days in April after traveling around Sri Lanka for a week. We chose The Havelock Place Bungalow because it seemed like a quiet, cozy place to stay that would be different from large chain hotels with many tourist. The staff were friendly and helpful but sadly, we did not enjoy our stay as it was anything but restful.
To start with, the beds were very uncomfortable. It was like sleeping on boards of wood. There were six of us in our group, four adults and 2 kids and we all had trouble sleeping due to the beds being so hard. I also think the beds had bed bugs as a few of us had many bug bites after a night in the room. I felt like something was biting me all night long!
The rooms were nicely decorated and reminded us of old colonial times, which made the Bungalow an interesting place to stay. But, the rooms were very dirty and needed major cleaning. The toliet seat in our room had pee stains on it, the walls and light swtiches had black finger prints all over, and our kids feet were black with dirt after walking around the room barefoot. To top it off, we did not have hot water, even after asking one of the helpers to turn on the hot water heater. Also, the room where the other adults in our group stayed, had a broken down toliet. All in all, the rooms needed a major cleaning job and definetly needed new beds.
The worse thing about our stay was that we did not get a restful nights sleep due to a dinner party taking place in the restaurant. We were told that this dinner party was going to be a small family dinner. It was not. There was loud music and people shouting and talking loudly until way past 11 pm. Why the staff (manager was there at the dinner party!) allowed music and drunken screaming all night was beyond me.
To make things worse, we then had to be kept awake the rest of the night because the kitchen staff had to clean up after the party. It's not a big place, so noise does carry everywhere. So much for a quiet, peaceful stay! We had a very early morning flight out, painful with the lack of sleep that we got at The Havelock Place Bungalow.
In all honesty, be careful if you stay here because the Havelock will cater to the locals, before paying guests. We were ignored and the dinner party was a hit, just not with us.
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Date of stay: April 2011
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Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Responded 31 May 2011
We have sent our response to this review which is entirely untrue but written as a result of the guests inability to get a refund for a no show under the terms on which the reservation was made. We are very disappointed that Trip Advisor has not published our response or taken this nasty review off their site.
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We stayed at the Havelock on our last night in Sri Lanka. Very nicely done although the pool on the web site is deceiving not really a pool more like the size of a pond and not really anywhere to sunbath/relax around. All the rooms claim to have there own garden off the room all we had was a very small dark and gloomy concreted area certainly not a garden. The actual rooms were nice enough, clean and simply done but I have never slept in such a hard bed in all my years of travelling.I had to check to see if they had left the mattress off but it was there though a plank of wood would of done the same job. Our room also had the very stong smell of cinnamon which we couldn't find the source of and as myself and husband dislike the smell it wasn't very relaxing as i guess was the aim.The hosts were friendly enough and as we were only staying for one night i didn't complain about the beds though there is no way i would of slept there for any longer and i can sleep anywhere normally. The food was all home cooked and very nice desserts.
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Date of stay: November 2004
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
After reading the reviews, my boyfriend and I really wanted to love the Havelock Place. Out of all the hotels and guesthouses we stayed at during our trip to Sri Lanka however, this was by far our least favorite. The service was extremely rude and unfriendly. Checkout was at 11, and at 15 minutes prior to checkout we received a call urging us to leave the room as soon as possible. Our flight was not until 4 a.m the next morning but we practically had to beg the hotel to let us keep our luggage until midnight. In addition, the hotel manager leaves at 10 p.m every evening and they frown on people leaving the hotel anytime after that. Overall I would say if you want to experience Sri Lanka, which is full of genuinely friendly people, you can do better than the Havelock Place.
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Date of stay: April 2014
Value
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from havelockplacebungalo, Owner at The Havelock Place Bungalow
Responded 26 Apr 2014
We are a boutique hotel that has only seven rooms hence we advise our clients of our check in and check out times at the time of booking.Late check out will depend on availability at the time. Since check out is 11A.M. and check in is 12 noon and we had another booking for the room for that night we called the room at 10.45 as the guest had no yet come in for breakfast.We have to ensure that our rooms are ready by 12 noon as we do not like to keep people who have prior reservations waiting. Though the rate is a B & B rate breakfast is normally over by 10.30 A.M. however we did serve the guest even at 11.30A.M without an issue. As for the baggage I spoke to them myself .Our reluctance was due to the fact that two of the bags were unlocked.The office closes by 10 P.M. and we would have to leave the bags with security.,We normally do not accept unlocked baggage.
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Arrived 2am, everyone asleep except huge cockroach in our room.Nauseating smell in rooms, in mattresses and bedding, Shabby holed towels. Tiny dark, cave like rooms with inadequate wardrobes. Requested vegan breakfast was rock hard polystyrene toast, dairy margarine and jam. The fruit was vegan! W'ed expected dahl and rice or something local. Dining area filled with mosquitoes. $150 dollars a night was robbery considering the damaged tourist market.We had planned to return to the Bungalows at the end of our 3 weeks,but cancelled.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
2nd time visit as we enjoyed our previous visit. As usually staff was really pleasant and supportive. Nice & yummy breakfast. Everything was clean & tidy. Highly recommend for a quite stay in the middle of the City. On the bad side, we reserved a standard room, but it really wasn’t what was shown on pics. Very small room with less facilities (No TV, Kettle etc) Dinner wasn’t really pleasing, just ordinary meals.
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Date of stay: March 2018
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Â Room near the pool is the best
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Airport pick up facility is there, it's advisable to book a car for the entire day instead of only airport pick up. U can get in touch with this guy. Had hired him as "airport to airport". U have to negotiate hard. Senanath - +9 47 73675584
Dear PhyllPound,
Please send us your name and check-in date to the email address on our website. We will check and respond to you.
If you have not booked the room from Friday night, we will be unable to provide early check-in.
Kind Regards,
Dinuka
O Laura, I don't work there but I can tell you that the beauty way to get there is by taxi, it should cost you no more than 4000 rupees.
About the mosquito net I don't know if they have them, but the rooms have Ca and that's the best way to leave the mosquitos out of your room since they hate the cold... so do i
Best
Tiago
There are more places to choose from in the Colombo area.
PRICE RANGE
€48 - €75 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
the havelock place bungalow hotel colombo
LOCATION
Sri LankaWestern ProvinceColombo
NUMBER OF ROOMS
7
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