Overall Ratings & Reviews Talalla Retreat

I left my heart in Talalla Retreat. Incredible staff who were so welcoming and hard working, the Retreat itself is stunning. I had an upstairs bedroom so was able to fully enjoy the surroundings. The food was incredible. I felt super safe. I didn’t want to leave. A must visit - and please do as the Sri Lankan people need visitors right now.

A beautiful retreat that really feels like a hidden oasis. Very friendly staff and the food was actually delicious. Wifi very patchy.

Overall a very nice property with a great location and a relaxed feel. Good and varied food. However, room standards even for the most expensive villas are extremely simple and has seen its best days regarding maintenance. In sum it seems a bit overpriced. The open air floors are very special and are not for every one's taste and comfort. Activities like surfing is extremely overpriced compared to what you pay elsewhere in the area. A specific negative to our stay: Just outside our bedroom window, for large portions of the day, the cleaners seem to locate their cleaning central for the sea view villas, "hanging out", storing cleaning appliances, gathering dirty towels and empty bottles and glasses etc on the ground. Visually not a nice sight and definitely compromising our privacy.

Thank you Talalla, we had a fantastic time. Also a big thank you to Wasantawe, our housekeeper, who always made sure our bed was lined with flowers, you made us feel very special.

We loved the grounds of talalla retreat - absolutely beautiful and peaceful. The breakfast was fantastic and the spa facilities good, although a little on the pricey side. I was initially a little disappointed with the room itself as it was a little basic, but actually grew to like its simplistic style and open-air bathroom

Beautiful property-great massages and service. Talalla is a nice lovely clean long beach to stroll down. Stayed in an oceanfront bungalow which was fabulous but the mosquitos are NO JOKE so make sure to tuck your net in tight use repellent and light the coil! My only complaint was my fan like barely worked so was super hot at night as the wind died down but asked the staff for an extra floor fan which they happily provided. Food and drinks were excellent as well. Would highly recommend!

Beautiful, serene location to relax, swim and practice yoga in a secluded retreat environment. The buffet breakfast offers fresh fruits and Sri Lankan options. We did not eat any other meal in the restaurant as it was fairly Westernized, however if you need a change up from curries etc, I'm sure this food would be fantastic. Expect to pay about $10 for drinks and $5 for coffee. Overall, a comfortable stay with the beach right on the back doorstep.

Wonderful relaxing beautiful retreat feeling. The grounds and pool are magnificent. Our room was up near the trees so no breeze and had to close shutters in case of monkeys...made for a very warm night. Also one of the shared bathrooms needed attention. Food and staff excellent. Beach is exquisite with local fishermen offering boat rides for $25 US....well worth. Would recommend but try for room near beach for breeze.

Shared bathroom with bungalows . Rooms better but mosi nets were essential . Great massage at the spa. Buffet not so good.

Beautiful setting and very relaxing. Bungalow rooms have a shared bathroom, which wasn't clear on the website. But overall lovely stay

Relaxing atmosphere and the staff were excellent, as is standard for the whole of Sri Lanka. However the rooms are so open to the elements that we had multiple lizards crawling along the bed frame and woke up to people peering in at us from their balcony. Along with this the food and related activities are rediculously overpriced for what they are.

All in all good; mostly caters to singles or young couples; not many activities for children, understandable. Otherwise, rather quite place with good nature, clean, spacious. Good food! Rooms are very simple, no A/C, no TV, no WIFI.

Don't come here for a week - come here for a very chilled couple of days. This is a retreat so don't expect a luxury hotel - it's a bit of a hippy vibe and quite stripped back/basic in some ways. However we had an excellent time as it was just what we needed at the end of a busy holiday - backing onto a beautiful, very quiet beach and with a lovely pool. We took advantage of the surfing, yoga and massages and left feeling very zen!

Great stay in Talalla retreat, staff were very helpful and friendly.

The property is beautiful and we really enjoyed the yoga - however having travelled around a lot we were quite taken aback by the premium pricing on drinks for example (double everywhere else) .also Ayurveda massage was double the usual prices around albeit the facility was more upmarket. Surfboard rental was even 3 times more expensive than right on the actual surf spots. It partly seems to rip off people a bit who stay for a whole week only at talalla and don't actually compare. However that said the property is beautifully maintained and we had overall a great time!

Close to beautiful beach over priced, chaotic but relaxing

Beautiful grounds with plenty of space to find your own solitude. Good pool and dining area with with great food. A range of room options for a variety of budgets. We had a downstairs room on the beach side which we really enjoyed.

I had booked a bungalow with a desk, safety box, sitting area, wifi and garden view. Instead, I'm assigned a windowless room, with walls that don't reach the ceiling, no desk, box, seating area, wifi, hardly any place to move around or place our luggage, nothing! What they called a "bungalow " was a house-like building with all these rooms around a sitting area and a bathroom outside, around the building. Wifi is only available in the dining area. When I spoke with the manager about the booking, they said that's what they meant as a bungalow and the information in Hotels.com was mistaken. If I had booked through their website we would've known what we were actually getting. I was offered a better room for an extra charge. They were incredibly rude. When I demanded a cancellation and a refund, I was told it had to be done through the site. They "kindly" offered another room at the far end of the property, in the service area, overlooking the sheets and towels drying on lines and all over the floor. Totally disappointed. The hotel is on the beach but there is nowhere to be as the waves go up to the property. You have to walk several hundred meters to find beach to sit down. There are several hotels and guest houses close by so we later moved to another one for half the price. This hotel is overpriced and the information providedis completely misleading. I would never go back.

My wife and I went to Talalla for rest and some yoga. The yoga was very good and professional. However, the resort was a disaster. We booked the sea view rooms, which are their best rooms. The outdoor bathroom is nice, but the rest of the room is 4 off white walls, one wooden chair and a bed. The double seat outside was occupied by beach dogs at night, so we chose not to sit in wet, dog smell cushions during the day. There are no beach chairs. The restaurant is expensive and the food was bland at best. Added to that, the dining area is swarmed with constant flies.

Loved our time here. We took the higher end room with air con closer to the beach. This meant we were away from the crowds by the pool (really not that crowded, could always find a couple of sun loungers and some shade) and had quick access to THE MOST AMAZING BEACH IN THE UNIVERSE. And I have travelled a lot and seen many beaches so this is a huge compliment. Unfortunately the yoga was possibly one of the worst classes I've ever been to and there was only one teacher on site at the time, and two independent yoga retreats staying at the resort as well. The classes are run two a day (7:30am and 4:30pm) and cost $15USD. Expensive for a 3rd world country and not a good quality teacher so was disappointed. But that's all part of it and I'm sure it was perfect for a different traveller to me. The restaurant only has buffet options really, and weren't cheap ($10USD for lunch, $15USD for dinner, all plus fees plus taxes or something) but were good quality. Mostly vegetarian with a couple of good proteins being grilled on the side (eg chicken and fish) but fantastic choice for the vegos for sure. Breakfast was included and delicious. Pool area was very nice and green. Wifi only in the restaurant/bar/pool area and very slow but free.