Amaara Forest Hotel Sigiriya

Big spacious room however it was very dark and damp smelling which I think is the location in the forest. The property is a little bit out of town which means you are stuck at the hotel for your meals unless you get a tuk tuk to and from town. It was a beautiful property with a lovely breakfast but I found the staff in the reception not overly friendly or helpful and a little out of the way for the main attractions.

Gorgeous hotel in a beautiful setting. In the middle of the forest, this is a hidden little gem, with lovely spacious clean rooms, exceptionally friendly staff, and a luxury lodge like feel! It was out of season, so the hotel was quite quiet, and we had the pool to ourselves. I imagine this is the perfect spa retreat in peak season!

Friendly staff and beautiful place

Nice place

Nice hotel. Super helpful staff. Our toddler enjoyed exploring the grounds. Restaurant served nice food. Rooms are a bit basic relative to the price. We were unfortunately visiting during Christmas, and the hotel organised a very loud party, which made it hard to sleep! Agreed to lower the volume after many requests

This property is great if you’re looking to hole up in your room. But if you’re looking to explore Sigiriya Rock and/or safari, it’s too remote of a location off a winding side road and not very convenient. If that was the only issue, I’d be ok with it, but we had multiple issues during our stay: (1) AC in our room was broken and could not regulate the temp, so it was either very cold OR lukewarm; (2) so we kept the AC on, but realized there were no blankets, only a single sheet, which meant you were freezing by dawn; (3) AVOID A LA CARTE DINING at the restaurant - while the breakfast buffet is lovely, the dining staff are unable to follow simple instructions when guests are ordering meals off the menu and not per the buffet. For example, I ordered spaghetti with tomato sauce (spaghetti and penne were the pasta options), and they brought my daughter’s meal as a penne pasta… TWICE. So we had to wait. I ordered a beef burger with cheese (chicken and beef are options). They brought a CHICKEN cheese burger. At this point, 45 minutes had passed and they had only gotten my husband’s club sandwich correct, so I cancelled my meal (which I was still waiting for) and our dessert. At that point, the dining staff started arguing with me that I had definitely ordered chicken, suggesting I didn’t know what I ordered, which is insane. I don’t eat chicken burgers and never ordered it. You know something is wrong when the dining staff start arguing with you as to what YOU ordered.

Plese ignore my previous review, as i cannot delete it so I apologise. Wonderful place to stay & the staff are all very friendly

Lovely hotel and a nice location.

Relaxing location, well maintained and friendly staff, what more could you ask for?

Lovely place to stay with a great staff! We spent 4 nights here and were more than satisfied.

The route to reaach the property was too off. Consider last 500 m as driving on rocks. Property should try tp fix it as they will be major beneficiary. Staff tried to help - 1 guy was good at english, others below average - The confusion went to extent that the lady at counter said that pinnavella elephant orphanage is only 4 km away, which is not true. I only contacted this guy at reception for everything post this incident. Overall , staff did try to help for everything they could do in their limits.

Apparently they just opened after being closed for 3 years. They gave us at first a dirty stinky room after a big scene and complaint we finally got the room we booked. Staff barely speaks English. Food choice is very limited, buffet for SriLankan standard is very poor. They tried to force us a Xmas dinner at 40 dollar a person but quality of kitchen is poor, also for the breakfast, no yoghurts. The road towards the place is a disaster and very difficult to reach. Overall poor experience for a so called luxury hotel.

good

You have to drive down a remote, drive road to arrive at the hotel but once you do paradise emerges. It is so beautiful and serene.

We only stayed here for a night as we were in the area to see the Sigiriya Rock Fortress and Pidurangala Rock. It's not too far from either. Rooms were clean and spacious. Nice hotel grounds (they look nicer at night). Nice pool area. The restaurant and buffet breakfast are pretty average as is the wifi strength in the room we were in (231). The dirt road is a little bumpy heading in towards the hotel off the main road. Overall though we had no major issues and our stay was comfortable.

A good resort in the middle of the forest. The positives were: Forest experience, Sounds of birds, running stream, etc. Also a decent length swimming pool, good for laps Negative mainly was to do with the fact that you cannot open your windows at night for fear of wildlife coming in. Hotel must fit wire meshes. Also animals running on the tinned roof creating sudden noises and waking you up in the middle of the night. Service was so so, in part because most staff don't speak English fluently. I must make special mention of the front office receptionist Sendali who spoke fluent English, had a very pleasing and customer friendly approach and helped make my stay comfortable on a number of fronts. Thank you Sendali for saving the day!

What an absolute treat loved the setting spent a lot of my time in pool @ poolside enjoyed all meals variety and presentation and what a lovely bunch of staff

Overnattet kun en natt. Veldig god service i resepsjonen, bra bar og restaurang. Dårlig adkomstvei.

Umm...no-so-pleasant experience. they refused to provide driver accommodation for us. No ome helped us with luggages. The walk from lobby to room was far and we had had to hand carry our suitcases (road is too rocky to roll suitcases). The lady who led us to the room didn't care and walk super fast. She also refused to put us (two rooms) on the same building, while both rooms underneath our rooms were empty. Rooms are big, but the upkeep is so so.

Very good hotel with excellent staff that were so friendly and made us feel very welcome. Although the property is not as close to Sigiryia as others it looked better than some of the closer ones we passed. We rented bikes from the hotel, which weren't great quality but got us to Sigiryia! We also did a great Safari to Minneryia through the hotel which was a highlight. Overall very good quality and value for money.