Tangalle, Sri Lanka

Halcyon Mawella

Price per night from$192.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD192.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Halcyon Mawella Photos

Style

Hey, good iluk-ing

Setting

Pristine southern shores

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Owner-run boutique hotel Halcyon Mawella is palmy in both senses: coconut trees are your beachfront buffer, and a lantern-lit restaurant is its spirited centre. Lo-fi days whiled away playing board games at the bar, ocean-ogling from your thatched-roof room and cooing over the hotel’s pooch are punctuated with spells in the lagoon or sea — swimming, kayaking and snorkelling. You’ll feel a sense of community, but for Halcyon Mawella it runs much deeper: conservation projects with the local fishing villages means there’s as much give as there is take.

Smith Extra

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A one-hour kayaking trip on the lagoon

Facilities

Photos Halcyon Mawella facilities

Need to know

Rooms

10.

Check–Out

Noon; check-in, 2pm. Both are flexible, subject to availability.

More details

Rates at Halcyon Mawella include à la carte breakfast, with vegetarian and gluten-free options, coffee and juice; you can dine at the restaurant or in your room, for no extra charge. Tea and coffee can be delivered to your door from 6.30am.

Also

Ground-floor rooms are suitable for guests with reduced mobility, and ramps can be fitted on request.

At the hotel

Paddleboards to borrow, charged laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: air-conditioning, minibar, free bottled water, and local bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Local interior designers Tallentire House have kitted out the screen-free rooms at Halcyon Mawella, which are soundtracked by the sea breeze rustling palm fronds, the waves lapping the shore mere metres away and — probably — some contented snoring from your other Smith as they drift off to these natural sounds. Glimpses of the beach are fringed by the cabana’s traditional thatched roofs in the Deluxe Room with Balcony; the bold Family Rooms each have a petrol-blue four-poster bed and a mezzanine with an extra bed.

Poolside

The serene pool is reminiscent of the neighbouring Mawella Lagoon, with its sapphire hues and greenery-swathed setting. The sun-kissed restaurant terrace sits at the top of the pool, whose edges are flanked by tall palms, ivory sunloungers and the Iluk-grass-roofed cabanas. The pool is shallow from end to end, and open from 6am to 10pm.

Packing tips

Your sea legs for kayaking, swimming and surfing, and yoga kit for private beachfront classes.

Also

Staff can arrange in-room massages on request.

Children

Over-sixes are welcome. An extra bed can be added to the Standard and Deluxe rooms from US$30 a night, including breakfast; the Family Rooms each have a mezzanine bedroom, with a single or twin beds. Plus, there’s a kids’ menu at the restaurant.

Sustainability efforts

Community is at Halcyon Mawella’s core: they have set up the Mawella Foundation to conserve nearby beaches and mangroves, and support local villages with financial support and weekly business workshops. The hotel also eschews plastic and runs a recycling project for any pieces found along the shores; uses traditional and reclaimed materials, such as Iluk grass for roofs; has a kitchen garden with fresh produce, and makes its own all-natural bath products.

Food and Drink

Photos Halcyon Mawella food and drink

Top Table

Bag a spot by the pool’s edge, or for intimate meals away from onlookers, dine on your balcony or terrace.

Dress Code

Fresh out of bed or the pool flies at breakfast and lunch, but spruce up for dinner.

Hotel restaurant

The poolside restaurant takes colour cues from the water by which it sits: wooden tables are decorated with electric-blue; cobalt tiles adorn the floor, and turquoise lanterns are suspended above. Garden-fresh produce pairs with locally sourced ingredients, alongside an extensive wine and beer selection. At breakfast, opt for a Sri Lankan staple, such as string hoppers, or a comforting classic (we’re eyeing the almighty full English, washed down with a punchy Bloody Mary). Chef Varanga knows how to do it all, and lunch is a smorgasbord of barbecued meats, fusion dishes and light bites; dinner is laced with pan-Asian flavours, and fan favourites include a knock-your-socks-off Singhol goat curry and Tandoori-style fish.

Hotel bar

You’ll find the bar above the restaurant; an open-air space with greenery-framed views, white-washed wood and low, rattan chairs. Amiable board games become spirited while sipping the house tipple, a Halcyon Spritz (lime leaf vodka, prosecco and hibiscus syrup, made from hotel-grown botanicals), or one of the ‘usual suspects’ (gin and tonic, whisky sour, glass of wine). 

Last orders

The bar and restaurant are open daily, from 7am to 10pm.

Room service

You can order dishes and drinks to your room between 7am and 10pm, for no extra charge.

Location

Photos Halcyon Mawella location
Address
Halcyon Mawella
Kotuwaththawewatta Moraketiara Mawella
Tangalle
82200
Sri Lanka

You’ll find Halcyon Mawella between beach and palm trees in Sri Lanka’s rugged south, near Mawella Lagoon, tucked-away coves and coastal Tangalle.

Planes

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport is a one-hour drive from the hotel, and Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport is closer to three hours away by road; staff can arrange transfers from either from US$130 each way.

Trains

Sri Lanka is known for its scenic rail routes, which weave through tea plantations and verdant hillsides. You can chug from Anuradhapura, Colombo or Galle to Beliatta train station, which is a 30-minute drive away; the hotel can organise transfers from US$10.

Automobiles

Taxis, transfers and chauffeurs are easily arranged, but should you drive, there’s free parking at Halcyon Mawella.

Worth getting out of bed for

You’ll get a healthy dose of vitamin sea at Halcyon Mawella: it’s set on the fringes of the pristine Mawella Beach, which is one of few swimming spots on Sri Lanka’s craggy southern coastline. You can kayak on the lily-dotted Mawella Lagoon, catch red snapper or mahi mahi on a fishing charter, and borrow a bodyboard or paddleboard from the hotel. Snorkel or dive to protected reefs with nearby Ruhunu Dive Center, or head to ever-hip Hiriketiya, where novice and seasoned surfers tackle the breaks. You’re encouraged to join in with local projects at this community-centric retreat, and workshops include learning how to make soaps or pickles. Staff can arrange in-room massages, private yoga sessions and turtle-watching outings to Rekawa, as well as safaris in wildlife-abundant national parks. Market town Tangalle is a short drive away; history-rich Galle, with its boutiques and cricket stadium, is within daytripping distance.

Local restaurants

Overlooking a quiet cove, beach-edge Cactus Lounge Restaurant impresses with fuss-free seafood, traditional Sri Lankan fare and a generous side of ocean views. Intimate Break Point Restaurant encourages some ooh-ing and aah-ing: its picturesque perch above Unakuruwa Beach is screensaver-worthy, and just-caught fish is the centrepiece to most artfully presented plates.

Local cafés

Cool down in Pranaya Hiriketiya’s palm-shaded courtyard, before warming back up with a frothy latte. Loitering at laidback café Verse Collective on Pehebiya Beach means at some point you’ll turn from cappuccinos to cocktails.

Local bars

Set on a coconut-grove-lined beach, Smoke & Bitters has earned its stripes as a watering hole for discerning drinkers. Top-notch tipples are shaken up with local ingredients, and a crowd favourite is the Rum and Coke (homemade cherry cola, coconut foam, hibiscus and angostura bitters).

Reviews

Photos Halcyon Mawella reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this beachfront boutique hotel in Sri Lanka and unpacked their snorkelling kit and seashell necklaces, a full account of their slow-paced break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Halcyon Mawella in Tangalle…

At Halcyon Mawella, a coastal crashpad set on a primed-for-swims beach near Tangalle, you’ll be greeted by an unexpected duo: English owner Zander, who will regale you with his travel tales, and his ‘good boy’ Loki, a Rhodesian ridgeback.

They make a multicultural pair, but Sri Lankan tradition is at the heart of this intimate stay. The sandy setting is home to fishing villages and so your community-minded hosts steer clear of plastic and have set up the Mawella Foundation, which organises beach and mangrove clean-ups so that locals can continue to earn their livelihood.

The Iluk-grass-roofed cabanas are styled by local designers Tallentire House, the organic bath products are made at the hotel, and the restaurant and bar spotlight Sri Lankan dishes and ingredients (sample breakfast’s string hoppers or an afternoon aperitif perfumed with plants from the hotel’s garden). Green is the word at Halcyon Mawella — in style and spirit.

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Price per night from $177.00

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