Need to know
Rooms
Six, of which two are private standalone cabanas. The lodge can also be booked for exclusive use.
Check–Out
11am. Check-in is 2pm. Early check-in and late check-out are accommodated when availability allows.
More details
Rates include breakfast in the communal dining area, or served in rooms on request. There’s a minimum stay of two nights, rising to three in peak season (mid-December to early January).
Also
Unfortunately, Tekanda Lodge is not accessible for wheelchair users.
Hotel closed
Many Sri Lanka businesses – including Tekanda Lodge – close for the month of June, when the southwest monsoon season is at its peak.
At the hotel
Free WiFi; free tea, coffee and fresh coconuts throughout the day. In rooms: air-conditioning, ceiling fan, rechargeable torch, Spa Ceylon bath products and fresh flowers from the Tekanda estate.
Our favourite rooms
Set a little apart from the main lodge, the conical cabanas offer more privacy than standard rooms. Our favourite – Cabana Kale – is a huge, airy space, handmade furnishings, a thoroughly inviting four-poster bed, and the occasional visiting gecko as standard. The semi-circular floating verandah, overlooking palm-tops and picture-postcard jungle, is an intimate spot for private starlit dining.
Poolside
The curvaceous emerald-green infinity pool overlooks jungle treetops that seem alive with colourful birdlife. There’s a smart stone deck for lounging and soaking up the view.
Spa
Massages and ayurvedic treatments are available on request. You can choose to receive your rejuvenating pummelling on the deck overlooking Lake Koggala, or in your room.
Packing tips
An island as storied as Sri Lanka inevitably produces some great fiction – try Anil’s Ghost by Michael Oondaatje, Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy, or The Village in the Jungle by Leonard Woolf for destination-led poolside reading.
Also
Achieve maximum zen at sunrise and sunset yoga sessions on the deck, available to book on request.
Children
Little Smiths aged six and over are welcome at the lodge, with some rooms able to accommodate extra beds (free up to age 12; £30 to £50 nightly for older kids). There’s a children’s menu and babysitting can be arranged with 24 hours’ notice.
Sustainability efforts
Once an intensively farmed coconut and tea plantation, the Tekanda estate is slowly returning to nature. Half of the 10-acre site has already been rewilded, and organic farming methods are in use for the cultivation of fruit, tea, cinnamon, pepper and coconut crops. The lodge itself is designed to maximise natural air flow, and was built using sustainable local materials including traditional thatch, the better to blend with the native rainforest. Solar power contributes the lion's share of energy needs, produce is locally sourced, and water comes filtered from the well. Tekanda Lodge has also taken steps to give back to the local community, founding, funding and co-managing an educational and vocational skills centre for women and children in nearby Kathaluwa, that includes a Girls Cricket Academy.
