GAYAN Guest House (Rent)

We don't usually stay in the hotel type of places but by the time we passed in front of it and since we have checked a couple of places before (one overpriced, the other smaller place had no one around to answer), we gave it a try and got an airy double fan room with balcony and sea view in the new wing for 2500. Hot water worked fine, mosquito net was in good shape, some long chairs were available for sunbathing on the beach front.

It was low season and I don't think there were more than 3-4 rooms occupied at the busiest day we were there. There's no light fixtures anywhere, that's weird considering someone took the time to paint the wall in three different colors following the junction with the ceiling... Anyway we weren't there for aesthetics.

Location wasn't bad, I needed to go to the bank and such, it was only a few minutes walk away. The beach isn't that wide at high tide though. We went for a walk further out and it gets bigger but windier as well.

They do receptions and banquet in there, so be aware of that. Nothing was going on during our stay so it was quiet and we slept well with the sea breeze coming in. There's the main building with restaurant across the street, seems older, no idea what the rooms are like in there.

We ordered breakfast on our last morning, it was pretty good but took a long time. Western style, 400 Rs per person.

And yeah, that bottle of water in the room wasn't complimentary, like someone else said. They'll charge restaurant price for it, 100 Rs.

The fan could not spin when the mosquito net was up. The bed was built for a midget so everything from my calves down hung off and hit the mosquito net. The pillows must have been rocks in another lifetime. The mattress had prickly things sticking up from it. The smell from the kitchen (which doesn't have great reviews) stunk out our room. The beach was just across the road though which was good. You can make up your mind as to how much you're willing to sacrifice for something near the beach...

Gayana was about the 6th place we checked out in Tangalle before agreeing to check in. The price at 2,500 rupees was reasonable, and the rooms were spacious, bright and airy - with a good-sized balcony overlooking the beach. All rooms have large comfortable four-poster beds with nets in place. The young lads that actually run the place are friendly and helpful, though we rarely saw the "actual" management.

The location for both beach and town is perfect, and if you like walking you can literally walk for hours along the beach eastwards from here. I wouldn't advise consuming anything at Gayana because of their inflated prices, but nearby is the excellent Breeze Guesthouse Beach Restaurant (surrounded by flaming coconuts in the evening), where you can eat and drink very well and very reasonably, in a beautiful beach setting.

On the beach itself, don't be surprised if you get roped into (pardon the pun) helping the local fisherman haul in their catch of fish (make sure to take a hat, as this can last a while...). If you go for a swim, avoid any rocky patches of beach as the waves can be quite unforgiving.

We actually returned to Gayana for an extra night, after a very underwhelming stay further up the beach at Palm Paradise Cabanas (see our other review).

Our driver from a tour dropped us here and asked if it was ok. It seemed good value at 5000 rupees a night B&B, a/c for 'double' room. Double rooms in Sri Lanka seem to be 2 singles pushed together. Our balcony was a decent size overlooking the beach. There were some ants in our room but they didn't give us any hassle! We generally only dealt with 1 young very smiley guy (check in / out & breakfast) and only saw the owner at the end of our 2 night stay when the money was to be handed over. He didn't deal with us at all but took the money from Mr Smiley! The towels we were given were a little threadbare as were the sheets to sleep under. The beds were comfy and the mosquito net covered the beds - which didn't happen in some other places we stayed. We had hot water when needed. It's a basic hotel so it surprised me to hear that it was so popular for weddings. Handy location on the beach and near to Tangalle (not much in Tangalla so we only stayed 2 nights) We ate across the road in the Wavy Ocean hotel which seemed to have a better atmosphere. It seemed as though the one young guy was running the place single handedly so for that I have to recognise his efforts - he was very friendly and sweet. We arranged a driver from here to Unawatuna through the hotel which cost 10000 rupees as it would be at least 2 hours there. However our driver got us there in under 90 mins with a cheesy Backstreet Boys soundtrack. We didn't mind getting there sooner but did feel a little ripped off by the taxi.

Sono stato pochi giorni in questa guest house,ma posso dire di essere molto contento della scelta.Si affaccia sul mare,e il personale è sempre a disposizione.Questa guest house,offre anche molti servizi:ristorante,wifi,servizio taxi.Da provare

We ended up here by default as we bailed out of Ella early due to the poor weather conditions at the time. After trying two hotels in Tangalle which were full our driver took us to this one.We were shown a room which had old decor but faced the sea.Being fed up with travelling we reluctantly decided to stay as it was only for one night as we were heading for Unawatuna the following day.The owner obviously thought we could afford it because he charged us Rs5000 for a night with no air con. Not Rs2000 like the previous review.The hotel was noisy with a wedding going on. We were later to understand from another source that the hotels core business is weddings and not tourism.We went for a walk to avoid the noise from the wedding.The room was a decent size but grubby.Only some of the lights worked and all were just on wire coming out of the walls or ceiling without and proper fittings. there was no hot water in the shower, no soap etc. We had to ask for a top sheet for the beds.Being lazy we decided to eat at the hotels restaurant which was over the road.We left the food when it was eventually served as it was as terrible as the 'service'. We left the following morning without breakfast as they wanted to charge us extra for it.We thought that this was the worst place we had ever stayed at.

Cost – Rs2000 per night no air con (Rs3500 quoted for air con)

Location – When we first arrived in Tangalle we got a tuk tuk up to the west area of town(Goyambokka) as the Rough Guide suggested there were some nice accommodation options up there. However we weren’t really very impressed with that area, you have no views or concept of being near the sea and the accommodation was very expensive for what it was (basic old fashioned Beach cabanas for Rs9000 – no thanks!). So we decided to head to this side of the town (Long Beach) which was supposed to be more budget friendly. There is indeed a long beach with guest houses sprinkled on both sides of a very quiet side road / track. Perfect!
Yes you can’t swim in all spots along the beach due to the strength of the waves, but you can swim in a good few parts and the beach is really beautiful and quiet. You can also walk for quite a distance on the beach uninterrupted. There are also some nice beach shacks on the beach to get a coca cola and some great places to eat right by the hotel. In addition at Gayana you are located only a 5 min walk from the centre of the town and although the town itself doesn’t offer much there is an excellent kotthu stand on the bridge that does amazing hoppers, rice and curry and the usual.

Room – Gayana was one of the first ones we looked at on the beach and at RS2000 we were very impressed – right on the beach, nice spacious rooms with new large beds with four poster style mosquito nets. Good and very clean although I suppose a little old fashioned in décor. We had a wonderful balcony overlooking the sea and lay in bed listening to the waves crashing on the beach. There was also a see breeze so although we could have been tempted by air con we really didn’t miss it.

Friendliness - Our stay at Gayana was hugely relaxing and enjoyable mainly due to the staff - Prabath was one of most efficient and helpful people we met in Sri Lanka, and the hotel should be very proud of the work he does. He seemed to almost run the hotel single handedly and nothing was ever too much trouble. At one stage our toilet stopped flushing and one of the lads that worked there came to look at it straight away and fixed it within 5 minutes. You simply can’t ask for more than that. We were so impressed I have dropped an email to the hotel manager to say how proud he should be of his staff.

Food - we only tried a few things, pancakes, toast and also the sri lankan fried rice, but all were very nice and reasonable. Having said that the beers are fairly expensive (Rs400) compared to other places, especially considering you need a pay a 10% service charge on top

we stayed at the hotel above the wedding hall right on the beach for 2500Rs/night. the room was good for the price and clean enough, with hot water and a huge balcony. we were happy until the day we left when they presented a bill including 100 Rs for a 1L bottle of water in the room (without notice that it was not complimentary, thank god we didn't use it, at every other place we've stayed at the provided water was complimentary) plus 10% service charge (which ist never added to a room in the budget price range in sri lanka). we just told them that we wouldn't pay for it and they only ended up charging us for the agreed room price. we guess they just "tried". we think it's a really bad way of doing business and it should not be supported. i hope the boss changes his attitude. the guys working for him were actually pretty nice and friendly. we have watched the boys cleaning the bosses big car while he was sitting in a chair watching them.....

For rs 1500 a night it was great. Directly opposite the beach and we had 2 balconies and hot water. couldn't want more for that price.

abbiamo prenotato 3 notti al gayana guest house, ma siamo scappati dopo la prima notte.
la colpa non è dell'hotel.....
dopo 3 giorni a trinco eravamo consapevoli che il mare a tangalle sarebbe stato un po' mosso, ma quando siamo arrivati abbiamo constatato che stare in spiaggia era praticamente impossibile.
mare costantemente mosso con onde altissime,fare il bagno sarebbe stato molto pericoloso.
altra pecca è che non c'era ombra di turismo, lungomare con praticamente tutti i ristoranti chiusi.

comunque il gayana guest house non era per niente male,personale gentilissimo stanze grandi e pulite prezzo onestissimo.

se decidete di andare a tangalle nel periodo ideale scegliete ad occhi chiusi questo hotel !