De Saram House by Geoffrey Bawa

If you are a lover of Architecture, History and the arts, this villa is a must visit to experience the legendary Geoffrey Bawa’s original restoration of Druvi De Saram’s previous residence. It is now managed by the Bawa trust and has four rooms with a gorgeous courtyard. Although in the heart of the city, the property is very quiet and a perfect place to stay and relax whilst reading, writing or even working. The property is looked after by two kind and courteous staff members, Sujeewa and Anthony who ensured we were comfortable during our stay. The rooms and bedding, washrooms are clean and comfortable. I was allocated the room overlooking the entrance Courtyard and I personally prefer it to all the other rooms. Room is equipped with tea, coffee and a hot water kettle plus extra pillows, blankets and a working desk. The washroom has ample towels in various sizes. This is a bed and breakfast property, so you will have to enjoy your other meals from out. However this is not a problem at all since the location is in the middle of where many restaurants, bars and coffee shops are located. The music room is their most prized possession and is filled with books, art and a grand piano. You can choose to relax in this room and take in its beauty during your stay. Thank you for a lovely stay and looking forward to returning soon!

A fantastic hotel with first-rate service and an ever-present warm and genuine smile from the staff. Thank Sujeewa, Suraj, and Tharka for room service. They shared with us information about the hotel and its architectural influences by the great Sri Lankan architect, Geoffrey Bawa.  We highly recommend this hotel to both foreigners and locals alike, and will definitely be back soon!

The De Saram House ranks as one of the worst hotel experiences I have ever had, due exclusively to the awful hotel manager, Priyanka Tissev. Our family party of five had booked three rooms for one night ahead of a morning flight home and was sadly subjected to the most abhorrent customer service from the hotel manager Priyanka, who very sadly turned what is a truly special and beautiful Bawa home into an real nightmare and left our group with a scarred memory of what was otherwise a fantastic trip around the island. Having booked through ***********, we were unexpectedly informed at checkout that the hotel does not accept payment through the platform, as is typically done, nor via card payment, and would only accept cash payments. Needless to say if a hotel advertises rooms on ***********, it is unethical and inconvenient to then decline payment through the *********** website/app. The policy of cash-only payments is questionable at best, with a handwritten bill, and was not communicated by the hotel in advance. Even if this was made aware to us the evening of check-in we would have been able to take out cash to pay our bill. Due to daily international withdrawal limits, our party could not withdraw cash to pay at checkout. While we had provided full reassurance that our bill would be settled as soon as we returned home, even offering to deposit a gold bangle as a gesture of our commitment to cover the costs of the stay, Priyanka quickly escalated became nasty, offensive and condescending. A verbal altercation ensued, with downright insulting and sarcastic comments made by Priyanka. With a taxi waiting to take us to the airport, she then started to instruct the taxi driver in Sinhalese to leave the property, which would have rendered us helpless and almost certain to miss our international flight. Luckily the driver stayed out and we were able to leave the hotel having pacified Priyanka with repeated promises to pay the bill as soon as we could. Other issues included: - There is no wifi available in the upstairs rooms; wifi signal exists only in the common courtyard and downstairs accommodation. - Food (neither a restaurant, snack menu nor room service) is not available at the hotel (with the exception of a simple continental breakfast of fruits, fried eggs, toast and sausages, juice/tea/coffee. Guests are not provided any options in the breakfast menu. - The gate shuts around 11pm, and outside guests are not allowed into the property without hotel approval - Difficulty finding the hotel - there is zero signage on the street to indicate the location of the property - No fridge in the rooms to store/cool personal bottles etc - these have to be left in the kitchen refrigerator. - the property is best described as a Bed and Breakfast and not a hotel for the above reasons - the nightly rates as not cheap either - you can find a better hotel in the same area which offers much higher, refined guest hospitality at same or lower co

We checked in very late at 1:30am on a wet night, we were warmly greeted by Anthony it was no problem for him being so late, Anthony looked after us for 6 nights with his team. Our stay was one of the best experiences we have ever had we had beautiful and different breakfasts everyday. If you’re thinking about booking this style of accommodation just do it. A stay you will remember forever.

A fascinating place. The staff, however, were what made this a special stay in particular, Anthony. We were late arriving and had a very late departure for a 3 am flight and Anthony could not have been more accommodating and helpful. The room was large and comfortable. The breakfast of Sri Lankan omelette and sausage was very tasty.

I only managed to stay one night at De Saram House, which is a shame as I really liked the property. Admittedly it was initially somewhat hard to find it, but once you are inside, it is so calm and picturesque that it feels like an oasis from bustling Colombo. I have attached a bunch of photos to showcase the serenity of the place. Location-wise it is also excellent, being in a quieter neighborhood that is in walking distance from very nice cafes such as Caramel Pumpkin and Seed Cafe and restaurants such as Upali's. Room-wise it is large, quiet and well-appointed, though do not expect 5-star facilities such as phone in your room or a small fridge. Which leads to my main comment - despite its luxurious look, this is very much a small establishment run by just 2 staff members. It is not a 5-star hotel with expected services such as food and drinks available and staff service all day long. Price-wise it is also not the level of a 5-star hotel so those expectations are flawed from the start. Instead, what you get is a super beautiful estate and a well-appointed and quiet room, led by very kind staff members who try their best to help. I did have some initial wifi issues but they were resolved. Anthony was the person who attended to me at De Saram House, and he was professional, courteous and helpful - even when I had to check out a 4:45am to catch my flight. So if you know what to expect going in, this could be the perfect stay for you in Colombo .

I only managed to stay one night at De Saram House, which is a shame as I really liked the property. Admittedly it was initially somewhat hard to find, but once you are inside, it is so calm and picturesque that it feels like an oasis from bustling Colombo. I have attached a bunch of photos to showcase the serenity of the place. Location-wise it is also excellent, being in a quieter neighborhood that is in walking distance from very nice cafes such as Caramel Pumpkin and Seed Cafe and restaurants such as Upali's. Room-wise it is large, quiet and well-appointed, though do not expect 5-star facilities such as phone in your room or a small fridge. Which leads to my main comment - despite its luxurious look, this is very much a small establishment run by just 2 staff members. It is not a 5-star hotel with expected services such as food and drinks available and staff service all day long. Price-wise it is also not the level of a 5-star hotel so those expectations are flawed from the start. Instead, what you get is a super beautiful estate and a well-appointed and quiet room, led by very kind staff members who try their best to help. I did have some initial wifi issues but they were soon resolved. Anthony was the person who attended to me at De Saram House, and he was professional, courteous and helpful - even when I had to check out a 4:45am to catch my flight. So if you know what to expect going in, this could be the perfect stay for you in Colombo - I know that I personally truly enjoyed it.

We had a wonderful time! The staff was incredibly helpful and just lovely. The house is as gorgeous as you'd expect, Anthony gave us a great tour and made the best coffee we had the entire trip :) I hope we can come back one day!