The Sanctuary at Tissawewa

We were really looking forward to splashing out on a stay here, as it looked beautiful and was well reviewed. However, we had a very rude reception by staff who had clearly lost our prepaid booking, and tried to shunt us to an inferior room than the one we’d booked. The rooms were pretty run down and the bathroom was not well cleaned. However, the property itself was very atmospheric and historic and had its own charm, and the garden is lovely. There is no swimming pool, and it is quite hot in Anuradhapura, so if that is important to you I would stay elsewhere. The food options were limited but they were generously portioned and tasty. We emailed several days before arriving inquiring about local tours but never got a response, and once we arrived we asked staff again about getting a guide to visit the sacred city, but they were unhelpful. We ended up organising it ourselves at the site, but were surprised that a hotel with an alleged in-house travel agent couldn’t be of more help. They did let us use the hotel bicycles for free, but they had flat tyres and the gears didn’t work. Overall I’d say the hotel is overpriced for what’s on offer, we stayed at far cheaper hotels in Sri Lanka that were much cleaner and better managed.

A charming colonial style hotel set in beautiful grounds with excellent service and fantastic food. Ideally placed for visiting Anuradhapura. Large rooms and great bathrooms. It is dry so no alcohol in the restaurant.

A beautiful sanctuary surrounded by gorgeous gardens. It has the grandeur of a colonial house; sitting on the verandas you could imagine you were going back in time. What makes this hotel so fabulous is the wonderful staff, truly dedicated to making your stay perfect.

The location is very peaceful and calm. Peacocks and monkeys are all around. The garden has many older trees with good energetic atmosphere. Many stupa at walking distance. The meals are very good and maintenance of the rooms are also good. At the downside, the rooms are smaller and hence you must opt for this only of you do not plan to stay inside across the day. Rooms has no view of the surroundings unless you open up windows. But this is in fact the most calm environment in any of the good resorts at anuradhapura. So, for the ones looking at relaxation at sub optimum comfort, this is the place. Absolutely no sound from vehicles around.

We had a really bad experience at the Sanctuary at Tissawewa. I would avoid this hotel at all cost. We booked online, at the hotel's own website, well ahead. No confirmation email was provided. An email exchange with the hotel convinced us that the booking exists. The day of arrival, our guide called ahead to agree arrival time, but the hotel did not answer the phone. Upon arrival, they did not have our booking. They also claimed their internet as well as phones were down (this news was delivered without any apology). They did find free rooms for us, however these were different (ground floor, no windows, noisy) and still they insisted on full price to be charged. The wood floors are creaking a lot. The food experience is also annoying, you have to decide your dinner and breakfast choices well ahead of time, which is certainly unexpected at an establishment that pretends to have this level. The hotel building is pretty for sure, and the surrounding park is nice. However, in total, considering the lack of attention of management, careless service, bad internet, a noisy night of no rest, limited food, and the high price, this is an experience best avoided.

We booked the hotel on 26th December 2023 for six full board packs for one night. it was informed that we were coming for lunch. When we arrived at the hotel at 11.30am they informed us that the rooms can be given at 2pm and for us to wait. So we were fine with it and said till then will have lunch. At 12.30 when we asked if the lunch is ready we were told by the receptionist that the lunch is served at 3pm! we were shocked and asked if it’s the closing time but he very boldly said its at 3pm. when we called the manager in charge he informed us that it was ala-carte and for us to order ! more than twice we informed them in Shihalese we were coming for lunch! from the time we arrived no one offered us a welcome drink nor did they bother to give us the menu to order. I’m really surprised that this hotel has survived this far with this no care attitude!! The staff was blaming each other for the mishap and was not apologetic at all. We were tired after our long journey and it was a terrible experience .Therefore we will not recommend this hotel to anyone for not having proper customer care nor common sense!

A lovely 2 nights at the Sanctuary. A beautiful old colonial building in huge private grounds, and there are two things we particularly liked about it. The first are the very friendly and caring staff. The second is the fact that you can walk to some of the key sites from here, which to do so in the evening is really special.

This was our 3rd time here. As always, the staff were super helpful and polite. The location is amazing if you wish to see the temple. It’s built in old colonial style, which is cute. However, I feel it’s gone from authentic/rustic old charm to just tired and run down. My biggest disappointment was the level of cleanliness: the bathroom area was not very clean and our fridge was covered in mould on the inside and around the seal. I had to clean before use. We were made to think about breakfast at dinner and dinner at breakfast so to pre order. Not major but I may have made different choices otherwise. Plates were being rushed away as soon as your fork was down and whilst others in the group were still eating. It felt hurried always. Food choice is very limited but very nice, and no alcohol is allowed due to the hotel being so close to the temple. I felt saddened by the change in the place, such a shame and so much potential too! All that said, we still appreciated the staffs efforts.

Avoid at all costs!! Made a reservation via their website and as I didn’t receive a email confirmation I called the hotel , then they confirmed the booking. We checked in in the hotel around 5 pm with no issues and then once went out and came back to hotel around 11 and then they were saying that there is no booking and asked for cash payment. We have paid to them via their website and showed the payment confirmation as well, however they treated us as who are thieves who were trying to stay at their place without paying. How can we pay cash while we have already made the payment via card, very unprofessional and highly disappointing. Their manager was saying that the price of the double room was 17,000 but it was clearly mentioned in their website as 15,450 as you seen in the screenshot. Luckily there was another hotel, rajarata who accepted us at mid night and we were able to check in their.