Travel

Where the mangoes grow — luxury meets ecology and equality at Sri Lankan resort

Amba Yaalu Kandalama Hotel

Amba Yaalu Kandalama, a women-led retreat on the shores of Sri Lanka’s Kandalama Lake, offers a unique blend of culture, nature and social progress

IN THE lake-laced heart of central Sri Lanka, a new hotel boasts quite the distinction—it’s the country’s first hospitality complex entirely staffed and managed by women.

The Amba Yaalu Kandalama takes its name from a classic Sri Lankan novel about class, friendship and resilience. The story, by the writer Ilangaratne, has been translated into multiple languages and was made into a film in 1990.

Amba Yaalu Kandalama

The resort, acting on this inspiring story for its ethos, is set on a working mango plantation looking out across the Kandalama Lake towards the Sleeping Soldier Mountains.

The fact that this is a female run resort (but open to guests of all genders) might sound like a marketing gimmick, but on the ground it makes for something quite different — and quietly radical. The 33-room resort is part of the locally owned Thema Collection, known for mixing eco-conscious design with local storytelling.

Classic design

Here, the story spills into the spaces: walls in ochre and terracotta; organic textures throughout; little tributes to Amba Yaluwo’s characters in the form of book quotes, folklore motifs and quite a few ceremonial masks.

It’s also a good place to eat. The lake-facing BBQ terrace, Wawe Langa, does spicy grilled jackfruit, coconut sambols and grilled lagoon prawns — best ordered just before dusk. For a more casual daytime bite, the Yaka Bar serves native-ingredient cocktails (try the tamarind mojito or mango arrack sour) alongside things like turmeric flatbreads and chilli-dusted cassava chips.

The Bioscope terrace offers an organic, mostly vegan menu with Sri Lankan-Western crossover dishes: think beetroot cutlets, mung dhal burgers, and jackfruit tacos.

Days here can be as languid or as full as you like. Boat trips across Kandalama Lake are a morning favourite, with birdwatchers hoping for glimpses of the Sri Lankan junglefowl — like on of our domestic cockerels in fancy dress — or the improbably long-tailed Asian paradise flycatcher. You might even glimpse the wonderfully named Lanka Drongo.

E-bike tours, village walks and even hot-air balloon rides are also on offer — though many guests don’t get past the Ayurvie Spa, where Ayurvedic therapies are paired with yoga and dips in the infinity pool.

Ayurvie spa

The hotel is solar-powered, plastic-free, and set among more than 450 (and counting) mango trees—a detail that feels less like eco-bragging and more like a genuine lifestyle. This is, in the end, a place of quiet rebalancing. And in an industry still dominated by glossy, masculine mega-resorts, that feels like something worth travelling for.

Ayurvie spa

None of this is greenwashing. With properties across the island, the group aims to combine luxury with responsible tourism. They’ve definitely cracked it here by the gentle waters of Kandalama Lake.