Club Hotel Dolphin - fun in the sun (Hotels in Sri Lanka in general)

Member Name: depurple2

Product:	Hotels in Sri Lanka in general
Date:	03/10/06 (1872 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Food was great, beautiful sunsets, helpful staff, nice swimming pools

Disadvantages: Bugs, no TV in room, not really near many tourist attractions

Club Hotel Dolphin is located in a small village called Waikkal, which is just over an hour from the capital city Columbo, and about half an hour from the main International airport. Waikkal is a fishing village, but the making roof tiles is another industry in the area.

Club Hotel Dolphin has 146 rooms. 76 of these are in the main building. I didn't go in there, so I can't comment properly on these rooms, but I believe they are more luxurious - they are certainly more expensive.

The other 50 rooms aren't so much rooms, but mini-cottages, which are spread out around the grounds. They may not be so posh as the rooms in the main building, but they are a lot more private, and each one had it's own patio with a table and chairs. Ours had a beautiful sea view.

Inside the cottage, there was the main bedroom, and an en-suite bathroom. The bathroom was interesting as it was partially open-air. The roof went across the part of the room with the loo and basin in it, but the shower had mesh instead. This meant that when it rained, it rained in the shower, which was quite strange.

The room was quite basic - it had a double bed, a table and chairs and a desk and chair. The double bed was in fact two single beds pushed together, which wasn't as comfortable as a proper double bed would have been. The floor was tiled, so if you didn't have slippers your feet got cold! There was no TV, or tea/coffee making facilities or minibar. There was a radio built into a console above the bed. This console also controlled the air conditioning, which worked well but was a bit noisy.

The biggest problem with the room was the bugs. I wouldn't recommend staying there if you're squeamish (or in fact going to Sri Lanka at all!) The hotel staff lit mosiquito repellent coils each evening which helped, and after a couple of nights of being bitten we asked for a mosquito net, which improved things greatly. The bathroom had a line of ants walking up the wall each morning, all though this problem was taken care of by the gekko that lived behind the light!

The electical supply in Sri Lanka is 240v, but the plugs are 3 pin with round holes, and I couldn't find an adaptor anyway. In the end, the hotel staff made a European adaptor work by sticking a pen top in the third hole. I'm not sure I would recommend this though!

We were staying on an all inclusive package. We got breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon snacks and drinks. The only thing that wasn't included was wine. They will try to sell you this, but if you buy it watch out - they will add tax on without telling you first.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner were served in an enormous dining area. This was semi-open air - it had a proper floor and roof but no walls. It did have netting to keep the birds out though.

The savoury food was fantastic - there was always a huge variety of dishes, both Sri Lankan and western. Breakfast had the usual cereal, toast and fruit, along with local food like string hoppers (a bit like noodles) and curry. Lunch and dinner were a variety of currys and other dishes, with bread and vegetables. There was always a mince dish each day - we had fun trying to guess what it would be - Lasagne? Bolognese? Macaroni with mince?

The desserts were mostly fabulous looking moussey cake type things - they all tasted the same though. I didn't eat much or them because they sometimes had flies on them as the dining area was open.

One morning, we had an excursion, and we had to get up at 4.30am. We wondered what we were going to eat, but this was not a problem. The staff got up early and did us a basic breakfast of fruit and toast, and packed us lunch boxes to take with us.

There was also a bar, which served a variety of cocktails, many of them containing the local alcohol of choice, arrack. This doesn't really taste of anything, but is very strong, so you have to be careful how much you drink.

The hotel has 2 pools - one which is very large and zig-zag shaped, and a smaller oval one. The large one has a volleyball net in it, and is usually noisier. The hotel provides towels for the sunbeds (you get a re-useable token when you arrive), and there are plenty of sunbeds to go round.

There are some basic sporting facilities - a tennis court and a squash court, and you can borrow bikes to ride into the village, or kayaks to paddle on the canal next to the hotel.

The hotel is next to the sea, but it doesn't have a beach, more a big wall of rocks. There is a small public beach right next door, but the sea is too rough for swimming. The beach has an "Asda" and a "Tesco". This is what they call themselves, but in reality they are both beach huts selling postcards, sun screen, trinkets and a whole variety of ripped-off designer clothes. They will even sew the clothes to fit while you wait.

The hotel has a beauty salon, which is difficult to find as it is underground. There are some steps near the large swimming pool to get there. It is a bit dingy, but for the basics it is OK. I had a pedicure, which was about £9. I wouldn't have anything more complicated than that though, as I'm not sure how qualified the staff are. They don't use salon quality products either.

The staff at the hotel are lovely, and try to help in any way they can. Many of them seem to have English names - our house boy was called Samantha. Most of the staff speak basic English.

I would go back to Club Hotel Dolphin, but I would probably stay in a room in the main building to avoid the bugs.

Summary: If you can stand bugs, this hotel is definitely worth a visit.