Ulpotha

Rooms

The 11 adobe huts are dotted about the farm, often among fruit trees or natural woodland. Each has one bedroom – and these are bedrooms with a difference. Having no electricity, Ulpotha enlists the wind as air-conditioning and the only wall is behind the bed. The other three sides get their privacy from drop-down bamboo blinds and the low sweep of the woven palm-leaf roof, but are otherwise open to nature. There is nothing quite like falling asleep to the sounds of the tropical night, or the delight of waking in a comfortable bed to see hibiscus flowers, butterflies and brilliant green paddy fields almost close enough to touch.

Solo travellers share rooms but are carefully paired and people usually enjoy the company. There are also two family huts sleeping up to 6. Furnishings are stylishly simple and thoughtful, with built-in cupboards in the one wall and hanging antique baskets to act as containers for small items. Designer sheets and mosquito nets cover the beds and a curvaceous terracotta pot, topped with a coconut cup, provides pure spring water to drink. Piles of colourful floor cushions invite lounging beside a low table and joss sticks and an exquisite bowl of floating flowers add the finishing touches. At night, the houses are lit by glowing oil lamps.

Open-air showers are hidden behind palm-frond screens and, though unheated, are warm enough in Sri Lanka’s tropical climate. Toilet facilities are shared by groups of rooms but are immaculate, perfumed with joss sticks and too numerous to cause queues.

Guests are also encouraged to experience a night alone in one of the tree-houses, in the house on the lake or the summer house overlooking it, and to wake to sunrise on the water or amid the tree tops.

Features include:

• Mosquito net

Eating

At the heart of the village is a beautifully restored manor house with an open pavilion, reached by a long avenue. There you eat like a Roman Emperor, lounging on a wide bench, cushioned in jewel colours. Meals are a focus of activity and form the only fixed times at Ulpotha, with lunch served at about 1pm and dinner at around 7.30pm.

At meal times a huge mat of woven palm leaves is rolled out to cover the polished wooden floor. On this, four large palm leaf trays are placed, with twelve to eighteen simple but beautifully presented dishes. Guests pick up a traditional terracotta plate and help themselves, coming back for more as often as they like.

Ulpotha grows all its own food and all meals are vegetarian. The dishes are usually less spicy than most Sri Lankan food and a typical meal might include full-flavoured red rice, a curry of green mangoes in coconut milk, crisply fried poppadoms, daal (lentils) and a mixed salad, followed by fresh pineapple and buffalo milk yoghurt with kitul syrup – rather like maple syrup but from the flowers of the kitul palm.

You can rise as late as you like for breakfast, which includes local bananas, tea, scrumptious Sri Lankan nibbles and a tasty local soup, oddly called porridge. Snacks of fresh coconut and fruit are available throughout the day.

Features include:

• All meals included
• Organic produce
• Vegetarian options

Activities

• The 2-week yoga courses cover different disciplines and include daily classes in the open-sided pavilion or under the shade of the banyan tree in the garden
  
• Indulge in the steam baths, massages and hot oil treatments offered in the Ayurvedic centre. Full Ayurvedic programmes varying in length from one to four weeks are also available
  
• Head into the nearby mountains for walking, bird watching and climbing
  
• Borrow one of Ulpotha’s bikes and cycle to the nearest village, which has the bare necessities and a public phone
  
• Swim or paddle in the lake, read in a hammock in one of the summer houses or head to the main building to chat with other guests
  
• At certain times of the year guests can watch the rituals of traditional farming, such as the nights when rice is threshed by candlelight under the hooves of buffalo, as it has been for thousands of years
  
• If the mood is right Giles Scott, the charming business partner who runs Ulpotha most of the time, may suddenly suggest a party, with rugs and cushions laid out on the flat rocks by the lake ready for dancing in the moonlight to the music of the village band
  
• If you want to venture beyond the village for sightseeing, head to the Golden Temple of Dambulla – the largest and best preserved cave temple in Sri Lanka, with 157 statues and stunning murals
  
• Explore Yapahuwa – the hilltop remains of a 13th century kingdom with views across the countryside
  
• Visit Arankale – a mysterious 2000 year old Buddhist hermitage with architectural remains spanning many periods, surrounded by enormous trees festooned with eerie parasitic vines
  
• You could also head to Kandy, with its Temple of the Tooth and elephant orphanage, but it’s a long drive

Activities on site or nearby include:

• Ayurvedic treatments
• Birdwatching
• Cycling
• Hiking
• Historical sites
• Plantlife / flora
• Shopping / markets
• Spa treatments
• Steam room
• Swimming
• Traditional cultures
• Well being
• Yoga

Kids

Children are welcome, however there are no special facilities. Kids under 12 are charged 50% of the usual rate but are not permitted to attend yoga classes

For more family-friendly places, see our Kids Collection

Location

Ulpotha is in central Sri Lanka, about 30km west of Dambulla and 2 hours from Kandy.

By Air
Colombo Bandaranaike (140km) is the closest airport. Click on the links below for a list of airlines serving it.

From the Airport
Airport transfers to Ulpotha can be arranged by the hotel. The transfer takes about 3 hours.

Anyone planning to hire a cab would be wise to carry instructions for finding Ulpotha, as you cannot ring up to get guidance. Getting to Ulpotha by public transport is decidedly tricky. There are trains to a station not far away, but the station has no taxis, the trains can be wildly unpunctual and you can’t ring Ulpotha to ask to be picked up once you get there.

Getting Around
If you want to venture away from the village for sightseeing you can use one of Ulpotha's bicycles. Staff may also be able to hire vans with drivers for longer excursions.

More on getting to Sri Lanka and getting around