Super comfortable, excellent friendly staff, lovely premises with lots of space to relax both within our room and in shared areas. Enough sun loungers for all guests, and the staff were happy to take loungers and umbrellas to the beach (across the railway line) which is a lovely option. Even better was the discount we received for booking at the last moment .. after being disappointed by another hotel we had chosen for our beach stay and cancelling, Taru Villas was a perfect balm for our souls! Only small warning is that this is a small hotel and so the menu for evening meals is limited in choice, although we found the food to be excellent and served with immaculate presentation.

Taru Villas The Long House was a wonderful place to stay. It was at the end of our holiday. I had arrived with a poorly tummy and the staff were fabulous. They cooked me some plain foods, made me a special honey sorbet, got me some over the counter medication and were generally very kind and caring. The rooms were beautiful and the food was great, the other 3 people in my party thoroughly enjoyed it! Thank you so much.

The hotel is lovely, the facilities very well maintained, beautifully decorated, cosy and spotlessly clean. The bed was one of the most comfortables I have ever slept on with very soft sheets. However, the service is just not the same level which was quite a dissapointment. It was the 8th property we stayed at in Sri Lanka, by far the most expensive, but the service level was almost the lowest which was shocking. One general example: we had researched a restaurant and asked if they could call and make a reservation for us, their reaction: "Why? Dont you have Whatsapp?" But the most upsetting was our dinner: we decided we wanted to stay in and asked for the dinner menu at 5pm, they said it wasnt ready yet. They brought it to our room at 5.45pm, there were like 5-6 items on the menu. We chose a salad as a starter, chicken as a main and tortellini for our 3 year old son mentioning we would like to eat at 6.45pm. They said this was too short notice, it cant be done before 7.15pm. We were quite surprised but asked to at least get the tortellini ready for our son within that hour. They were openly not happy about this request but accepted. We already felt "annoying". Arrived at the restaurant 6.45pm, our starters were ready but not our son's food. It was ok because he enjoyed our salad but it was again just not understandable for us. The food was really delicious but the experience ruined it. Finally the dessert issue: there was a chocolate dessert with coffee ice cream on the menu. We asked if we can swap the coffee ice cream with vanilla, explaining it twice more to be sure it was understood but after our food they wanted to only serve the ice cream. When we explained we also wanted the chocolate part, he laughed in an annoyed way and when he brought it said:"so, are you happy now?" I didnt know how to react in that moment but this is far from a good guest service. I have worked in hotels for over 10 years myself, always putting the guest first, stayed in many hotels in over 30 countries but was rarely made feel this "annoying". This is such a pity for such a lovely property.

The hotel is great, but the service isn’t great. While we were here, they hosted a private dinner party for external guests in main outside area of the hotel, and leading up to the night their service was very substandard: eg 1: waiting for 10 minutes for a towel by the poolside after swimming, even though this was before 7 pm and not that late for the serviceable time for the staff. Eg 2: Called asking for a water refill for the room earlier in the evening, nobody answered, and then called again later in the evening and was told that they’ll send it in 20 minutes and then nobody comes and then I go down to the reception myself to ask for water, and can clearly see all the staff attending to the private dinner party’s entrance, and even thereafter it took like 5 minutes for the water despite me being over their head.

Beautiful place, great location, the train that passes through the property makes it unique, too. Can only recommend !