Mount Lavinia Hotel Reviews

Its a colonial place with a long standing reputation.

Elegant example of a classic modern hotel. Bar staff are very friendly!

Great Colonial hotel just out of Colombo. Genuine to its values. Rooms are older but in good condition. Would go back.

Reasonable buffet with a variety. Superb service by the staff. We can select the place we want to sit & have dinner by booking in advance.
It's a unique hotel with a romantic history. So many ancient things can be seen inside. Lovely photographic views all over the hotel.

Fantastic place with fabulous food. Highly recommended

Nice hotel but badly managed but the underpaid staff are pretty friendly and helpful if not super efficient! Trouble is it's full of rich snobs who don't really care about anything except themselves!

sea food restaurant on the beach is a must, just caught fish and shellfish on the menu

Historic place and amazing view (especially, on a moonlit night from the balcony hanging literally over the sea) but shabby, poorly maintained, even uncleaned; nonchalant, ill-trained, ignorant staff

With a history spanning over 210 years, Mount Lavinia Hotel Colombo is one of the oldest hotels in Sri Lanka. This premier colonial heritage hotel in Colombo has earned a reputation over the years for its magnificent structure and ambiance, the old world charm which harks back to the grandeur of old Ceylon, a romantic legacy left by the colonial Governor General who used it as his residence, the exceptional service offered by its well trained staff and its popularity as a venue for weddings.

Just finished business dinner with overseas visitors at fish grove and found the standard is well below 4star in service, food and environment what was six month before. It's high time that the management take firm action for a complete overhaul at this venue.

Amazing prestigious place with a breathtakingly beautiful view.

Old big hotel. At first glance, very impressive, but then declining sharply. Especially bad the changing rooms by the pool and the dirty hotel own beach (see photo). In addition, very loud due to various events in the hotel ... Only the very extensive and delicious breakfast buffet was fully convincing.

We usually come for the buffet, my favourite place in Colombo! Beautiful view, high standard service and food, beautifully furnished affordable price what else more than that?

Beautiful place. But service efficiency was poor. Looked like they were less staffed and busy.

Opulence, history, food, beach.. even the proximity to the city centre... All awesome.
...for a price.

Always over the past 30year has changed GRACEFULLY and kept up with the new and kept being entertaining the crowds!! And today was wonderful as The Hut gives a pledge to keep it open 6dsys a week and entertaining AL ages and Nationalities!!

This was the last hotel we stayed at on our webjet tour of Sri Lanka. All the hotels were pretty impressive but for me this was definitely the favourite. I loved the colonial feel and the architecture of the place as well as the romantic history about who Lavinia actually was. Our room was opulent with stunning views over the ocean with waves crashing against the rocks. I m only sad hat we only had one night here as there is much to explore both within and outside the hotel. It is next to a train station so easy to get out and about. The food, sumptuous buffet for breakfast and dinner was also amazing. I must say our two weeks with Journey Scapes was amazing and all the food we had in Sri Lanka was of a very high standard.

Love this place surrounded by natural environment

I just went for a dinner and had a nice cocktail. it was a awesome place to stay in evening with great view of sunset. you all must go there and take that experience too.

Great hotel for short stays. Located directly at the coastline, great views and a colonial touch.

The food we had was super delicious but a little too spicy. However the room quality was average. The service was good. The room is generally a little dark.

NIce Hotel. Having Beach side restaurant with delicious food and beverages.

Friday lunch was superb.. Varieties of foods like Sri Lankan, chinese and indian butindian doesnt taste much good but Sri Lankan all curries were really good such as chixken, malu abulthiyal.. Nice hotel great food..

Amazing pool area with incredible views, great bathrooms. Pricey.

Had lunch today in the Governer's restaurant. Had a decent lunch.Food was fine and had Sri lankan varieties as well. Can accommodate around 50 ppl inside and 25 near the pool area. It was bit hot on the outside.

OMG their breakfast is superb.. best way to enjoy your stay at the hotel.Vey clean place and tasty food with a lot of variety

This is a hotel with a special atmosphere worth choosing for the important events of your life. Here you will not find familiarity and cheerful servility. Everything is decorous and restrained, but the service is at the highest level. The premises are spacious, beautifully finished, the conference room is suitable for ceremonial receptions. A restaurant with a wide selection of dishes and exquisite presentation.
And of course, the special feature of this hotel is a sad love story that I want to tell you.

The Legend of the Mount Lavinia Hotel.









The butler continued his story. It was evident that he loves this story and is proud of his work.



I must admit that a little later I heard the same story from other lips, but only with a happy end. According to this version, Sir Thomas King reunited with his lover and lived happily with her until the end of his days. Apparently, the desire to embellish reality a bit lives in our blood - as a reward for patience, as a recognition of the triumph of love. But I like the first sad story more. What do you think about it?

One of the oldest hotels on a lovely location. Love the beach side!

Enjoyed our stay at mount lavinia. Beautiful and old hotel on a point overlooking downtown Colombo. The highlight was breakfast overlooking the city and ocean. Great selection of food including hoppers kiribath(milkrice), omelets. Felt like I could explore the breakfast options all day. I ate so much I often did not even need lunch. One small negative the downstairs hallway to the rooms is a bit damp and smells it. The rooms were clean with fabulous ocean views and did not smell like the hallways.

My second home. I love this place. Every time we visit Grandma in Sri Lanka, we always go to Mount Lavinia to swim and eat and the wonderful staff. You get weepy that you are so lucky in this world to be able to participate in something so nice. So blessed.

it is a very nice place to stay... you should stay at least once in your life time in this hotel...

While the view is great not a place I would recommend.

Service quality 2.5/5

The food, the ambiance & the chocolate coloured doorman ( He was a gentleman)!

I don't have words to explain about the foods I had in this hotel. If you go there I request you to bring some extra meals from outside or save some money to.have another meal at outside hotel. I recommend outside bazzar foods than this hotel. Specially at Governor's restaurant.

Near to every necessary places..... Friendly staff and service. the main thing is 'good food'.....

Good place for guests, but they are not thinking about drivers and helpers, It's very bad.

Famous very old Hotel, maintained the historic look, beautiful reception hall, good lighting, great place for weddings

Great breakfast buffet, value for money. We took our friends for breakfast here, they had a great spread, and was relatively cheaper compared to the other similar class hotels. The location, service etc are just worth it. I love Sri Lankan food, and I loved their Pol Rotti and Sambol. Tasty food with value for money!

So disappointing how a complain was handled by the manager of the event

Hotel ok but not 4 star beautiful beaches on the Indian Ocean

Mt Lavinia Hotel is teh best hotel I found in Galle face area, before new hotel came up on the Galle Face Front. Even though I didnt have a chance stay in this hotel, I had chance to have several dinner occassions. The grass area in front of the beach is very beutiful and giving breathing space and make you so relax. Invite you to be there for a while, which is not available for other 5 star hotels in Colombo.

Reception halls are majestic and the hotel has many locations for photo shoots

Great Location for an imperial style hotel and extremely helpfull and friendly staff

Real colonial history behind this hotel..Interior and rooms are bit dated. But the staff makes up for it. Good choices with breakfast buffet.

Built and Used in Colonial era and converted to a Hotel...

Best affordable buffet,they have a really good friday night barbeque and one of the oldest vintage hotels to stay with a rich history

Didn't stay at the hotel but went there a lot. The place is well built and has good restaurants and pool facility.