Review of The Lagoon Villa
Reviews from our community
67 reviews
29 hotel reviews
52 helpful votes
The photos on the villa website do most of the talking and are accurate. I agree with most of the other reviewers' positive comments so won't duplicate these now.
What I like about this place is that it is away from the main center, about 15 mins by Tuk Tuk. 800-1000 rupees one way. The villa is located in a real, living Sri-Lankan community, which for me is far better than being set in the hub-hub of the tourism down the road. This brings a few issues that some will not like: the drive into town, dogs barking from the next door garden (they have one in a run) which woke us up a few times at 6 am.
We were not expecting a live-in gardener. This nice old man lives in a small room next to the house. He spends his time wandering about tending the garden and helping with washing up etc. I didn't mind this but if you want complete privacy, this is not the place for you.
There is also a house manager called Narlin. He is great. he lives close by and does all the beds and towels when you need it. He owns a Tuk Tuk and takes you into town to shop or will do it for you. He also cooks if needed. For us he organized a boat trip round the lagoon. He is a real asset to the property but he faces an uphill struggle with the very low standard of cooking equipment...
This was the major set back. For such a big, expensive rental we expected a decent level of kitchen kit. I have uploaded a few still to illustrate. In short, the cooking utensils were a disgrace to the property.: Dirty, worn-out chopping boards, cheap blunt kitchen knives,oven plug needed changing to work, grubby waste bin, no cooking apron.
The Bar-b-q should be scrapped. We had to operate this using pliers!
Another note of caution: the water pressure is low which makes upstairs showering a slow process. The bath is redundant as it would take about an hour to fill.
This could be sorted by installing shower pumps. I doubt this will happen as it seems the owner will not spend the money, if the kitchen is anything to go by.
It's a great shame this place is let down my such basic details. The kitchen is huge, so cooking should be an enjoyable experience here.
The pool was clean during our visit. The garden was tidy and grass was green.
Air-con worked fine. Only in bedrooms but crazy to expect air-con in every room in this climate.
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4 reviews
4 hotel reviews
3 helpful votes
I had an amazing time at the Lagoon Villa. It has a large garden, decent size pool and well furnished rooms. It had all the amenities we required, and when we realised we had forgotten to bring some items, the kind caretaker was more than willing to go to the town and buy it for us. We had no complaints during our stay!
One point to note however is that it is quite a distance away from the popular beach road (about 20 mins car ride), which means a vehicle is needed to get around, especially if you want to try out the food at the many eateries in Negombo (recommended).
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117 reviews
13 hotel reviews
64 helpful votes
This was one of the best holidays ever. We enjoyed everything about the villa but the very best thing is Rodney the butler. I have been telling all my girlfriends at home they don't need a husband they need a butler. Rodney magically knew what we needed before we did. My husband and I were holidaying with my 80 year old mother and she fell in a big way for Rodney who took extra care of her, plying her with tropical fruits and making sure she was comfortable and happy.
The Villa is lovey with everything you could need, except a washing machine. Although Rodney was able to take some things to a near by laundry. We never used things like the TV but I am sure they were fine. The views and the surroundings are what we spent time looking at.
It is a bit away from the town but an excellent driver is available. We went to the elephant orphanage and would recommend that but it is hot so be prepared for standing about in the heat. But getting up close and personal with baby elephants is worth it.
Yes things go wrong but the staff try and fix quickly.
I would recommend this property highly
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6 reviews
3 hotel reviews
2 helpful votes
I stayed in the villa for one day & night before my wedding. My family stayed in the villa for the duration to their trip to Sri Lanka (2 weeks) and they were nothing short of amazed with this wonderful peaceful villa. I experienced excellent food and a very friendly and helpful attitude from the well spoken housekeeper Rodney who went above and beyond to ensure the trip was enjoyable, relazing and provided many helpful recommendations to my family so they could experience some real Sri Lankan culture; safe in the knowledge that tour guides he reccomened were safe and experienced. I stayed in the villa with my 18 month old son, and it was superbly kept, brilliantly clean with a wonderful pool and garden (backing onto the picturesque) lagoon for all the family to enjoy. The villa is not far from the busy town of Negombo, so quiet enough for those looking for a relaxed trip and close enough for those looking for an active sightseeing trip. The villa is beautifully and simply designed, definitely a 5* quality holiday destination. I couldn't recommend this villa highly enough.
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18 reviews
11 hotel reviews
9 helpful votes
The villa is just as gorgeous as it looks in the pictures, with tonnes of spaces inside, luxury bedrooms and individual bathrooms. Rodney the butler was amazing - helping us to plan trips into town and a boat ride, plus cooking fantastic breakfast with something new every day.
Unfortunately, there was a problem with the electrics one day and the BBQ was out of order. Also, the airport is close by so if the occasional plane really bugs you, then be aware of that. However, we didn't mind really as lying by the pool in the sunshine was excellent. There was plenty of room to have others round to visit as we had family staying nearby and the Jetwing Lagoon was a 5/10 minute walk when we wanted a meal out one night.
All in all, a really lovely holiday and I would definitely recommend this villa to anyone looking to have a relaxing holiday, but who might want to venture into town now and again to see some of the local culture.
| Overall condition of the property | Bedding & mattresses |
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| Friends getaway | Older travelers |
| Families with young children | Large groups |
- Was the property as advertised?
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- Was it a good value for the price paid?
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29 reviews
11 hotel reviews
15 helpful votes
the villa itself is perfect but the facilities and services are almost NONE, I booked the villa from booking.com after seeing the reviews from tripadvisor.com, they don't provide any meals as they said, we mentioned in our booking that we need the meals to be included in our stay, when we arrived the butler was not ready for us (he didn't expect any check ins !!!!), he made us some eggs to "fill our hunger" as he said, the swimming pool was not clean and its filter was not working until I asked for it, the owner has a contract with a company to run the villa and the manager of this company is very rude, he doesn't know anything about good customer service. the grass of the villa is not green as they show in the picture, it is yellow because nobody is taking care of it, the villa doesn't have a washing machine and we had to go home with our dirty cloths, there is no BBQ as they said the grill is out of order, the AC in the TV room is not working, if you need anything you have to buy it from the market, they only provide the beds !!!.
the most important thing is that there is no security in the villa at all, they have only one butler and one gardener (very old man) and the villa is in the middle of nowhere
| How easy was it to book the property? | How helpful were the directions to the property? |
| How easy was key pickup/access to the property? | Overall condition of the property |
| Bedding & mattresses | Kitchen & utensils |
| Bathroom cleanliness | Other facilities & amenities |
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1 review
1 helpful vote
Stayed here for 2weeks over Christmas and New Year, cannot say anything bad about the place. When we arrived we were wowed by the villa it is huge and got everything you could possibly need. Very calm and relaxing also, maybe a little too far out but we enjoyed the local transport and haggling for tuk tuks !!! Rodney the butler was truly amazing , what a lovely man who will help with anything, I totally enjoyed his cooking classes , the kids were so sad to say goodbye to him. Rodney will organise transport, food, local information, he is the best ! Will Defo return here we were so sad to leave.
