Amaya Lake Dambulla is five stars in hospitality, including rooms, food, location, premises and staff.  The restaurant offers a delicious set menu and a buffet with local and international food. Reserve half board/breakfast and dinner, or have breakfast included. The breakfast buffet with fresh omelettes, juice and waffles was a highlight. I also enjoyed a delicious dinner by the pool with a special menu, which I highly recommend. The views of the mountain and the lake, and I mean it, are truly stunning. The grounds, gardens, and pools are perfectly maintained, and the staff is helpful and happy. I was honoured to meet the General Manager (Mr Amith), who looked after me during my stay. Mr Amith was highly professional and talented. I also met the Food and Beverages Manager (Mr Tennekon), who organised a fantastic dinner under the direction of the General Manager. I also met the Assistant Food and Beverages Manager, who helped me with essential enquiries during dinner, and Ayesh and Imeisha were both super helpful during breakfast and dinner. The Ayurvedic massage, a unique feature of Amaya Lake Dambulla, was a standout experience. What made it even more impressive was that it was supervised by an Ayurvedic doctor, adding a layer of authenticity and trust. The pools are great, and one has a bar. The pools are good for swimming, and kids must be supervised even though there is plenty of staff to assist you. Lastly, the hotel's strategic location, nestled near the safaris and a stone's throw away from the magnificent temples and mountains, offers a perfect blend of convenience and tranquillity, ensuring a memorable stay. I look forward to returning soon!

Amayal Lake is a remarkable hotel harmoniously integrated into the dense green, opulent surroundings. Indulge in pure relaxation and tranquility at this retreat, an ideal destination to conclude your vacation. The hotel boasts an array of facilities conducive to relaxation, ensuring an unforgettable stay. We spent two nights at the property and enjoyed an abundance of activities. The rooms blend seamlessly into the natural environment, though occasional encounters with insects are understandable. We highly recommend this place and eagerly look forward to revisiting in the future.

The property is right next to the lake, where there is swings, treehouse , it is a very nice property. The staff are very friendly , the room is incredibly comfortable and clean! I highly recommend it.

The massage service is not worth it as it is old and the overall experience such as the smell of the oil is not great. We would have loved to have a tour in the premise as we didn’t see the other pool, it would have been nice to take us around. Make sure to exchange your money prior to arriving to the hotel as their exchange rate is low and they are not transparent about it.

We got upgraded on arrival. The rooms were brilliant, spacious, and clean. The location of the resort is great, the lake is beautiful and there is plenty of nature to explore. If you like walking this is the place for you (there are carts if you don't want to walk). There is a lot of wildlife and the main building for the hotel is stunning. The food at the venue is good, the breakfast is even better. We entered the hotel after a long night of driving and the service was brilliant. A 4.5-star hotel. You get more than what you are paying for.

Ordering from à la carte took forever. It's better to just go with the buffet. The food is good! But not 5-star level just yet. There is only one restaurant at the venue, so if the hotel is busy you might have to wait around to get a table. Everything else was perfect.

We enjoyed our 2 nights stay at this beautiful hotel. The location is really nice and the land is huge with a lake and many beautiful animals to spot like monkeys, birds, squirrels, mongoose..it connects you to nature. The staff were very nice and helpful, always smiling and gives you whatever you ask for. We were in the delux room the first night but there was lots of insects in the room and when I told them they immediately moved me to a better room (suite). The pools are great with nice views and calm surroundings.

The food was not good and not to our taste. The breakfast buffet, lunch buffet and dinner buffet looked all the same for us with lots of srilankan/asian food and rarely any international options. Some of the food didnt taste good and didnt taste fresh. If they improve their food they will definetly be 10/10

This is a huge property, right beside the Kandalama reservoir. The rooms are really good, but most rooms are a bit far from the restaurant area, need assistance from and to the rooms from the reception area. The staff are fantastic, very helpful. There are a lot of monkeys, so need to keep the door closed all the times. The resort itself has many beautiful things to explore, the walk along the lake nearby felt really amazing. There are cricket enthusiasts playing the game along the lake side. Have a few swings along the lake side as well. You can relax and unwind . We had Half board option , and the dinner was excellent- with big variety of dishes to choose. The breakfast was also good, but as the resort is huge , and caters to big tour groups, breakfast area was pretty busy, need to go early to find space to sit and dine. Overall, well impressed, and recommended Sigiriya Lion Rock is around 30 minutes drive from the resort

less buggy cars for the transfer

The grounds are very large, so it's very convenient having little buggies available to drive you to your room. We also got upgraded which was a lovely surprise to a lovely big spacious room. The two pools are great, staff were amazing and so friendly. We were also able to book an elephant safari through the hotel and it was a seamless pick up and great service.

We organised a takeaway lunch to take with us on the safari, unfortunately the kitchen was late by about 20 minutes and delayed our tour for the safari. Luckily we were the only customers on the tour otherwise it would have greatly inconvenienced the trip or resulted in us having to leave the food behind.

A large hotel mainly catering to large tour groups . The grounds are immaculately kept, directly on the side of the lake. Rooms are very spread out in the beautiful grounds but buggies transport you. You have to order bacon - it’s delicious & delivered to your table but nobody tells you that. Our room and bathroom was beautiful, very clean . The second pool is very quiet .

Can get busy and food not replenished fast enough after large groups. Some restaurant staff were helpful but laying tables was haphazard and a curious reserving of prime tables for guests “who were staying 9 nights” was very annoying- we never saw them (do they pay more and so entitled to better treatment? Are 3 night guests less important?) . Allow extra time for calling buggies as during busy or quiet times it may take longer. The second pool only has 6 beds! More are needed there.

As someone who loves nature, this is one of my favourite hotels in Sri Lanka. A perfect place to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of the cities and recharge. 50 acres of the sanctuary is a wonderful place to have a quiet stroll whilst listening to nature. The staff are extremely well trained, helpful, friendly, very polite and always greet with authentic smiles. I had the joy of speaking with a few of the staff and they all seem genuinely happy. The sheer variations of food and beverages offered during Breakfast and Dinner are just incredible. A big thank you to the Kitchen staff and the Pool staff for their incredibly good service. Special thanks to Mr.Sanjaya, Mr.Chathuranga, Mr.Jayarathne and all the other members of the staff for their attentiveness and superb hospitality. This is truly a Gem of a place. Keep up with the excellent service.

The property is impressive. You arrive in a spacious, beautiful arrival hall. The rooms are aesthetically spread over the property. You walk by the lake on your way from the public spaces to the room. Yes, you are surrounded by nature, and still so close to Dambulla and Sigiriya. We had two different room categories: The superior one with private pool and a regular villa. Both rooms were spacious and very comfortable. The private pool looked amazing (as the public pool too). Unfortunately, due to heavy rain, we weren't able to use any during our stay. We would highly recommend staying there at least 2, best 3 nights, to make the best out of the beautiful facilities and the sightseeing spots in the area. Keep in mind that there are no touristic outside eating options within 20 minutes driving, which means it is really a good idea to book half board unless you have your own vehicle or driver and don't mind driving extra for every meal.

Overall, in comparison to similar places in Sri Lanka in this price category, we were a bit disappointed by the breakfast buffet. We still had a great breakfast, though, the small touches and puzzle pieces (e.g. you have to pay extra for your cappuccino or at least a proper coffee) make you be taken aback. Also, the selection of toiletries and tea in the villa was simple. In the superior room, we got positively surprised by a fruit platter - though, there was not a single knife, spoon or fork in the room to eat it. We also missed glasses and plates (or anything else you might use) in the attached private kitchen, which made the kitchen unit useless. In none of our rooms, WiFi worked. In that way, for a 4-star hotel, we just had expected more perfection.