Amanwella

A crescent of sand, a coconut grove and a headland at either end: the site at Tangalle on Sri Lanka's south coast was found by Aman before the road to it was good. Amanwella, the Aman resort at Tangalle, opened in 2005 with 30 suites set into the slope of the grove, and wella is the Sinhala word for beach.

History

Aman's first Sri Lankan hotel was Amangalla, the former New Oriental Hotel inside Galle Fort, which reopened under the Aman name after restoration at around the same time. Amanwella came in 2005, some 80 kilometres further along the coast, as the beach counterpart to the historic town house. Both were designed by Kerry Hill, the Australian architect whose work defined Aman's tropical modernism in Asia. Tangalle was then a quiet fishing town with a harbour and a few guesthouses, and the resort was built on a stretch of coast that had seen almost no development.

Architecture and design

Hill laid out the 30 suites in two rows up the hillside, so that each looks over the grove to the sea. The suites are rectilinear, with terrazzo floors, timber screens and a wall of glass; each has a private plunge pool and a terrace. The main building on the ridge holds the lobby, the library and the restaurant, and below it a 47-metre pool runs along the edge of the grove towards the beach. Materials are local: timber, stone, terracotta. Nothing rises above the palms, and the buildings are as plain as Hill could make them.

Rooms and suites

All 30 suites follow the same plan and the same size, differing only in position; the ocean-facing suites nearest the beach are the most requested. Each has a king bed, a bathroom with a tub and separate shower, a dressing area and the plunge pool on the terrace. A few suites can be connected for families.

Dining

The restaurant serves Sri Lankan curries and seafood from the Tangalle boats, alongside Western dishes, with a terrace facing the bay. The Beach Club below provides lunch and drinks by the sand. Private dinners are set in the grove or on the beach, and cooking classes in Sri Lankan rice and curry are offered.

Wellness

Treatments are given in the suites or in dedicated rooms, with Ayurvedic-influenced massages, and yoga is arranged on the lawn in the morning. The main pool and the surf are the exercise, and the beach is swimmable in the calmer months.

Weddings and events

Amanwella takes small weddings on the beach and in the grove, with the resort booked in full for larger parties. There are no conference rooms, and the suite count sets the limit on any gathering.

Location

Tangalle lies on the south coast, about an hour and a half by road east of Galle. Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport at Hambantota is around an hour away, and Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport about four hours by road using the Southern Expressway. Excursions include the rock temple of Mulkirigala, the turtle nesting beach at Rekawa, the salt pans and birdlife of Bundala, and whale watching from Mirissa in season. Yala National Park is reachable for a long day. The resort on this stretch of the south coast is the most secluded of the Aman pair in Sri Lanka.