Cape Weligama

On a headland 36 metres above the Indian Ocean, with Weligama Bay on one side and the open sea on the other, the tea family behind Dilmah built a cliff-top resort. Cape Weligama, the Resplendent Ceylon hotel at Weligama on Sri Lanka's south coast, opened at the end of 2014, and its crescent pool at the cliff's edge has become the image of the place.

History

Merrill J. Fernando founded Dilmah in 1988, and his son Malik Fernando created Resplendent Ceylon, the family's hospitality arm, to show the island beyond tea. Ceylon Tea Trails in the hill country came first, in 2005; Cape Weligama followed in 2014 and Wild Coast Tented Lodge at Yala in 2017. The Weligama site had been a coconut plantation on the promontory, bought for its position between the bay and the ocean. The resort joined Relais & Châteaux, as its sister properties have.

Architecture and design

The Thai architect Lek Bunnag designed the resort as a village of pavilions across the 12-acre headland, each cluster of residences grouped around its own pool and named after a traveller who passed through Ceylon, Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta among them. The 39 residences and suites have high ceilings, terraces or gardens, and bathrooms open to the air. The Moon Pool, 60 metres long and crescent-shaped, hangs at the cliff edge above the bay. Materials are timber, stone and plaster under tiled roofs, and the gardens between the pavilions were planted to hide the buildings from one another.

Rooms and suites

Residences come as one- and two-bedroom houses with living rooms and private gardens; suites are single rooms with terraces. The residences at the tip of the headland face the open ocean, the ones on the bay side watch the surfers. Each cluster shares a pool with four or five neighbours, so the main Moon Pool is never crowded.

Dining

Ocean Terrace is the main restaurant, with seafood from the Weligama boats and Sri Lankan rice and curry at lunch. The Cape Club serves breakfast and drinks above the pool, and private dinners are set on the headland at sunset. Dilmah's teas are the house's tea service, with a daily tea ritual in the late afternoon, and the sommelier's list is one of the better ones on the coast.

Wellness

The spa has treatment rooms and a programme of Ayurvedic and Western therapies. Guests surf at Weligama Bay, where the long sandy break suits beginners, and the resort arranges lessons and boards. A path leads down the cliff to the rocks and the sea, and the cluster pools serve as the morning swim.

Weddings and events

The headland lawns and the terraces take weddings, often with the whole resort booked, and the sunset over the ocean side is the usual timing for ceremonies. A meeting room serves small corporate groups; the resort is built for leisure rather than conferences, and the 39 keys set the scale.

Location

Weligama lies on the south coast between Galle and Matara, about 30 minutes by road from Galle Fort. Mattala airport is around 90 minutes away and Colombo's Bandaranaike airport roughly two and a half to three hours via the Southern Expressway. Weligama railway station is in the town. Mirissa, 10 minutes along the coast, is the departure point for blue whale watching between November and April, and the stilt fishermen of Koggala are a short drive west. For a luxury resort on Sri Lanka's south coast, the headland position is without equal.