michael.partnerMar 03, 2024 Thambilli House was just terrific, rooms, staff, open areas, pool and location ideal for a Galle Fort visit. This was our 3rd stay at The Fort and by far the best accommodation so far. Only surprise was that the room did not have a bar fridge, quite unusual from our perspective.
matteo.partnerMar 06, 2020 a true example of dutch colonial house. beautifully restored with the right balance of number of rooms (we counted 3 only) and the shared spaces. A fantastic open space breakfast space under the arches. Small pool that nobody uses, friendly and efficient staff, eager to please and be of service. recommended if you want to have the best stay in Galle
When we arrived, the top management has messed up our room. Instead of sea view room, we got another room. After spending more than 2 hours arguing with the management, the property Manager Malindu managed to get us our room. He was amazing. Making sure property is running smoothly with no hassle. And made sure guest were taken care of at any expense. Overall cleanliness and services were top notch! Hats off to Malindu and the in-house chef for making guests welcome, even though the top management is treating the guests like garbage!
verified t.familyJan 10, 2020 Ideal location. Front room had view of the sea through lovely frangipanis. Pool swims at night refreshing.
Be sure to tell the staff the night before if you want a Sri Lankan style breakfast or you will be stuck with a continental breakfast. Helpful staff. Lovely old building tastefully decorated with great air conditioning.
verified t.partnerOct 15, 2019 Staying in a 300 year old beautiful villa that once belonged to a spice trader. The courtyard swimming pool was lovely.
Great little romantic get away
This is a beautiful very small boutique hotel. Perfect for a romantic get away. Excellent service and great breakfast as well. AC super cold for hot humid days.
No bar, and it was a little weird having to have them open and close the main door each time you came and went. They were prompt in doing so, but still a little weird.
The fort area of Galle is small but unique. You could walk all the streets and do all the shops in a couple of hours.
Delightful Thambili House!
Had a wonderful stay at Thambili House. We stayed in The Ginger Room which was very spacious, spotlessly clean and had a nice balcony over looking the small pool. Ideal place to relax and cool off in after a morning exploring the Fort. Mr Lakmal was exceptionally accommodating and made our stay very comfortable. The house is a fine example of an old Spice Traders House. Our only slight disappointment was we couldn’t sit and see the sea from the house. I had mistakenly thought we could but this is just from the other room. However, the house is ideally located in the Fort and seconds away from all the restaurants and other amenities the Fort and surrounding area has to offer.
The house is gorgeous, the service was excellent, the bed extra comfy, the terrace beautiful and the breakfast amazing. We were heartbroken to leave :( special mention for the excellent service, very attentive, kind and arranging
verified t.partnerSep 02, 2019 If is a beautiful historic home in an immaculate location. To top it off, Steven and his team were spectacular with their service during our stay.
We booked this as a bit of a treat during a 3 week stay in Sri Lanka, we were not disappointed. The staff and hotel were lovely! The service was personal and welcoming, and the unique small property left us feeling at home.
Beautiful boutique hotel with excellent service and really friendly, helpful staff. They served a good breakfast, both Western and Sri Lankan. Perfect location in Galle fort.
Beautiful building, poor service
Beautiful building. Catering not great. Stay spoilt by staff desperate to charge us 25 USD each for breakfast, when it was included in the room price - even to the point where the supervisor would not let us check out until he had confirmation from the manager that we did not have to pay for breakfast.Not 5 star service for a 5 star price.
It's like your own house! Private, bespoke and custom. Love it
The hotel itself is not bad for a boutique hote, pretty guest, only 3 rooms. We based our booking on the picture of the room. In real the room was very small with no windows! so we felt very oppressed. We asked to change room but the 3 others were already booked. We booked 3 nights but we left after 2. As a guest house not a lot or room to sunbathe. So should you want to book this hotel, get the room with windows at least
Stunning property, great location and a real retreat from the heat and bustle of Galle
Huge disappointment, not worth the price
Arrived to be checked in by someone who did not speak English so was unable to answer any of our questions. Did not even have a city map.
Then we went to the room for which we paid in excess of USD250 for 1 night:
Basically a converted attic, only window facing internal hallway. Mosquitos everywhere. Room had no cupboard to hang clothes, nothing to place suitcase on so had to leave on the floor, no amenity kit in the bathroom, basically only soap and shampoo, no minibar. After single shower no hot water. Constant noises from the hot water boiler in the bathroom disturbing our sleep. A TOTAL DISASTER AND MISREPRESENTATION OF ROOM ON THE HOTEL WEBSITE.
When complained to a senior person on the phone (as no one in the hotel spoke English or had any authority) was given 2 options: find another hotel at 7pm and get reimbursed or get transferred to a sister hotel 20 minutes out of town. Given that we were in Galle for 1 night only clearly both options were not viable.
Beautiful house, wonderful staff, the Sri Lankan breakfast was incredible. Just an oasis away from the heat and bustle of Galle. Will be going again....
This is a beautifully decorated house with 3 bedrooms across a small street from the ocean. Positives included very nice bedrooms and bathrooms, a cold plunge pool (all other pools in SL were warm, which is not refreshing as it is hot, hot, hot there), and a great location, right in the middle of everything you would want to see. They upgraded me to the bedroom at the front, which has a porch with recliners where you can watch the waves roll in. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ADDRESS ON HOTELS.COM IS INCORRECT. The hotel is on Ramparts Street NOT at 70 Lighthouse Street (look for the house on Google maps).
Best kept secret in Galle Fort
The property is amazingly beautiful, was a little difficult to find as the address given is actually the back of the property. The sevice was amazing, tea & coffee on request, they helped us with aquiring wine for lounging by the pool & the breakfast was outstanding. I would bypass Colombo entirely next time to spend more time here :)
Very Nice hotel inside the old dutch fort
My husband and I stayed at the Thambili house for one night and I must say it was sensational. The staff greeted us warmly, upgraded our room to one with a sea view for no extra charge, and did everything they could to make our stay an enjoyable one.The nutmeg room was clean and spacious with a beautiful balcony overlooking the ocean! The hotel is in an excellent location it is close to the lighthouse and many other shops and restaurants are about a 5 minute walk away! We enjoyed dinner that night at the Thambili house as well with some delcious seafood and traditional sri lankan curry everything was Fantastic. I would definitely reccomend this hotel to anyone and would love to stay there again one day
