Serendib Beach Resort Review - Bentota
My trip to Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 started with staying the first night in the coastal town of Bentota and I booked for myself Serendib Beach Resort which was located in the Induruwa area very close to the train station.
Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo to Serendib Beach Resort is 145km and takes about 2.5 hours.
Location access:
The approach road to the property was quite good. There were many other resorts & hotels in this area. The hotel looks inviting from the outside.. however, the main building needs some renovation work. The parking area is just in front of the entrance and then comes the reception desk.
(Resort details at the end of the blog)
Room Quality:
I checked in to my room on the first floor. It's a three storey resort and there's no elevator. The rooms are quite spacious. Most of the rooms have a good sized balcony overlooking the sea beach area. Other amenities such as a big wardrobe, writing desk, mini bar, tea & coffee maker, TV, split air-conditioning (for such a big room 1 ton AC is at times weak) & WiFi (not fast in all the rooms). Interior design of the rooms needed to be revamped. The bed linens are clean and well taken care of. The washroom is a bit cramped up. I think they have shortages of providing towels because after repeated requests they failed to provide when I required the same. They handed me the towel in the evening...maybe from some other rooms where guests have checked out.
There are some rooms at the back side of the property. They are non view rooms and a bit smaller compared to view rooms.
Swimming pool & Beach:
They have a very nice ,clean and well maintained swimming pool. However, the pool bar area has been converted into storage. The grassy area between the hotel and the beach is adequately maintained with enough sunbeds. There are some showers at the side. At night the pool is lit up and has motion detection lights.
The beauty is that this place is set amidst the whispering beach and you will rarely get an opportunity to be so close to nature. The beach area is very clean and quite safe to take a dip in the sea. There are many sunbeds on the sandy part of the beach.
Lounge area:
The lounge and the dining area are together on the ground floor. It's very airy, open and ample space to seat guests.
Dining area:
The dining area is very well lit, nicely designed and has a buffet counter. It is just beside the pool and has many tables which can seat many guests at one go.
Food:
They have a wide variety in dinner buffet...a mix of Sri Lankan, Italian, Indian & Chinese cuisines. Although they had a big spread of different platter, in my views the food was 'ok' type and they need to improve the taste. The sweet section was better in taste than the main course area. They also don't provide any type of alcoholic beverages other than beer. Food is a bit expensive by the standard of the resort.
On the other hand the breakfast buffet spread was more tastier with large portions.
Staff & room service:
The owner is always ready to help out with anything, the staff are friendly and courteous but most of them are untrained in English language skill which leaves a gap while communicating with them. It becomes complicated when you need to let them understand by sign language at times.
There are no intercom phones in the rooms hence you can't get any service until you walk down the stairs upto the reception which remains unattended most of the time.
Room service moves at a snails pace and ordering any food takes a long time to arrive.
On a base score of 5, I would rate Serendib Beach Resort:
5 ➖ Swimming pool
5 ➖ Beach access
4 ➖ Location
4 ➖ Rooms
3 ➖ Lounge area
3 ➖ Dining area
2 ➖ Food
2 ➖ Staff & service
In all it's a budgeted resort, not very high expectations and value for money. The only good thing is the close proximity to the beach and the amazing swimming pool.
Resort Information: 🏨
Serendib Beach Resort
648, Galdoba, Galle road, Induruwa, Sri Lanka.
Phone: +94 77 369 7223
(Website down at the moment)
➖ It's recommended to book rooms in HB (half board) basis which includes breakfast & dinner.
➖ They accept payment only in cash. Only Sri Lankan rupee is accepted.
➖ Lack of decent restaurant near to the resort.
➖ The best way to commute around the resort area is by hiring a Tuk Tuk. Just be sure to bargain with the rates.
How to reach:
🚙 Colombo airport to Induruwa in a car
145 km / 2.5 hrs
🚙 Galle to Induruwa in a car
50 km / 1hr 15min
You can hire a taxi or use app based cabs like PickMe, Kangaroo Cabs & Uber.
🚌 Colombo airport to Colombo Fort in Bus No 187 - E03 (1hr) then take local train 🚂 from Colombo Fort station to Induruwa station (2.5hrs).
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