The property is right on the river where the elephants bathe in the morning. The buffet breakfast had plenty of choices and was a great place to watch the elephants from.

The hotel is a little dated and there are not too many places nearby to eat, unless you use the hotel. The check in at this hotel isn’t until 4pm. Although the hotel isn’t responsible for the care of the elephants, it wasn’t pleasant to watch the elephants being hit with sticks and being scared of their handlers.

Upon arrival was welcomed with free drinks and the staff even kindly took our bags to our room, the hotel was beautiful, well situated, good selection of food on menu. Western and local. Room was clean and comfy. With freebies. Shower was hot and fresh towels everywhere. Great aircon. Pool was warm and refreshing with a spectacular view.

the male elephants were chained ‘as they can be aggressive’ some of the elephants keeper clearly don’t like their job as they were so easily agitated by the elephants. Was the only thing we saw we didn’t like. Females ran free though

The staff was very kind and helpful, they were always smiling. I expected that this hotel will be less good based on former reciews, but I was surprised in a positive way. However when we arrived there was some leftover food in the fridge, it was inmediately cleaned up when we noted it via whatsup, and the bedsheets and towels were clean, which is the most important, and unfortunately not at all considered as the bare minimum as we later experienced in an other hotel. Here the barhroom was well equiped, and I was amazed that the corridor in front of our room was so private, no crowds were allowed to that space, so we could have a very relaxing experience while watching the elephants. The breakfast was very diverse, containing multiple items from both the western and local cuisin. Regarding the three hotels where we stayed in Sri Lanka, this was far away the best, I am very happy that we did not miss this wonderful opportunity out because of the influence of bad reviews. Speaking of which, I would like to highlight that yes, it is true that some of the elephants (approximately 5-6) are chained while they are in the bay, but it is not to attract the tourists but to avoid potential accidents because those elephants are a little stubborn, as quoted from the informative broschure found in our room. We saw that one of the chained elephants broke out but it did not even try to escape, it just went closer to a greener area to eat and chill there, so I really would like to believe that all elephants are kept in good circumstances. The pool was also very nice, we spent there one of our afternoons, and most likely all the other tourists decided to visit the elephant park on that day, so for about 3-4 hours we were the only guests at the pool, from where we had a perfect view to the elephant bathing bay. There is a taxi / travel counter next to the reception, we booked a driver there for a day to take us to Sigiriya and Dambulla.

The hotel is located directly at the river front. In the morning, 08.30, the first group of elephants is brought there. Later on, more elephants arrived, at the peak there were about 35 elephants bathing in the river. Against our observations, the elephants are treated in a sound manner,while it is more a kind of zoo situation. As a hotel guest, you have the first spot. The hotel is fine. Good selection for breakfast. Simple room, yer sound, as most people would only stay one night.

Some bugs in the room, yer in this climate hard to avoid.

We really enjoyed our time here and literally spent hours sitting on the veranda watching the elephants bathing and rolling around in the mud on the river bank. It really was an incredible experience. The room was very clean and comfortable with good facilities - kettle, tea, coffee, fridge, complimentary toiletries, etc. The staff were lovely, really friendly and helpful and went out of their way to ensure we were comfortable and had everything we needed. The complimentary breakfast was excellent, such a wide selection of food, from traditional Sri Lankan dishes to more western. I had the best omelette here, made freshly in front of me and totally delicious. The elephants come down to bathe at 08:30, so you can watch them whilst you are having breakfast. They also come down at 10:00 and 14:00. If you can, it is worth getting here early so you can see the 14:00 bathing session. You do have to pay 5310LKR for early entry for 2 people but it was definitely worth it. If you arrive after 16:00 it is free but everything is closed then and there’s not much to see.

Dinner in the restaurant was very disappointing. There is an al a carte menu but choices are limited and there aren’t really any healthy options. I wanted Sri Lankan chicken curry but although it was on the menu I was told it was only a breakfast dish and not available for dinner. I ended up choosing chicken penne pasta but it was disgusting. The chicken was inedible, it was grisly and tasted of fish and not chicken. To make matters worse the food here is really expensive and the beer is extortionate, 1300LKR for a can of Lion larger!!

The restaurant and pool were great, and the views of the elephants in the river was perfect! The staff were excellent - very friendly and helped us to organise the elephant experience where we could wash the elephants and ride them if we wanted! They also added on a herbal garden tour included in this. Kavee was one of the hotel’s drivers, and he was amazing - he took us to and from the experiences and then drove us to our next location (Sigiriya), with some stops at temples along the way. He was extremely friendly and made us feel very relaxed :)

Nothing

We decided to come to pinnalanda for the night/ day to see the elephants but also have a relax at the hotel whilst travelling for our honeymoon! The check inn process was abit scary - we had been told by our tuk tuk driver (who spoke to the hotel 5 mins before on the phone) to not speak to anyone on the road leading to the hotel. We knew we had to get a ticket for 2500 rupees each, however we thought as the hotel was offering a reduced price that the hotel must sort it for us, or there was somewhere to buy a ticket from inside the hotel. When a lady in the road was telling us we couldn’t walk to the hotel and had to go around another road to get a ticket we thought this was a scam - as our driver had told us not to speak to anyone - straight after he had just spoken to the hotel on the phone! We got to the hotel and whilst enjoying lunch we were told the police was here as we didn’t pay for the ticket! very scary! The hotel sorted it for us and the issue was dealt with - however YOU MUST WALK TO THE TICKET OFFICE WITH YOUR LUGGAGE BEFORE CHECKING IN AT THE HOTEL!! YOU CAN NOT WALK TO THE HOTEL WITHOUT A TICKET,WHICH YOU MUST BUY BEFORE GOING TO THE HOTEL - EVEN THOUGH THE HOTEL OFFERS A REDUCE RATE! Our room had flowers on as it was our honeymoon, and we were given a lovely complementary dessert for our dinner, the manager tried to make it as romantic as he could with music etc! very special experience! We enjoyed the pool and watching the elephants from the pool - please please get some more sunbeds!

We enjoyed seeing the elephants - it felt like a zoo though, and in hindsight we would not have come as ethically didn’t enjoy seeing the elephants being paraded around / forces to bath.

Good location and value for money. Kind staff.

It smelled a little bad in the room and we did not have wifi in the room.

Perfect location for viewing the elephants. Clean with swimming pool and well trained staff. OK breakfast included and I enjoyed my other meals there. Great value as includes full access to the high street and viewing areas. Special mention to Mohammed who was very helpful and extremely thorough in his cleaning duties. He didn’t know I was watching when he was cleaning the washbasin in a vacated room. Lots of attention and very thorough. Andrew helped me out with a lift in his car to the local train station (Rambukkana) about 4 km away after the Tuk Tuk let me down.Try to stay 2 nights to fully appreciate the pool and the elephant viewing areas.

Try to arrive in the evening to check in. If you arrive earlier in the day you have to pay entrance fee to the street and elephant viewing area.

Andrew and his staff are amazing. They were always helping us out with everything and they were taking care of us like family. The room is spacious, modern and clean with air conditioning. The kingsize bed is great. The shower is wonderfull with all the toiletteries.There is fast wifi. The location is great, near the river with a incredible view. Their breakfast is amazing and delicous. With the dinner there was live music. The pool is great and has an amazing view It was an unforgettable experience to see all the elephants Thank you all for a wonderfull stay 10 out of 10