SELAVI is an oasis of calm and quietness. It has a beautiful garden and overlooks the Bentota river. The food is exeptional & come with large portions. The staff are friendly and drop us off on the beach in the morning for free. We only payed a few hundred rupees to get back in the evening. We really loved our stay and will be back next year with friends. :-)

Selavi in Bentota is value for money at an exeptionally nice peacefully located waterfront villa with beautiful garden and wildlife. This was our best accomodation in Srilanka so far. We stayed in the Junior Suite with bath & Terrace. It's a fantastic and comfortable luxury room with a private terrace and a very nice bathroom. The room is equipped with Aircondition, hot & cold water, dual use private bathroom, refrigerator, fan with regulator, Satellite Tv including all European channels, high speed Wifi, clean new white linen and bathroom towels, bathtub, bidet and high-quality fittings. And free Tea & Coffee and electric kettle, free bottled drinking water. All for USD 55 for the double room per night - amazing. The breakfast was amacing and included in the price. It included strong coffee, good Srilankan fresh fruits, jam, butter, toast and Srilankan omelette. Breakfast served in the restaurant while watching the small fishingboats. They served a very tasty seafood dinner with prawns & calamari incoconut cream, curry and green vegetables salad, which also was amacing, for just USD 15 p.p. After breakfast we enjoyed an unforgettable Bentota River Safari and saw many animals like Monitor lizards, Fruit bats, babycrocodiles, Mongoose, kingfisher, colorful birds and Water Lilies in theirs natural habitat. It was a nice experience, and compared to other River Safari at Madhu ganga, there was not much boat traffic. It was a nice peaceful River Safari, all for 30 USD with a very good safari driver who saw all the animals much before us. During the day, Elion, the manager and tour guide, drove us to the Kandevihra Budhist temple and to a beautiful garden named Brief Garden. Next time we visit Srilanka, we will do a bird watching tour to Bundala, Yala and Kandy with Elion as his knowledge about the country's history and culture and birds is awesome. Selavi also has a very good home visited Ayurveda Masseur.

This is a small family-run guesthouse near to Aluthgama and Bentota. It's slightly off the beaten track but you are rewarded as it is a very relaxing location on the river with a beautiful view. The walk into Bentota Beach is around 2km but worth it and Andre Peter, the son of the owner was kind enough to give us a lift (and buy us beers). The home-cooked food was absolutely excellent. We only had time to stay here for one night on our travels but they can arrange many local activities for you.

Some people have mentioned mosquitos but this is no different to many other parts in Sri Lanka. You are after all near a lovely mangrove. However, they were unnoticeable if you have repellant with DEET.

Very nice, cosy and calm place. you will get a great view over the Bentota River for time of your breakfast and great service of the local staff. This is especially good for family with kids (like us, we are five )because these are two separate bungalows with a nice garden. 

Beautiful location and very friendly helpful staff

We requested to change the room from the bungalow to the suit which was much nicer but obviously more expensive

The peaceful setting by the vast Bentota lake. The tasty food is excellent, big portions.