Name: Ocean View Galle Fort
Address: Fort 80 Light House Street,Light House Street, Galle, Galle, Galle, 80000, Sri Lanka
Rating: 6

Shopping on site

Air conditioning

Newspapers

Gift shop

Garden

Terrace

Private check-in/check-out

General

Laundry

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Diet menu (on request)

Restaurant

Packed Lunches

Bottled water

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Car rental

Transfer

Russian

English

French

Japanese

Arabic

Languages Spoken

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Bike rental

Bowling

Sun Deck

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Cycling

Sports

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Koggala Airport

Bentota River Airport

Mawella Lagoon Airport

Ocean View Galle Fort

Galle

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Got this place from Lonely Planet and it had a good write up, it COULD have been good as the other rooms looked nice with good views from what I could see... Except for ours!! It had one tiny window, mimicked a prison cell and was tiny, the bed was knackered and the bathroom was damp and smelled. I walked up the main stairs, grabbed the banister and the whole thing came off in my hand, a similar thing happened when I moved a chair.. Either I don't know my own strength or the place is a bit tired!??

Don't get the middle room!!.. With no view at all!!

Firstly, my apologies for the long review, but bear with me and save yourselves the outrageous expense and valuable time.  Sri Lanka is as beautiful as its people and I have Trip Advised the wonderful hotels, guest houses and restaurants it was our pleasure and delight to visit.  This, however, was the worst place I have ever stayed in any country.  Indeed, we stayed in a room in Laos that had no windows, rugs, wardrobe or en-suite bathroom and it was cleaner than this 'hotel room'. Trip Advisor
needs to remove even the lowest click rating.

We booked this place on-line while travelling in Sri Lanka, a trip we had saved for four years to go to.  This was the only place that we heard back from as we learned that there was a literary festival on during our stay and so we assumed that most places must have been booked. We were offered a Queen Room with Sea View and a standard room for my brother in-law.  Lonely Planet tells of 'pleasingly old-fashioned rooms'.  They got it wrong, again!  We should have gone with our gut instinct when the owner of the attached jewelers pressured us to purchase before we barely sat down to organise the rooms.  We were then informed that we had to pay up front at which point I asked to see the rooms.  We had been travelling for 10 hours and so I will accept that we didn't look too carefully due to exhaustion.  However when we paid the $100 and $60 and went to shower, it became very apparent how dirty and badly maintained the rooms were.  There was no sea view without moving the heavy corner placed double bed our of the way (impossible) and leaning far beyond the ruined bug infested dilapidated building site directly outside our window.  The bathroom door did not close and its window had no bug screen which would also not close.  The bathroom was filthy and the floor was so sticky that we wore our flip-flops in the shower, which only had a drip that was so week you had to run around in to actually get wet.  The soap provided was from the previous guests, the sink was badly cracked and dark dirt filled.  I had to clean the toilet seat myself.  

The air-con in the bed space and ancient fan were so old and noisy that sleep was impossible with either of them on but any form of air movement was essential with the humidity.  The beds mosquito net behaved only as a bug attraction and no amount of Deep deterred the infestation.  All surfaces were sticky and dirty, except for the sheets which they were damp and sticky.  My brother in-laws room had a window that opened onto a filthy noisy service hatch and was as dirty as ours but had it's own fetid stench.  We went down to ask for a move to the rooms that we had actually booked and were informed that they had been given to other people. We decided to go online and look for somewhere else but their internet did not work despite numerous attempts.

We decided to grin and bare it and go for dinner.  When we returned at the oh so late hour of 10.30pm, we could not get in.  After much door bell ringing and knocking a motorbike appeared and told us we had to enter in through the rear! As soon as it was light and as mentioned, without any sleep or breakfast (as we did not trust the kitchen hygiene standards), I went to visit other guest houses to see if this standard and cost was the norm for Galle.  It is not.  In fact it appeared, from the 6 places I visited, which were spotless and far better priced than our accommodation, was of such poor quality that I would be shocked if it had any form of health approval.

I spoke with the owner Yesring (sp?) when I returned and firstly queried why we did not get the rooms we had booked.  I was told in convoluted nonsense that this weekend was busy and so they were simply given to who ever arrived before we did, despite the 'offer and acceptance' agreement.  I demanded our money back in full and was offered a paltry $20!  If my complaints were invalid, there would have been no such concession.  I was told that this place has the best roof terrace to watch the sunset....this was Yesrings justification for the high cost.  A beautiful sunset (which can be seen from the cleaner more comfortable ramparts) is not enough if you cannot sleep.This is also a Halal house and so there is no alcohol allowed, which you are not informed about until you have paid and see this sign on the way to your room.  This, we did not mind, indeed we respect this but if there is one place in Galle where alcohol is needed it is here, if only to enable a false sleep.

I have written to the local tourist office, I have reviewed this dump on many other web sites, I have contacted Lonely Planet to see if they have actually stayed here, and I will be contacting every other guide where this place is rated.  Booking.com will also be contacted where I will be demanding our money back.

Thank you for your patience.  Do not risk your wallet or your health by staying here.

DIRTY RIP OFF

We chose this guesthouse due to the roof terrace. It is quite an expensive guesthouse at $60 per person per night, but we thought it looked great for a couple of beers whilst the sun sets... At no point on the booking website (or until after we had paid 3 nights in advance) was there a mention that this is an alcohol free guesthouse.

Other issues with this guesthouse include a 1030pm curfew, also not mentioned before paying, no laundry service (when mentioned in the booking details) rather dirty bathrooms and the 2 double rooms we booked were both twin rooms, one with no window.

The number of mosquitoes in the rooms is huge, but the staff did offer to spray the rooms.

None of these are however the main issue with the rooms we had. Our rooms were the 'standard' rooms on the ground floor, unfortunately the onsite shop described on the booking website includes a gem workshop in which the staff started work at 7am hammering metal and using power tools directly outside our rooms. 

We left after one of the 3 nights we booked. On discussing our reasons for leaving early we were assured that the fact that the guesthouse is halal and dry is mentioned on the website. I checked again, it isn't. I agree that it it absolutely within the rights of the owners to run a halal guesthouse, but it seems somewhat duplicitous not to mention it before we had booked and paid when having a drink or 2 is not uncommon for people on holiday. In fact the first we knew about the no alcohol policy was when we were shown the roof terrace after paying and mentioned how nice it would be to have a beer there.

We were offered new rooms by the owner on the first floor, which may have avoided the noise but obviously not the no alcohol policy and curfew. No refund would be given when we left (apparently the website still needs to be paid).

I asked that the fact that the hotel is halal and has a curfew to be added to the details people can review; hopefully the owner will update to avoid anyone else being disappointed.

Positives would be good air con and view from the terrace.

Be aware! This hotel is noisy and alcohol free

Colonial style room, finely furnished inclusive of an antique style bed with a mosquito net that was quite helpful. Loved the view of the Indian Ocean from the roof garden. Great service. Helpful staff and friendly owners.

Great stay at an awesome place

We stayed here for a few nights. The room was small and bathroom with no window. However it was clean, had hot water and the people were welcoming and helpful. It has a  nice view from the garden and from some of the rooms :) ask for a room on the higher floors.

Ocean View Galle Fort

Main amenities of the hotel

Location

Available rooms

Location

Description of the hotel

What other amenities are there?

Policies

Check-in terms and conditions

Payment