Reviews of Canal Side Guest House Polonnaruwa
426,New Town Road, 51000 Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

Loading
Guests also reviewed these properties:
Augsburg, Germany
Kobe, Japan
Na Jomtien, Thailand
Torre del Greco, Italy
Douliu, Taiwan
Espalion, France
Saarbrücken, Germany
Melbourne, Australia
How guest reviews work
Each review score is between 1-10. To get the overall score that you see, we add up all the review scores we’ve received and divide that total by the number of review scores we’ve received. We use a weighted review system which means that the more recent the review, the bigger the impact on the total review score calculation. In addition, guests can give separate ‘subscores’ in crucial areas, such as location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value for money and free Wi-Fi. Note that guests submit their subscores and their overall scores independently, so there’s no direct link between them.
You can review an Accommodation that you booked through our Platform if you stayed there or if you arrived at the property but didn’t actually stay there. To edit a review you’ve already submitted, please contact our Customer Service team.
We have people and automated systems that specialise in detecting fake reviews submitted to our Platform. If we find any, we delete them and, if necessary, take action against whoever is responsible.
Anyone else who spots something suspicious can always report it to our Customer Service team, so our Fraud team can investigate.
Ideally, we would publish every review we receive, whether positive or negative. However, we won’t display any review that includes or refers to (among other things):
- Politically sensitive comments
- Promotional content
- Illegal activities
- Personal or sensitive information (e.g. emails, phone numbers or credit card info)
- Swear words, sexual references, hate speech, discriminatory remarks, threats, or references to violence
- Spam and fake content
- Animal cruelty
- Impersonation (e.g. if the writer is claiming to be someone else)
- Any violation of our review guidelines.
To make sure reviews are relevant, we may only accept reviews that are submitted within 3 months of checking out, and we may stop showing reviews once they’re 36 months old – or if the Accommodation has a change of ownership.
An Accommodation may choose to reply to a review.
When you see multiple reviews, the most recent ones will be at the top, subject to a few other factors (what language a review is in, whether it’s just a rating or contains comments as well, etc.). If you like, you can sort and/or filter them (by time of year, review score, etc.).
We sometimes show external review scores from other well-known travel websites. We make it clear when we’ve done this.
Guidelines and standards for Reviews
These guidelines and standards aim to keep the content on Booking.com relevant and family-friendly without limiting expression of strong opinions. They are also applicable regardless of the sentiment of the comment.
Contributions should be travel related. The most helpful contributions are detailed and help others make better decisions. Please don’t include personal, political, ethical, or religious commentary. Promotional content will be removed and issues concerning Booking.com’s services should be routed to our Customer Service or Accommodation Service teams.
Contributions should be appropriate for a global audience. Please avoid using profanity or attempts to approximate profanity with creative spelling, in any language. Comments and media that include 'hate speech', discriminatory remarks, threats, sexually explicit remarks, violence, and the promotion of illegal activity are not permitted.
All content should be genuine and unique to the guest. Reviews are most valuable when they are original and unbiased. Your contribution should be yours. Booking.com property partners should not post on behalf of guests or offer incentives in exchange for reviews. Attempts to bring down the rating of a competitor by submitting a negative review will not be tolerated.
Respect the privacy of others. Booking.com will make an effort to obscure email addresses, telephone numbers, website addresses, social media accounts, and similar details.
The opinions expressed in contributions are those of Booking.com customers and properties and not of Booking.com. Booking.com does not accept responsibility or liability for any reviews or responses. Booking.com is a distributor (without any obligation to verify) and not a publisher of these comments and responses.
By default, reviews are sorted based on the date of the review and on additional criteria to display the most relevant reviews, including but not limited to: your language, reviews with text, and non-anonymous reviews. Additional sorting options may be available (by type of traveller, by score, etc.).
Translations disclaimer
This service may contain translations powered by Google. Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, express or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.
Reviewed: 31 August 2025 · Stayed in August 2025
Verified reviewReviewed: 21 August 2025 · Stayed in August 2025
Verified reviewLocation is very good, very close to the town. Rooms are spacious enough and balcony is also provided in one room.
Not cleaned under the beds for years. Very disappointing experience. Washrooms were with bad odor initially thought of cancelling the booking considering this issue. Service is also very poor. They have disconnected the power of Air conditioner at 9.00 a.m. even though our check out time is 10.00 a.m. They have installed a TV screen in the room but it is not working. If you are staying with a family members, my advice is not to stay at this place.
Reviewed: 15 August 2025 · Stayed in August 2025
Verified reviewVery comfortable accommodation. Near the historical center. Very nice hostess. Possibility to rent bicycles and scooters. I recommend!
Reviewed: 10 August 2025 · Stayed in May 2025
Verified reviewReviewed: 11 July 2025 · Stayed in July 2025
Verified reviewhospitable host clean and tidy properly bikes available very close to bus stop and polonnaruwa ruins' park
they provide only towel and soap, so bring your shampoo
Thanks ser
Reviewed: 23 April 2025 · Stayed in April 2025
Verified reviewIt is very close to the sacred city and the clock tower. It is run by a family living in it and very lovely.
Did not provide water
Reviewed: 13 April 2025 · Stayed in April 2025
Verified reviewGreat location for visiting the ancient city. Small clean room, easy to find and check in. Great value for money.
Reviewed: 11 March 2025 · Stayed in March 2025
Verified reviewSmall and basic friendly family-run guesthouse. The hotel is conveniently situated near the museum where you buy entrance tickets for the site as well as near a laundry, the lake and several nice restaurants. Our room was small but it had everything we needed so it was good value for money. It is handy that the owner has a tuktuk - he brought us to the railway station. Our room had a 'garden view' which meant that it overlooked the beautiful green rice paddies. Neat bathroom and good shower.
The bed was not totally underneath the air conditioner which meant that one of us felt cold and the other one, who could not feel the cool air at all, was really hot. I think there is room to place the bed directly underneath the aicon, but there is a lot of furniture, so we did not manage to do so. On the upside: the presence of all that furniture meant that we had plenty of space for our clothes etc :-).
Reviewed: 21 February 2025 · Stayed in February 2025
Verified reviewReviewed: 17 February 2025 · Stayed in February 2025
Verified reviewReviewed: 13 February 2025 · Stayed in February 2025
Verified reviewNear the bus stop. Near the archeological sites by bicycle. Quiet. The owner took us to a fabulous Sri Lankan restaurant.
Reviewed: 7 February 2025 · Stayed in January 2025
Verified reviewGuest House really close to the centre. You can hire the bicykle. Room with A/C, small balcony. Spacious bed. We had hot water there :)
Guest House is just next to the road, so better do have earplugs. This not the main road so still is ok.
Reviewed: 6 February 2025 · Stayed in February 2025
Verified reviewSpacious room, lovely view on the small canal
Mosquitos
Reviewed: 4 February 2025 · Stayed in February 2025
Verified reviewThe owner is very friendly. He helped me by arranging a transfer to Sigiriya with an amazing safari. A great experience. The rooms are basic, but the location is perfect if you want to visit the ancient city. I also rented a bike at the guest house and enjoyed a delicious home cooked breakfast.
Thanks
Reviewed: 14 January 2025 · Stayed in January 2025
Verified reviewGood localisation- 5 min by bicycle to Polonnaruwa. The room was fine. Good value for this price. I recommend this hostel.
Reviewed: 26 December 2024 · Stayed in November 2024
Verified reviewReviewed: 3 December 2024 · Stayed in November 2024
Verified reviewReviewed: 24 October 2024 · Stayed in October 2024
Verified reviewLocation was very good. Near to the hospital town.
Bathroom shower hanger has broken
Reviewed: 17 October 2024 · Stayed in October 2024
Verified reviewThe room was clean. Not much help in terms of providing lunch and dinner. Drinking water chargeable with included Breakfast.
They do help. But Food options for lunch and dinner are not at all provided.
Reviewed: 8 October 2024 · Stayed in October 2024
Verified reviewReviewed: 24 September 2024 · Stayed in September 2024
Verified reviewReviewed: 11 September 2024 · Stayed in September 2024
Verified reviewReviewed: 17 August 2024 · Stayed in August 2024
Verified reviewIt is so amazing
Nothing
Reviewed: 11 July 2024 · Stayed in July 2024
Verified reviewWas very easy accessible, and friendly owner. Helped foe everything we wanted!
Nothing
Thanks