12th Mile Post, 61306 Vannativillu, Sri Lanka
#1 of 1 hotels in Vannativillu
Guests' ChoiceBased on 7 hotel reviews
9.7Cleanliness
9.9
Comfort
9.8
Location
9.4
Facilities
9.5
Staff
10.0
Value for money
9.6
Free Wifi
10.0
Real Bookers. Real stays. Real opinions.
Read more– opens a dialog boxEach review score is between 1 and 10. To get the overall score you see, we add up all the review scores we’ve received and divide that total by the number of them. We use a weighted review system, which means the more recent the review, the bigger the impact on the total review score calculation. Guests can also give separate “subscores” in crucial areas like location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value, and free Wifi. Note that guests submit their subscores and 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 got to the property but didn’t actually stay there. To edit a review you’ve already submitted, contact our Customer Service team.
We have people and automated systems that specialize 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 who spots something suspicious can always report it to our Customer Service team so that our fraud team can investigate.
Ideally, we'd publish every review we get, positive and negative. However, we won’t display any reviews that include or refer to (among other things):
To make sure reviews are relevant, we may only accept reviews that are submitted within 3 months of checking out. We may stop showing reviews once they’re 36 months old, or if the accommodation has a change of ownership.
An accommodation can reply to a review.
When you see multiple reviews, the most recent ones will be at the top, subject to a few other factors (e.g. language, whether it’s just a rating or contains comments as well, etc.). You can sort and/or filter them by time of year, review score, and more.
Sometimes we show external review scores from other well-known travel websites, but make it clear when we do this.
These guidelines and standards aim to keep the content on Booking.com relevant and family-friendly, without limiting expression or strong opinions. They're also applicable regardless of the comment's tone.
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, or 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 other 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 might be available (by type of traveler, by score, etc...).
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.
End of dialog content
Showing 1 - 7
Reviewed: February 26, 2025
David
United KingdomIt was hot while we were there and we found it a struggle without air con (there is a fan). Earlier than stated finish to the safari, so missed the elephants.
The family who run The Sanctuary are friendly and helpful and mum’s cooking is lovely. The grounds are well kept and attractive, although the pond was dry when we were there. The room was spacious and the bed comfortable. We used it as a base for the safari at Wilpattu, and booked our safari through The Sanctuary too, and for that it was good value. We had a wander around the village but there wasn’t much else to see. The safari was amazing but we found the full day to be too long and too tiring. The morning was perfect, many birds, deer, crocodiles, leopard and much more, but by midday it was very hot and had become much quieter. Our driver and guide finished at about 4 (we thought it went on until 6), so the elephants hadn’t yet come out for the cooler late afternoon, which was disappointing. Our advice would be to book a half day.
Stayed in February 2025
Reviewed: February 13, 2025
Fay
United KingdomThe Sanctuary is an outstanding place. The building itself it’s beautiful designed and decorated, fitting in well to the natural surroundings. The room and all the fittings feel high quality and a luxurious, a real treat when budget back packing. The nature that it is surrounded by is truly beautiful and peaceful. The perfect place to sit back and relax! What makes The Sanctuary so special is the staff. So welcoming, friendly and accommodating. Their knowledge of the animals and plants that you will see on walks around the premises is amazing, so well educated and genuine. The food cooked by mum is 10/10 and you will not leave hungry. They made our safari day so enjoyable and truly perfect!! I can not recommend this place enough, it’s a new venture for the team and they do it so well!! Thank you so much to everyone involved.
Stayed in February 2025
Reviewed: January 13, 2025
Daniele
Australia1 night was not enough!
Amazing hospitality, attentive staff, very comfortable rooms and the food was lovely too!We saw some amazing animals on the property on our guided walks, and the guide was very knowledgeable. Strongly reccommended
Stayed in January 2025
Reviewed: March 4, 2025
Caroline
United KingdomFelt it was overpriced compared to other places we’ve stayed. We were given welcome drinks (fresh juice) on arrival and surprised to find that we were charged 600 each for them! Also expected that the taxes/ charges would be obligatory payments but, when we queried the $18 payment on top of the $58.23 paid for the room, we were advised it included 10% service charge for the “hard work of the staff”!! Surely such a charge would normally be included in the room rate???
Spacious, comfortable and stylish room. Lovely staff (Dinesha is a fabulous cook - our breakfast and dinner were both superb; Achini and Dula were knowledgeable and passionate about nature and we enjoyed our walking tours). It was a shame we couldn’t get to Wilpattu National Park due to flash floods making the road impassable
Stayed in March 2025
Reviewed: August 1, 2025
Anonymous
Sri LankaI am a return guest and on this brief visit I chose to take a bird watching excursion to Nelum Vila (a local water hole) with Appe Kale Adventures which is an arm of the Sanctuary. The excursion was led by Suraj who is a qualified wildlife expert and the bird sightings were amazing. Binoculars are provided and really enhance the bird watching experience. Suraj has a wealth of knowledge which he is very happy to share.
Stayed in July 2025
Reviewed: July 31, 2025
Anonymous
Sri LankaThis is the second time we have stayed at The Sanctuary. It is amazing how successful the re-wilding project at the property has come on in the last 10 months and the small animal sightings were amazing. On the complimentary night safari, we saw several rare Loris and otters, the mouse deer, porcupine, several owls and any small reptiles. The guides Achini and Dula are very good at spotting animals and were able to share lots of interesting facts about the animals we saw. The accommodation is very spacious and clean and the food prepared by Dinesha was excellent. Unfortunately, on this occasion our stay was a short one, but we will definitely return for a longer stay. We will promote The Sanctuary to our friends and family on our return to the UK.
Stayed in July 2025
Showing 1 - 7
Booking.com is part of Booking Holdings Inc., the world leader in online travel and related services.
We have more than 70 million property reviews, all from real, verified guests.
1
The only way to leave a review is to first make a booking. That's how we know our reviews come from real guests who have stayed at the property.
2
When guests stay at the property, they check out how quiet the room is, how friendly the staff is, and more.
3
After their trip, guests tell us about their stay. We check for naughty words and verify the authenticity of all guest reviews before adding them to our site.
If you booked through us and want to leave a review, please sign in first.
End of dialog content