Thaproban Pavilion Waves Unawatuna

Sri Lanka , Anuradhapura
UNAWATUNA, Wella Devala Road Unawatuna
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50 reviews shown

10/10

Exceptional

28 Feb 2026

Kaye

Everything about this hotel is great, exceptionally friendly staff, clean spacious rooms, nice pool and good breakfast!

Partner

8/10

Excellent

27 Jan 2026

Mohammad

The room was large and spotless with a nice view. Nice large bathroom, nice shower. The staff were courteous. The hotel could really use some renovation especially the pool and restaurant areas

Self

10/10

Exceptional

10 Jan 2026

Diane

We stayed for 10 days and this hotel was perfect. Two pools, never too crowded, well maintained. Public areas and rooms very clean. Room had a great balcony, lovely sunset view. The staff are brilliant, so welcoming, helpful, always cheerful. We only used the restaurant twice and the food was good both times. It’s 10 min walk down to Unawatuna beach, 15 min tuk tuk to Jungle beach. Unawatuna has lots of food options and shops but there are also some great places to eat within a few mins walk of the hotel.

Leisure Family

4/10

Poor

01 Jan 2026

Tania

We had a one night stay and were kept awake most of the night due to loud external noise (from 1.30am - 6am) and whilst acknowledging that this isn’t directly the hotels fault, there was no one in the lobby to help with the issue at hand (no overnight staff) which left myself and various other guests stuck with no one to contact and no help. This was particularly difficult as our group included a child and elderly guests.

The follow-up was equally disappointing, with the hotel on the day apologising and accepting they could have done more, but since refusing responsibility.

In addition, the property itself is noticeably ageing (see pictures). Several areas felt worn, with visible signs of deterioration and broken fixtures, which detracted from the overall experience and did not match expectations for the price paid.

Overall, poor handling of a serious disturbance and a tired property mean I would not stay here again or recommend it to others.

Friends_and_family Family

8/10

Excellent

07 Mar 2025

Wendy

Wake up to the sound of the waves

The hotel is ina quiet part of Unawatuna. You wake to the sound of the waves. Peacocks and moneys are all around. The pool is lovely and restaurant has good food/ drinks and service. The reception staff were fabulous and took care of all my needs.

Self

10/10

Exceptional

18 Jan 2025

Chinthaka

Enjoyed my stay. The staff are very attentive and friendly. The hotel itself is nice but the rooms are a bit dated. I would consider this a 4 not 5 star hotel.

Special shout-out to Subhadra who was fantastic from housekeeping my entire staff. Definitely a highlight.

Would recommend this hotel.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

14 Jan 2025

Chad

The room was fabulous.. the staff were attentive and helpful..specially the main holder gentlemen that was managing the reception. The property is away from the happening main street which is good if you wanted to have a good night sleep. Unfortunately the first night was the opening night for they restaurant next door and the opening party was very loud but we stayed a few more days in the hotel and the flowing nights were quiet and peaceful.. I would recommend this hotel and Unawatuna to everyone..

Leisure Partner

4/10

Poor

09 Jan 2025

Jonathan

Poor

This hotel is dated and not like the pictures. -the breakfast is good and staff are nice but otherwise I’d avoid. Our door lock broke and despite advising reception of the issue they failed to fix it and we had to put a chair against the door all night - wasn’t dealt with prior to check out. Dirty dated hotel

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

06 Jan 2025

Lauren

Very overpriced for the quality of hotel, and amenities
Needs updating bedding and towels
There was black mould everywhere in the children’s play room
No children’s menu or snacks

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

30 Dec 2024

Lucy

Amazing

We have an amazing time at this hotel, the staff couldn’t have been more helpful.

10/10

Exceptional

05 Dec 2024

Vikramjeet

AWESOME!

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

06 Apr 2024

Peter

Property is in a nice location within walking distance of the little village.
Food options were good and well presented.

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

06 Apr 2024

Great hotel but not 5*

The hotel itself is lovely and the staff are extremely attentive and friendly.
The pool is great and there is a free shuttle to the beach.
However the room is quite shabby and dated, the bathroom is more that of a 3 star hotel definitely not 5*
Could do with a deep clean!
Beds were comfortable

Partner

2/10

Poor

27 Jan 2024

Steven

Couldn’t stay as to my wife being diagnosed with breast cancer Tried to cancel and refund but was told no very poor

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

03 Oct 2023

Shanshan

My boy likes the food a lot including breakfast and dinner. Room is big and view is great. People are friendly and helpful. They helped bring luggages and even our shoes back to the room. Lovely and quiet place for vacation. Hope I can come back next time!

Leisure Family

2/10

Poor

08 May 2023

Shanila

Not as per images shown, food was terrible and service

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

30 Apr 2023

Lilantha

Exceptional stay. Friendly staff. Enjoyed the two pools.

Leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

04 Dec 2022

ian

1 day in Unawatuna

Good stay...good breakfast done by staff at the pool. Little bit of a walk to get to main beach drag...but easy to do. Great view of ocean from deluxe room.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

24 Mar 2020

Debbie

The staff were absolutely excellent. They couldn’t do enough for us and always with a smile. The pools are excellent and the rooms very spacious.

Leisure Friends

10/10

Exceptional

29 Feb 2020

Victor

We enjoyed our stay here.

Friends_and_family Family

8/10

Excellent

15 Feb 2020

Verified traveler

It's marketed as a five star property but it's not quite there. More like a good western standard four star property. I would recommend this property in Unawatuna.

Pros:
Good location (a little bit away from the noisy part of Unatuwana) , spacious rooms and decent food.

"Cons":
The level of house cleaning varied.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

13 Jan 2020

Verified traveler

The property was lovely -.the staff are excellent at customer service. The beach is very small and it’s mainly a rocky peak in front of the hotel but it’s not far to walk to the main beach. The food is very good snd you felt nothing was too much trouble. The fact it has a gym was a winner for me- some new equipment and stronger air con would make this even better

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

30 Dec 2019

Tati

This is a very nice hotel, with two beautiful pools. Our room was quite spacious, with plenty of room for luggage and moving around. The bathroom is also nicely sized, though we did have a good deal of lukewarm showers. Plenty of outlets in convenient locations. The balcony was a nice place to sit and relax. We stayed here 3 nights, and had breakfast here twice -- a good buffet with lots of options and eggs made to order. We also ordered food from the bar on 2 separate occasions -- service was the biggest downfall, as it took quite some time to: receive menus. have our orders taken, receive our food. (The hotel seemed understaffed, as the people working there always seemed busy. Perhaps this was due to it being the shoulder season?) The staff did seem very polite and eager to help (Chathura in particular is excellent and personable, good at what he does.) In any case, when the food did arrive, it was very good, expertly prepared. Drinks were also well-made. One of our biggest frustrations, however, was the inability to get beach towels. This was probably a fluke, one-off incident, but when we tried to get some in the lobby, we were told that the towel delivery from the laundry service was delayed. We ended up using our room towels (& couldn't even replace those, as those were delayed as well.) We finally received them the day before we left. This hotel is probably best for families, as we saw many extended families enjoying the facilities.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

19 Nov 2019

Tahsin

Good!!

Business

10/10

Exceptional

19 Nov 2019

Verified traveler

Staff were excellent, food was great.
Only down was gym wasn’t brilliant but overall a great place to stay

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

29 Oct 2019

Verified traveler

We really liked the location and the hotel is really nice. The pools are great and the shared areas are very nice. Our room was large and comfortable. The restaurant is great and the food was really tasty. All the staff were really friendly and helpful.

There were a few things that wouldn't as good as we'd expect -

- when it rained heavily, water came under our room's door. staff mopped it quickly but needed to be fixed.
- The bathroom wasn't as clean as I would expect.
- The tap in our bathroom was loose, and small tile on bathroom floor.
- The towels weren't great and not always changed or replaced when they had been taken. Had to ask for fresh ones a couple of times.
- Too much plastic - bottles of water for room and with meal, butter in individual plastic packets, packed lunch with cling-film on orange, banana and apples! Given how Sri Lanka seems to be struggling to cope with its plastic waste we would have liked to hotel to be bit more proactive with reducing theirs.

Overall, we would defiantly stay here again, but it'd be great to see those few things improved.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

07 Oct 2019

Verified traveler

Very nice pool area. It's hard to get to the hotel. The road to the hotel is very narrow.

Leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

20 Sep 2019

James

Great views

Five day stay with my partner. Hotel was very pleasant and the panoramic room view (217) was amazing. Food was really good with a wide variety of western and Sri Lankan dishes on offer.
Hotel staff was second to none and were always at hand and attentive and appeared to love their jobs.
Go stay

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

22 Aug 2019

Josephine

Beautiful spot

Lovely place, very friendly staff who went out of their way to make our stay fantastic

Partner

4/10

Poor

10 Aug 2019

Matthew

Not the 5 star it claims.

Make no mistake, this is not a 5 star hotel, I would say closer to a 3 star.
Our hotel room, although large was very basic. The sofa was covered in stains and the plug in the shower was exceptionally slow to drain so the shower kept overflowing out of the door. The decor looked very tired and the door card kept having to be reprogrammed to work.
After checking in we went to the bar for a cocktail, the cocktail I asked for apparently couldn't be made as they didn't have all the ingredients, this happened with the 3 cocktails I asked for. Another bar tender came along and said they could make the first one I wanted but they hadn't wanted to because the spirit was expensive.... when then went down for dinner and the restaurant was dead. They were training a new waiter which in itself was fine but they were using us as Guinea pigs, the waiter training was stood next to the trainee telling him what to do and showing him whilst they were at our table. Our food came out, I had the 4 cheese pizza which was so incredibly greasy I ended up with a stomach ache the following day. Each day we ate there, regardless of which meal it was there were always a group of staff sat at a table at the front of the restaurant eating and loudly laughing and joking, it wasn't very professional for a claimed 5 star hotel.
Both pools are very tired, only the salt water pool have sun loungers and only around 6 or 7.
The staff, although friendly weren't very helpful or forthcoming. I definitely would

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

28 Jun 2019

John

Had a lovely time

First of all, we travelled two months after the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka and we never felt that the country was unsafe. This is further reinforced by the fact that there were other tourists travelling in the country at the same time we were.
We had a lovely break in Sri Lanka and the three nights stay at this hotel was very pleasant to say the least. The staff were very accommodating and friendly, they always looked after us to a high standard.
Perhaps the only negative thing that springs to mind is that the WiFi reception/speed is rather poor (<<1mb/s at times) but this may not affect most travellers.
We would agree with other comments that the in house food is expensive but plenty of places to eat out close by.
The room was spacious and very comfortable. The overall experience was very good and would like to return to this hotel again.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

23 May 2019

Peta

This hotel is positioned among the large flat rocks on the coast and has a stunning outlook and only a short walk into town. The staff are amazing and are willing to help with any questions you have.
I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone traveling to Sri Lanka and this coastal town of Unawatuna this was my favourite spot on the western coast.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

31 Mar 2019

Nick

Good but not as good as it should be

It's got a huge amount going for it, including two good pools and large comfortable rooms, but while it clearly thinks it's a high end hotel (and is priced accordingly) it fails to deliver on the little things that you expect from a 5* hotel. No hand towels in room, and towels generally were all a bit poor. Although it seems to be a new building the shower fixing was coming away from the wall already. Toiletries were in refillable pump dispensers, which is very good for the environment, but they weren't labelled as to which was which and the pumps didn't work. Not going to spoil your hilidya, but not what you expect from the kind of hotel it thinks it is.
Very good breakfast, friendly service
You can't swim in the sea from the hotel, but there is a free tuk tuk shuttle to their sister hotel on Unawatuna Beach
Truly terrible wifi

Partner

8/10

Excellent

30 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

3 star hotel

Great service and hospitality from the weloming staff. However the quality is of a 3 star hotel - definitely not 5 star.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

04 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

The rooms are big and spacious with an amazing view of the sea.
The staffs are very courteous, and friendly.
They have an amazing in house spa.
Could improve on their breakfast spread.
Overall a great stay and i would love to come here more.

Leisure Friends

10/10

Exceptional

12 Feb 2019

Verified traveler

Loved the large bedrooms
All food excellent
Great location near to beach and restuatants

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

04 Feb 2019

Jairam

Magnificent Experience

On our 10-day tour of this lovely country, involving stays in 6 different hotels, this was unquestionably the best. Superb service, warm, friendly and personalised as well as professional.
Oceanside location ,with 2 pools and a spa/gym. A free shuttle service takes you to their sister hotel , 800m away, which has a beach-front. Breakfast buffets excellent. The managerial staff -----Sydney, Avishka, Silva and Roshan as well as the bar and restaurant staff were very impressive and exceeded expectations.

Family

8/10

Excellent

03 Feb 2019

Zahbs

Thank you Thaproban Pavilion Waves for a wonderful stay. Your staff are just wonderful and definitely enhance the stay! The hotel and accommodation rooms are all new and large however, the bed is a little hard for me but each to their own. The pool, food and setting was all just great! Thank you again!

10/10

Exceptional

03 Feb 2019

Grace

Review

Good trip - really nice staff.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

26 Jan 2019

Verified traveler

Great gem and the best staff!

This trip was fantastic mainly because of Susantha who always made sure we were good. Room was in great shape and food was delicious. Anyone who complains about this spot has not travelled much and does not have anything to compare to. Thank you !

Partner

8/10

Excellent

19 Jan 2019

Lesley

Nice hotel but not for the physically less able

A comfortable hotel close to and Marissa. The rooms were nice and spacious and dinner in the restaurant was close to the best that we had during our stay in Sri Lanka. Breakfast wasn't quite so good the scrambled eggs that I was served each morning were split and watery but otherwise it was OK. The only down side to this hotel was that because of the peculiar design it made it difficult to find your way to some of the rooms and some were only accessable via 4 flights of stairs which were very smooth and became slippery in the early morning with condensation as they were open to the elements. Also there were no banisters or handrails and in our experience unlit in large areas at night so in my opinion were potentially hazardous. Overall the hotel was nice but need to address some health and safety issues.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

05 Jan 2019

Pankaj

Amazing Property and most amazing part is the pool. Rooms are very spacious. Service is excellent and staff are very polite and helpful. There are two ways to reach the property. Google always show Jungle route whereas before after Unawatuna Beach Take left that road is good and distance is also less. Whereas jungle road is good and adventurous but it’s a long route.

Family

8/10

Excellent

21 Dec 2018

christine

this was lovely.....our room was very large. Sea view room booked - which is a little disappointing as you had to look sideways off the balcony and through a large palm tree to see - but the overall stay was great and drinks and food were reasonably priced.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

16 Dec 2018

Verified traveler

It was ok

Friends

10/10

Exceptional

16 Dec 2018

Laura

Outstanding

This was one of the best places we stayed in Sri Lanka. We stayed in the Wave Suite for 3 nights, and managed to get a late check out on our final day at a reasonable price meaning we had the room all day before leaving for our 3am flight. The hotel is at the end of a road near the Jungle Beach Road, and restaurants etc are only a short walk away.

The Wave Suite is worth paying the extra for the balcony alone - it extends round 2 sides of the room with views over the ocean. The balcony has 2 tables, each with 2 chairs, 2 loungers with cushions and a hanging chair. We had cocktails watching sunset from the balcony - no other room has as good views.

The room was huge and very bright, and also has a sitting area with a comfortable couch. The bathroom is also massive with a rainfall shower though it did get a bit warm with such a big window. The minibar has a well priced selection of soft drinks and Lion beer. It was so quiet at night as the hotel is at the end of a road therefore no traffic noise - you literally fall asleep listening to the waves.

The staff are so friendly - always smiling and looking to help. Silva in particular is very personable and made us feel very welcome.

The breakfast selection is good though the egg station is on the slow side. We also had dinner one night which was excellent with a very varied menu.

This was an ideal place to relax at the end of a busy 2 week trip through Sri Lanka.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

13 Dec 2018

Catherine

Nice little getaway

Great place to relax and unwind after two and a half weeks cycling around Sri Lanka with Intrepid..very comfortable rooms, some with sea views.. very modern, staff where friendly and very happy to assist with any enquires...breakfast included was really nice and fresh..nice dining area onsite, or optional to walk into the town for a bite to eat...

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

08 Dec 2018

Abdulrahman

Amazing stay

It was excellent in every way possible.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

15 Nov 2018

Michele

We loved our stay at the Thaproban Pavillion Waves hotel! We will definitely stay here again! It's by far the nicest hotel in the area. The room was very large with a fantastic shower and bed. The WIFI was fine but not super great but it was probably the best in the area. They have generators which helped when the power blinked. The staff were fantastic and very helpful. The breakfast had a big variety of standard American/English food, Sri Lanken dishes, fruit and fresh made to order eggs, omelettes and other dishes. The wine list is solid and nicely priced. We had dinner at the hotel and it was the best meal we had in the area for a full dinner. We loved our stay!

10/10

Exceptional

11 Nov 2018

Jayne

Charming hotel, very friendly staff, has everything you could want and more. Loved it here, in fact we moved to amari galle and wished we’d stayed at the thaproban. It’s near to lots of beach bars and restaurants. Tuc tucs everywhere to get around. Great find. Would book again without hesitation.

10/10

Exceptional

24 Oct 2018

Verified traveler

Lovely hotel

We stayed for a friends wedding. The room was modern and very spacious. We didn’t get to use the spa but from what we saw it was beautiful! Staff were really friendly and helpful. The breakfast was also very good!

Friends