Kumu Beach Hotel

Sri Lanka

Allowing its location to do the talking, the pared-back Kumu Beach takes an unassuming back seat on Sri Lanka’s serene south-west coast. Just ten villa-style rooms line this patch of shore – a two-hour drive from Colombo; an hour from Galle – all arranged to make the most of the sweeping views across Balapitiya beach.

With a hotel of such diminutive proportions, everything feels personal and homely. A small restaurant serves superb seafood – huge prawns, flatfish and big game fish – with a table layout that winds its way down to the sea. No bar is available, but drinks can be called up from the restaurant, including from the 23m infinity pool. Bedrooms feature linens in tones from stone to earth, focusing the flow onto a terrace, where you’ll take morning coffee and contemplate the island’s beauty. A one-room spa offers Ayurvedic-style treatments, and watersports galore are available nearby.

Doubles from £118. 00 94 77 363 8381, teardrop-hotels.com

Words by Blossom Green.

This review was taken from the October/November 2020 issue of Food and Travel.

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