Hotel Elephant Park
pinnawela,rambukkana,, Pinnawala, Pinnawala, Sri Lanka - See map
The car parking and the Wi-Fi are always free, so you can stay in touch and come and go as you please. Conveniently situated in the Pinnawala part of Pinnawala, this property puts you close to attractions and interesting dining options. As an added bonus, restaurant is provided on-site to conveniently serve your needs.
Highlights
Facilities
Airport transfer
Car park
Shuttle service
Free Wi-Fi in all rooms!
Golf course [on-site]
Swimming pool [outdoor]
Front desk [24-hour]
Check-in/out [express]
Great stay ”
Hotel was nice. Staff was very friendly esp. the breakfast staff. Con: I would warn guests about the locals soliciting money from tourists to feed the elephant. I felt threatened for my life when a local man demanded $50 USD for some fruits he gave us to feed the elephant. He never mentioned a fee until after we fed elephant and during this time, no one seemed to be around to protect us. I wish I knew to watch out for him.
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Satisfied stay”
Excellent location; great staff and wonderful service. The food was good. Recommended for a short stay.
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Exceptional”
very good services good food
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Front row seats to the elephants”
The deluxe balcony room was lovely and the views were incredible. We enjoyed the food and the staff were more than helpful.The fact that you can only check in after 4pm is frustrating.
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Perfect place for watching and enjoying Elephants bathing all day in the river!”
Nice food and very friendly staff. We stayed 3 nights.
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The best to watch elephants”
Stayed 1 night to watch elephants. The best location for this purpose, room was good.
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Improvements needed!”
Shower is malfunctioning. Doors and glass partitions are damaged. AC is too old. Welcome of the guests by staff is also should be improved. But servicing during stay was really good
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Very nice stay”
Very nice hotel & friendly staffs
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Great location ”
We stayed a night as it worked out cheaper to stay than just a day trip The hotel was in a great location looking out over the river .. we spent many hours sitting on the balcony watching the elephants bathing in the river The room itself was average could do with a good clean the bathroom was fairly newly renovated One big advantage of staying is that the elephants are brought down to the river early in the morning and late in the afternoon when all the day trippers have gone The place doesn’t have a pool but they are building one now but we wandered next door and paid to use the pool Breakfast was your normal buffet Asian and western and we found it satisfying
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Room was lodge motel quality.”
Room was below average quality. Good location. Breakfast was average. No pool.
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Best location to see the bathing elephants”
We stayed at the hotel one night to see the local attraction - the bathing elephants from the orphanage. This proved to be a very good decision - to visit the orphanage you need to buy pretty expensive tickets (20 USD per person), and they ask for the tickets even if you want to go to the riverside when the elephants are going there for bathing. With the hotel you have the best spot available to see the bathing elephants and you don't have to pay for the tickets of the orphanage. At the same time the quality of the room is pretty good, very clean, new and the size was also good. They have a great restaurant on the terrace with spectacular view on the river and the elephants and the selection is quite OK. However the prices are twice higher than normally in Sri Lanka. At the same time we weren't really satisfied with the staff at the hotel. We had a feeling that for everything they do they wanted to get money in reward, otherwise they wouldn't help. And when we asked some basic things from them (how to get to a railway junction in the near city to catch the train to Anuradhapura) none of them knew the answer, which was strange. Anyway, the location is very good and room was also great, so among other hotels near the elephant orphanage, I would definitely recommend this one.
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Best hotel ever!! Especially if you love elephants”
this hotel is amazing....the rooms are clean, have wifi and sky television and a clean bathroom but to be honest i wouldn't have cared if they didn't. the thing that makes staying here so special is naturally the elephants!! the hotel looks over the river where the elephants wash 3 times a day and to get there they walk past reception. they stay for two hours and watching them is just mesmerising. an added bonus was the quality of the service at the hotel and the rooms and food. the manager was so helpful- when we arrived he asked whether we knew what we wanted to do yet and we said that we wanted to ride an elephant somewhere so he showed us our room and arranged for a tuktuk to come in half an hour so that we could do it and be back for 2 when the elephants walked down to bathe. he came with us and waited for us to finish our ride then came back with us in the tuktuk! couldn't reccomend staying here more. and also the hotel is at the end of a street which stretches from the road to the river (river end obviously) and the street is full of local shops selling postcards, clothing, handicrafts, souvenirs and naturally everything elephant!! there are two shops which sell elephant dung paper and other books etc made from the dung and they show you the process too!
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Memorable Stay”
Excellent location to watch bathing elephants. Courteous staff. Stayed in a river view room. Enjoyed the soothing sound of Maha Oya flowing on the granites throuout the night. If pop up come to upgrade, please do not accept. If clicked, your bookings will actually downgraded for an additional $12 to a garden view room. Careful to select the river view rooms. I am lucky that for an additional $10, my downgraded room was upgraded to a river view room. Thanks for the manager and receptionist both are extremely helpful. Missed the Sri Lankan traditional hopper breakfast that should be booked 12 hrs in advance. Nevertheless staff gave me a rice and fish curry breakfast, that was bloody good. Western breakfast is pretty ordinary. Staff are helpful and made my stay comfortable. Rather than paying $20/person entrance fee to the elephant sanctuary, visitors could get all the excitements in watching the elephants from the hotel. Nothing much to see inside the sanctuary anyway. Major attraction is elephant bath at the river.
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Excellent ffor the price”
Hotel overlooks river where elephants are bathed twice a day. Unfortunately heavy rains day before our stay made river too dangerous for this while we were there. But hotel is an easy walk from the orphanage, and we saw plenty of elephants there. Feed them by hand with a few exra rupees, stay as long as you like taking photos. Open restaurant overlooking river was breezy and pleasant, so we enjoyed dinner there. Food good and not too expensive. Free breakfast was good for the price, choice of menu items hot and cold. Staff very friendly and helpful. Would love to stay again someday.
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Change of hotel”
we moved to the kandyan bungalow in kady from hotel elephant park on 2/13/2012 this was a lovely small hotel on the top of a hill overlooking kandy. the room was extremely comfortable and the staff could not have been more attentive it was a pleasure to stay here and we will return to this hotel in the future
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Lovely hotel next to an elephant sanctuary”
We were very glad to have started our tour of Sri Lanka by first visiting this hotel which is near to Kandy, instead of wasting time in traffic jam travelling south to Colombo. We arranged with the hotel to pick us at the airport. Very friendly driver, who also acted as tourist guide! We are so pleased with him that we also engaged him to drive us to Kandy the next day. The hotel is strategically located next to the river whereby dozens of elephant come to bath twice a day, from 10-12 noon, and again from 2-4pm. This is the best site to view the cute elephants in action.
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Amazing views and lovely restaurant”
We didn't feel the photos on Agoda did the hotel justice so were pleasantly surprised how nice it is. The restaurant is open air and feels like being in a tree house overlooking the river where we watched people washing their clothes and selves, then the next day seeing the elephants come down the road next to the hotel and into the river where we watched them bathe and frolic about as we had our breakfast. it was very special.
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Spectacular stay in Hotel Elephant Park”
We stayed at the hotel for 7 days and the experience was unique. The hotel room was very clean and even modern. The air conditioning in our room worked flawlessly. The hotel is located just incredibly beautiful area and the views are spectacular. There are elephants in surroundings of the hotel bathing every day, which is the highlight. The staff are genuine and friendly, and it was pleasure to meet them. The food was also excellent. I highly recommend this hotel to anyone and we will miss there.
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Overlooking river where the elephants bathe”
In reality, the place is much nicer then the Agoda photos so we were pleasantly surprised. 5 minute walk to the elephant orphanage to see them being fed before they walk down the street past this hotel and into the river where you can have breakfast while looking down at them bathing and frolicking.
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A must visit when in Sri Lanka. ”
We booked 2 rooms but only 1 room had hot water and a working Aircon. The food however was the ebst we had in Sri Lanka. The hotel management team made up for the lack of hot water and AC by providing free of charge an extra room on the day of our departure so we could store our luggae and have alast minute shower for a late afternoon departure. Of the 6 places we stayed in Sri Lanka, this hotel was certainly the best in terms of food, facilities, value for money, customer service and just being a fantastic place to view the elephants bathing in the river by the hotel. I would go back there again and recommend it to anyone.
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