Very comfortable, great value ”

Excellent hotel our best stay in Sri Lanka so far. Great location to interact with the many elephants of Pinnawala - better than the orphanage or Millennium. Not a great location for day trips to sightsee in Kandy as traffic makes the commute take hours. Well worth an overnight stay particularly if you enjoy watching elephants.

exciting, breath taking”

Stay at Pinnalanda was excellent. We spent 2 nights there even though most people don't recommend spending even one. Get a ground floor river view room to enjoy serene views all day and the bathing elephants at a close distance. It's a place where you don't want to miss either the sun rise or the sun set. The tourist market closes at 4pm after the last lot of elephants go back; so do all the tourists who come to watch. You can always cathch a 3 wheeler to go into Rambukkana town to grab a quick local meal or grab some wadas for tea. Enjoy the cool river water or relax in the balcony with a cup of tea and watch the sun set.

Great little hotel to view elephants”

Loved our stay here. Slight issue at check in but this was soon rectified. Room was clean with a massive window that overlooks the river. Amazing shower!!! Bathroom was a little smelly from the drain, but not a big deal...find this in a lot of places. Dinner wasn’t spectacular but it was fine. Had breakfast on the deck at 8.30am with a small group of elephants arriving at 9am. As the hotel only has 3 or 4 rooms, there were only about 4 of us watching these elephants. Then at 10am, a much larger group came to bathe. Again we had a great viewing spot, right outside our hotel room. Amazing spectacle to see. An added bonus was a Sri Lankan wedding being held at the hotel, with the bride staying right next to us. Wonderful to see the colour and dance of the wedding. Only bit of advice, is don’t arrive before 4pm for check in. You will be unable to enter the hotel grounds to check in unless you pay 2500 rupees/person (to view elephant bathing in the afternoon). Overall, great value for money...book well in advance as rooms book quickly...but it is quite an experience to have breakfast whilst watching those majestic animals bathe!

Spectacular location”

This hotel is mainly a function centre, with only 3 rooms available for accommodation. If you are lucky enough to get one of the 3 rooms it is an unforgettable experience. In the morning the elephants come for a bath right informs of your balcony where you are sitting to have the great complimentary breakfast. Because there are no other tourists there (for day trips) the keeper invited us to wash the elephants, and took heaps of photos of us. It was an unforgettable experience!!! The room itself was large, with a comfortable bed, good air con, and English channels on the TV. The shower a great rain shower with lentil of hot water. The food is a little expensive at the hotel, so we ate at the local small restaurant for lunch at least, great curry and rice meals for Rs400/ head. We spent all day just watching the elephants. As we saw them at all bath times, we did not need to pay extra money to go to the Elephant Orphanage, where the elephants live. An exceptional hotel at a perfect setting.

comfort stay ”

Clean room with river view . Quiet place with perfect view for elephants at the riverside . Its like get back to Nature . Friendly staffs for fast check in and check out . Highly recommend for stay at Hotel Pinnalanda . We will be return to this hotel for our Second trip to Sri Lanka.

Good hotel for viewing the elephants”

The hotel is located around 1 hour drive from the city of Kandy, adjacent to the elephant orphanage. We were greeted by the owner and check-in was quick. This is a relatively new hotel and is located along side the Mahaweli River where elephants come to bath twice a day. We enjoyed our time with the elephants and saved a lot of money by not going to the orphanage and instead enjoying our time with the elephants here. Please bear in mind that the town of Pinnawala where this hotel is located becomes DESERTED after 4 pm. I recommend not spending a night here, just a day trip to see the elephants can be enough. We had to check out late in the night (around 4 AM) but no staff came to help us for the luggage, which was very frustrating. The food quality is average, but priced very very high.

Hotel itself is ok”

It seems the hotel is going through some renovations during our stay. For Diner and Breakfast we had to go to the other Pinnalanda building located next to the hotel, which was fine. Both breakfast and diner were excellent. Hotel staff was very friendly but have mis-informed us multiple times about the time and place the elephants would arrive and where and how we could consume our breakfast. I would not recommend this hotel or the Orphanage as a whole as i did not like what i saw with the elephants in the river. Some were forced to lay down in the river and beaten with sticks because it didn't go fast enough. It is clearly visible the elephants are very scared for the keepers (with their sharp sticks) and they are very (to) calm and behave as expected. Nevertheless it is a beauty to see the Elephants in the river. I took nice pictures of those who were left alone and were not chained down.

Great location to watch the elephants bathe!”

Very clean room with balcony overlooking the river where the 30ish elephants bathe twice daily! By staying here, you avoid having to pay the exorbitant fees foreigners have to pay to see the elephants. The room literally pays for itself since you and your travel partner don't have to pay the entrance fee. Make sure to print your Agoda voucher or have a screen shot to prove you are staying at the hotel to the officials who collect tickets at the street where the hotel is located. Ample English satellite TV channels. Great stay!

Perfect stay for Elephant watching. Worth the money.”

If you are a family with young children, then this is the best place. Elephants bathing right on your room door step and having breakfast with the view. One of my best experience in Sri Lanka. Kids loved it. Staffs: Madhu and Santha - excellent service. Food: Pretty good too. Rooms: Very spacious and very clean. Cons: Its best to go after 4pm for Check-in or else you need to pay the entrance fee even if you have booked the room (not to the hotel but to the park). Very wrong in my opinion. Hotel management has to do something about this. Recommended.

Elephant experience”

Excellent location for viewing elephants bathing in the river which they do several times a day. River view rooms have view from windows and tables and chairs on deck where you can have your meals. Clean and tidy room. Very relaxing stay. Only drawback for us was noise due to wedding in hotel and smell of cooking in room. Definitely value for money. Wish we could have stayed longer.

Exceptional”

We had a fantastic time at this hotel, the rooms were clean, comfortable and the air con worked really well. We were looked after by Gayan from the moment we arrived and he was amazing. obviously the elephants were amazing to see but the hotel made the experience more enjoyable. The food was really good and freshly cooked.

Great Stay”

We stayed in the hotel only for night but enjoyed it very much. The rooms were very nice and clean, with AC. The staff was very nice and concerned that we enjoyed our stay. Although we didn't visit the orphanage, we could watch the elephants in the river during breakfast.

The view is worth staying there”

The hotel was quite good, the downside is that after 6 pm the hotel seems totally empty. It seems it only has 3 rooms so in the evening there is nothing going on. However, the view was superb and you could see elephants in the river and running around almost the entire day. The food was okay, nothing too impressive but not bad. Negative thing - in case you stay over 1 day you need to ask for toilet paper (the rooms are not cleaned during your stay). Also, considering there are only 3 rooms it was weird that the receptionist could not remember us after 3rd day.

Amazing view of the elephants!”

It’s a clean and friendly hotel. The best part is the closest view of the elephants bathing, it’s the best hotel to see them. Starting from 8:30 and right up till 12 there were tons of elephants. Breakfast on the balcony. The staff were really helpful, and friendly and the food was really good too.

Rough start but excellent experience ”

Got chatted to enter with no explanation. Felt like a rip off. Hotel staff explained the fee for elephant area. Finally clear. Had elephants right in front of my balcony. Excellent experience. Friendly & helpful staff. Expensive for my budget and worth it for a treat. Amazing!

good, But noticed few faults in the room.”

It's really good, But need to improve some facilities in the room, 1. No place to keep used cloths 2. no inside chairs (Only bed for sitting) 3. No soap dis inside the shower area 4. After shower water drain is very slow. If improce those miner things, it's very good place to short stay.

Best views of Elephants bathing”

Follow the drill with checkin after 4 pm , then next morning the elephants will come & you will have the best views all day. We were so lucky with our room & the weather. Special thanks to Kumudu Bandara who made us feel very welcome on our first night.

Great location and friendly staff”

Fabulous room which gave us prime spot for watching the elephants in the morning. Seeing the first elephants bathe at 8.30am without the crowds was the real benefit. Food was good with hands on friendly service.

Great Location ”

Staff were very very friendly and welcoming. Location is a big plus point. This property is the closest to the elephant bathing place. Rooms overlook the Maha Oya river and you can get glimpses of peacock and other birds.

Great view, not great hotel”

+ great view, good size room, good breakfast, price - staff, service, noisy air con and fridge in room (had to switch both off), elephants chained up at the river were very stressed out. Not convinced the "orphanage" are treating them well