We are a family of 5 traveling on a tight budget. Here’s what we thought of the guesthouses we stayed at in Sri Lanka.

Galle

Galle Centre Home

The only some what reasonably priced place we could find near Galle Fort on Agoda was Galle Centre Home. It is located just outside the actual fort, requiring a dark walk through the area between the fort and the new city if you are coming back in the evening. The rooms are clean and cute with designs painted on the walls. The beds are tiny, but soft. The provided towels are scratchy. The girls and I joked that they were special exfoliating towels.

When we arrived the host informed us that the wifi would be slow because the last guests downloaded movies and used up the high speed package for the month (It was the 16th of the month). I am not sure if that was true, but the wifi was definitely slow. The first day the shower was hot, but then the heater broke and was never fixed, so we had cold showers that rest of our time there.

Cleanliness ****
Wifi **
Room size ****
Host ***
What we paid: 58 USD for a double and a triple
Recommend to others: Only if nothing better can be found in the same or better price range.

Kandy

Lakshmi Guesthouse

We booked Lakshmi Guesthouse on Agoda because we would be there during Christmas time. There were dozens of guesthouses on the south side of the lake, so we probably could have just showed up and found a place for a better rate.

The rooms were clean and the beds comfortable enough. The showers only had hot water sometimes and the wifi was sometimes OK and sometimes slow.

Cleanliness ****
Wifi ***
Room size *****
Host ***
What we paid: 58 USD for a double and a triple
Recommend to others: Best to show up and look around for a better rate. But would be acceptable if booking ahead at a busy time.

Ella

Hotel Country Comfort

Up a side road near the bus stop from Kandy is Hotel Country Comfort. When we showed up we were offered two rooms in a side cottage off the main hotel. We were pleased with the hot showers and decent wifi (even though we had to go sit next to the office to use it).

Cleanliness ****
Wifi **** (only right next to the office)
Room size *****
Host ***
What we paid: 6500 LKR (45 USD) for two double rooms
Recommend to others: Maybe (Ella Village/Holiday Inn is a better value)

Ella Village/Holiday Inn

After our first night in Ella we moved down to the main street to Ella Holiday Inn, also called Ella Village Inn. We were offered a large room with two wooden four poster beds and a twin bed. The room’s balcony looked out on the misty hills.

The wifi as pretty bad most of the time. And the shower was like a roulette wheel, sometimes providing hot water and sometimes not.
The host was very nice and we were able to bargain a good rate for the room since we were staying 3 nights.

Cleanliness ****
Wifi **
Room size *****
Host ****
What we paid: 6500 LKR (45 USD) for a large room with two double beds and one single bed
Recommend to others: Yes

Tissamaharama

Meedum

For 4000 LKR in Sri Lanka, I didn’t expect much. In Tissa just outside Yala National Park, Meedum Guesthouse was more like a camping cabin, cold showers (ours was just a pipe coming out of the wall, the girls had a shower head), no towels, no top sheets. Mosquito nets protected us from the skeeters at night but not the spiders in the bathroom. But with money we saved on lodging, we were able to afford to do a 1 ½ day safari to Yala and Bundala National Parks.

It was convenient to book our safari with our guesthouse host. He drove our jeep the first day. A friend with knowledge of the many bird species took us to Bundala the second day. His wife made our breakfast and lunch for the safari days. The meals were tasty enough, but we really enjoyed the freshly made buffalo curd we were offered one night. To date, it is the best curd (like a thick yogurt) we have had in south Asia.

Surprisingly, the wifi as pretty decent here.

Cleanliness ***
Wifi ****
Room size *****
Host ****
What we paid: 4000 LKR (27 USD) for two triples
Recommend to others: yes, if you don’t might roughing it to save money

Mirissa

Soorya Guesthouse

We got off the bus on the main road across from the beach in Mirissa and started looking for lodging. It was hot carrying our bags around, so after stopping at a few places that were either too pricey, too gross, or full, the girls and I waited in coffee shop while Rand ran around in search of lodging. He came back sweaty and frustrated almost ready to give and head to the next beach town along the coast. But he headed back towards the bus stop and found Soorya Guesthouse.

This was the best value place we stayed in Sri Lanka. The room with 2 double beds was big. The wifi worked well. It was clean and the showers had hot water. We had thought about beach hopping the southern coast of Sri Lanka, but ended up staying in Mirissa because we were happy with the price and quality of our accommodation at Soorya.

Cleanliness ****
Wifi ****
Room size *****
Host ****
What we paid: 5000 LKR (35 USD)for one large room with 2 double beds
Recommend to others: Yes

*I have linked to Agoda for convenience, however, you can often get a better rate by just showing up or by contacting the guesthouse directly.

**Disclosure: I have an affliate account with Agoda and may get a few pennies, if you click on the links.