7 days of tailor-made ayurvedic treatments (including all wholly natural medications, daily consultations with doctors, 2.5 hour treatments with experienced therapists, all in the privacy of one's own villa, as well as yoga with gifted gurus) sees me well on the road to recovery following 9 months of complete madness in banking in Europe. I arrived, on my hands & knees, broken & exhausted, on 20.12.11. I left walking on air on 28.12.11 thanks to the calm, care, kindness of the staff, management & practitioners here.

The villas are as described by other reviewers. The sense of space & breadth of each property combines beautifully with privacy & solitude. The architect was a student & life-long colleague of SL's brilliant Bawa. Indoors is outdoors, outdoors in indoors, natural world the core of it all (e.g. notice the paving stones, anyone?). A calm & restorative environment.

The whole place is beautifully kept by a core team of gardeners, handy-men & housekeepers, overseen by attentive & experienced management. Villas are exceptionally clean by SL standards, attended to twice daily by a small team of smiling, sarong-wearing, super-speedy lads whose Mothers should be proud! Small touches provided demonstrated imagination & kindness. e.g. sprigs of jasmine one day, frangipani the next, all laid carefully in different places in the villa, bed turned down each evening, mosquito nets tucked to perfection, towels folded &/or replaced just right, variation on placement of pillows & interior decorations daily ... all noted, all appreciated, all added to the ambiance.

Best part of each day was the hour or so after an ayurvedic treatment. Sitting in the privacy of my own garden in Sri Lankan sunshine, sipping bespoke herbal tea under fragrant frangipani trees, listening to the gardeners' sweeping, birdsong, seeing butterflies of amazing color & variety fly by, watching out for territorial crows & just watching cheeky chipmonks play on the rooftops & timbers, all while allowing the 2+ hours of morning treatments soak into my skin & soul, uncovered, as nature intended, without fear or causing offense or embarrassment to myself or anyone else (who cares about the crows?!). A de-stressing tonic like no other ...

To note:
Mosquitos are a fact of SL life. It's the tropics, man! Short of fumigating the entire place with ghastly chemicals on a daily basis (which harm hummingbirds, dragonflies & other wildlife), the hotel can't do more than they already do to counter the issue. Bring good anti-histamine cream, apply as soon as you see the slightest hint of red anywhere on your body & do so frequently. Within 2 days, all gone, without any discomfort.

If doing yoga in the evenings (usually a sunrise or sunset option given) when mozzies are most militant, wear long-sleeved cotton clothing (as real yogis do anyway) & use repellant on exposed areas. & get over it. They're just bugs & this place is far from infested.
The yoga masters are excellent.

The Kundalini (vibrant, physical) master is more mature, practicing for longer, deeply spiritual & gifted. His sessions are supplemented with another yogi practicing Hatha (slower-paced, meditative) who is younger. The combination works, keeps sessions fresh & busy Western minds occupied in a healthy way.

Don't make the mistake of coming here to focus 'just' on yoga. This isn't a yoga retreat. Yoga is provided as it is: part of ayurveda (which is, in turn, part of vedanta, but that's another story). As are meditation, treatments, herbal baths, time, peace, quiet. Embrace the yoga provided as intended. Avoid staying in a frantic mindset 'I-must-practice-yoga-twice-a-day-for-the-next-5-days-or-else-this-won't-be-the-holiday-I-wanted!' to capture the real benefit.

Restaurant is indeed small & the choices at lunch & dinner (as others have noted here) are limited. The management would do well to explain to guests better that meals can be arranged in advance, etc. The portions are small, but perfectly formed, presented prettily, delicious. The rice & curry are very good, portions (especially for an over-eater like myself) 'just right'.

On the doorstep, there are plenty of restaurants, bars to sample. If the hustle & bustle of the busy road & Negombo tourist scene isn't to your liking (as it wasn't for me), the Jetwing sister hotels (Beach, Blue & Sea) are just 500 meters down the road & you can have meals there (paying extra, of course). Offerings at those hotels are the more traditional (vast - terrible for those, like me, with so little portion control) buffet lunches & dinners, beach bar nibbles &, in the case of Blue, super seafood specialising in Negombo lagoon's amazingly sweet lobster & crab.

Highly recommended, restorative tonic for the start, end or, if you feel so inclined, full duration of a Sri Lankan vacation. Thanks to all who made it so.

Stayed here at the end of a two week trip in Sri Lanka. If you want to detox/de-stress this is the place for you. Pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to a King Villa which was enormous and beautifully presented with fresh flowers, fruit and ayurvedic toiletries. With some help from a friend I was lucky to get a very late check-out (9pm!) in order to stay for treatments and get to the airport at a reasonable time before flying. Hotel staff were lovely, friendly and efficient. Food is great but don't expect huge portions or buffets as it is all about balance. Agree with other travellers it could get noisy esp in the dining area. I guess it depends which room you get, mine was quiet until the thunderstorms struck! Treatments are fab, not dirt-cheap but good value, but being outdoors I was attacked by mosquitoes. Recommend taking treatments earlier in the day to avoid this as repellent will be removed during the treatments. The hotel pool was lovely but this place is close to the beach too - recommend a pitstop at Jetwing Beach for great cocktails at sunset. Also recommend visiting Negombo fish market later in the day after the tourist groups are gone. We had a local fisherman who spoke good English share the history and operation of the place, which was sadly decimated after the tsunami. As with most places in Sri Lanka expect to tip people who approach you with info/directions. If you don't wish to pay then be upfront and politely decline their services. Overall, compared to other hotels on a B & B basis it was quite expensive but nonetheless a wonderful end to a memorable trip.

Spacious rooms but quite basic, they are like small bungalows with there own garden. The outside bathroom was not as luxurious and decadent as we had thought - it was just an ordinary bath, but outside and it was not clean and had no plug so we didn't make use of it. The outside shower was hot and to shower in a tropical rain storm was an experience.

Nice swimming pool which we had to ourselves most of the time.

Food was good, but limited choice and they frowned on us having a beer, well it is supposed to be a health resort. You can have a choice of western style food, but I would recommend the Sri Lankan breakfast - not too hot, it was tasty but I am sure toned down for non-sri lankans. Fruit and fruit juices were lovely.

However we got a good deal booking this hotel from the UK - when we wanted to book again for the flight home they wanted double the price we paid which was way too much.

Its a Great concept & amazing Place. Very clean & Cosy. Beds are specious but not that comfortable. Ayurveda Treatments are of high quality. Food is quite good but with limited choice. After all its a healthy meal. Staff was helpful & service is commendable. overall it was great.