Me and my family spend 3 1/2 weeks at Icebear hotel. We've had the best time! The staff is super and the nice Atmosphere is to die for! Coming in to Icebear is like stepping into a different world. It's an Oas far from stress and hectic life back home. The Lovely smiling host Gerry has made the Icebear such a personal and loving, caring touch, you wish it was all yours! We had Ayurveda massage every third day with the house masseur and it was yet another thing that made our stay soooo Wonderful. The children loved staying at Icebear, they looked after the cute pets, three ducks 5 turtles, a hen and the dog Liza. They Loved plying hide and seek in the enormous green bushy garden with lots of palm trees. Also playing in the little basin filled with water and toys was a hit or to go on the funniest swing also for grown ups:). If you want to spend the day at a swimming pool you just the Tuk Tuk to one of the hotels along the street and buy a pool ticket. Our favourite pool was at Jetwing beach and Camelot. We had the best food Ever!! TRULY! The chef cooks the most Delicious food we've have ever had. We had "Captains Dinner" every evening at 19.00 (you have to pre order) and it was such a Gastronomic Experience. Three courses for 1800 RS ONLY. We had Wonderful Sri Lankan curry and typical European food, the chef knows how to cook everything and so good you never had it!
The professional staff is happy to help you at any time and if you want to go to Negombo town they organize a reliable Tuk Tuk driver in just a second.
You just can't help BUT Love the Icebear or Nicebear as we prefer it;)
Ps. If you want to go for an outing you better hire a driver. We had the best and nicest driver. He was very professional and drove carefully! His name is Nixon and his phone number is +94 777 15 66 91 or email him at nixongomes777@yahoo.com

Ice Bear Guest House
What a wonderful place! Right on the beach, free wifi, family atmosphere, friendly staff, clean, and plenty of hot water. Ayuveda massage on the premises and all kinds of help arranging for drivers and tours. The drawback is its popularity and only 6 rooms. I was ever so lucky to snag two nights. Be sure to reserve this place well in advance during peak seasons. The location is good because you're close enough to town that you can actually walk to the market and banks and such without taking a tuktuk. It's also away from the big tourist resorts. It's quiet except for the occasional quacking...yes, some domesticated animals occasionally visit.

I stayed here in July 2011 and checked out after about 2 hours. I was in the small single room without A/C and the heat was oppressive. I grabbed a tuk tuk from out the front of this hotel and asked the driver to take me somewhere with A/C that was cheaper. Found a great place virtually next door at half the price which was much bigger room with A/C - trust me I thought I could get away with a fan but A/C is pretty much a must all year round. There are MANY places to stay in Negombo but hard to find places on the internet to prebook, I prebooked as I was coming from an overnight flight from Malaysia but realise it was a mistake. Sure staff were friendly but staff and people are friendly everywhere in Sri Lanka, not just at this guest house. Do yourself a favour, save your money, this place is honestly nothing special. Get a taxi to Negombo from the airport (the pickup service from this hotel is overpriced) and ask anyone on the street to help you find a place - people are so helpful in Sri Lanka, everyone will help you in this country trust me. You can do much, much better for half the price in Negombo. By the way Negombo is awful, full of mossies and awful beach so don't plan to stay too long - only handy for the airport.

We only stayed here for about 12hrs on the last night of our holiday before heading off to the airport so our review is a bit limited.
However, there's certainly a few aspects about the hotel that stood out. Initially we were taken to one of the garden rooms that had no a/c and was full of mosquitoes so the staff were very helpful in moving us to another room in the main house by reception which had a/c and was bigger. However we had to share a bathroom/toilet and there were still lots of mosquitoes in the room. We were given spray and coils which helped but didn't get rid of them.
The location is nice facing the beach and there's lots of outdoor seating.
We had 1 evening meal which was fine - however the choice is very limited for non-fish eaters.
It's about 20mins from the airport so ideal if you need to be close for early/late flights.