Stayed here for one night. The rooms are clean and the food is good. A very convenient place to base in to visit the ruins.

We stayed here for 1 night (supposed to be 2) as we visited the ancient city of Polonnaruwa. The hotel is right around the corner from the bus station in the old town. When we arrived, the manager greeted us and was quite nice and showed us to our room. The room was basic, a little bit dated, but overall it was average.

It was incredibly hot in the room when we arrived and the air conditioner wasn't working properly (would work for 5 secs, then turn off for 5 secs) and the fan wasn't fast at all and didn't really move any air. After an hour and half, I sought out the manager to get his help with the broken air conditioner. After a long conversation on how air conditioners are supposed to work, a fair amount of pushing and bargaining since he first told me I'd have to pay more for another room, he agreed to move us to a different room. Since there was only one other couple staying there, it shouldn't have been so difficult. The second room was better and a bit cooler, but the air-con suffered the same problems and he wasn't really interested in being more helpful. The bathroom was okay and did have good water pressure and hot water, but there was only one outlet in the room and one more in the bathroom.

We also asked for his help with figuring out the local sights, restaurants, and transportation costs. He wasn't helpful at all telling us there really wasn't any other place to eat (might have been right), didn't know much about the cultural sites and wouldn't tell us how much was a fair price for a driver and guide, but he was eager to call his buddy to come sell us his services.

Lastly, I'll say that the restaurant was pretty poor as well and didn't really have much to offer. We spent a while just trying to figure out what they had available as the first few dishes we asked for they didn't have. When the food arrived, it was somewhat different than described and wasn't particularly good at all.

Overall, for 4300LKR, this hotel should do a lot better. The rooms could be spruced up a bit, the air-con needs to be fixed, the restaurant was horrible and for growing up locally, working in the US & UK's hotel industry, the manager should know more and be considerably more helpful. Take a pass on this hotel and look for something else...

You can contact Tissa, the Manager of Siyanco Holiday Resort, on 027 222 6868 or via siyancohr@gmail.com. I originally had booked through a guy called Adikari who I thought owned the hotel but it turns out that he's a tour guide with no connection to the hotel and he didn't pass the reservation on so DON'T BOOK VIA HIM!! The hotel is only 4 years old, well maintained and very clean. They have single, double and triple rooms with or without a/c. The food is excellent. Especially good value is the Sri Lankan rice and curry. It's in a great location just opposite the museum so everything is in walking distance although you can hire bicycles from the hotel if you want to.

After trying another Hotel (Seruwa - not recommandable) I changed the house. The price is compared to what you get in the town really woth it. The rooms are very clean and well furnished. The staff is helping in any situation and fulfills even special food requests.
It is worth staying here at least 2 nights as the lake and the sourraounding is a goog place to do some more than only visit the old temple city. An extra tip - go to Hotel Sudu Araliya and take the Spa Arrangement. It´s exellent but to stay there far to expensive.