Clingendael Boutique Hotel luxury holiday in Sri Lanka's tea and hill country
Facts in brief
Official star rating Luxury boutique
Location In the countryside, on the banks of the Victoria Reservoir, approximately 15-miles from Kandy
Annual opening All year
Closest airport Colombo
Distance from airport 4 to 5 hours
Hotel facilities and services
Food and beverage service, Dining Room (table seats 14), Bar area, Tropical garden, Small swimming pool and loungers, 2 lounge rooms, Verandas and terraces.
Land sports
Croquet.
Out and about nearby
Victoria Dam and Reservoir, Mountain scenery, Waterfalls, Plantations, Knuckles Mountain range, Kandy. Kandy Perahera Festival takes place between July and August.
Sports nearby
Golf and Tennis at the Victoria Golf & Country resort - 18-hole championship par 73 golf course, Driving range and Putting green, rated by Golf Digest USA as one of the 100 most scenic golf courses in the world, Bird watching, Horse Riding at the Victoria Saddle Club, Hiking.
Absolutely loved it. Bespoke sense of the trip is very good. Very pleasant and efficient service.Mrs H, Sep 2023
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a Double or twin room for 7 nights
From about
£2,920
Holiday Code EXH730
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Call us on 01392 441245
Clingendael Boutique Hotel luxury holiday in Sri Lanka's tea and hill country
Clingendael Boutique Hotel is located in the Kandyan Hills at 500 metres above sea level on the premises of Victoria Golf & Country Resort, around one hour's drive to the east of Kandy. Set on a hill in lush tropical gardens, Clingendael offers five luxurious suites, spacious living areas, a small swimming pool and pavilion, as well as quite breathtaking mountain and reservoir views. This large stately home is built in Dutch Sri Lankan style with materials dating back to 1782 and spacious wrap around verandas and colonnades. The interiors delight in a sumptuous blend of colonial splendour and contemporary chic. There are four double-bedded and one twin-bedded suites, all air-conditioned and with en-suite shower rooms. Clingendael's resident manager, in-house chef and a permanent staff of eight are at hand to provide seamless, informal service and generally cater for guests' needs. The main reason for staying at Clingendael is to play golf at the Victoria Golf Course, an 18-hole par 73 championship course which is just minutes away, considered to be one of the most scenic golf courses in the world. There are plenty of other activities close by, such as horse-riding, tennis, bird-watching and walking. Moreover, Clingendael is well situated for touring around this stunningly beautiful mountain region with its lush tropical forests, plantations, wilderness sanctuaries and the Victoria reservoir and Dam. You can either book individual suites at Clingendael or hire the entire villa with all five suites for your party's exclusive use. Golfers' packages including green fees are also available.
Room descriptions
Clingendael Boutique Hotel has 5 suites. All rooms have Air-conditioning, En suite shower room - the Brown room includes a 'Japanese bath' - iPod station and WiFi connection.
Absolutely loved it. Bespoke sense of the trip is very good. Very pleasant and efficient service.Mrs H, Sep 2023
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a Double or twin room for 7 nights
From about
£2,920
Holiday Code EXH730
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Call us on 01392 441245
Clingendael Boutique Hotel luxury holiday in Sri Lanka's tea and hill country
The journey and how you get there
For a holiday to Clingendael in Sri Lanka, our clients fly to Colombo, usually with Sri Lankan Airways on a direct flight from London Heathrow (or with Emirates from other UK airports via Dubai). This hotel is 4 hours’ drive from Colombo airport. However, it is usually stayed at as part of a tailor-made touring holiday accompanied by a driver-guide and you would often approach the hotel from a previous stay in the Cultural Triangle to the north, or from Yala or Galle to the south.
Additional information
Children: Extra beds for a child are available.
Special offers
Call to make your booking and save an extra £50 per adult Call us instead of emailing us when you are thinking of booking a holiday and save an extra £50 per adult (in addition to any special offers that might be available). We want to talk to you to discuss your requirements and a phone call is usually the best way for you to define what you want enabling us to respond more accurately. We want to talk to you and you save an extra £50 per adult.
Absolutely loved it. Bespoke sense of the trip is very good. Very pleasant and efficient service.Mrs H, Sep 2023
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a Double or twin room for 7 nights
From about
£2,920
Holiday Code EXH730
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Call us on 01392 441245
Clingendael Boutique Hotel luxury holiday in Sri Lanka's tea and hill country
About Tea and hill country
An Expressions tailor-made holiday to Sri Lanka’s Tea Country incorporates the best of this diverse and exotic region. Popularly known as the High Tea Country, the temperate highlands of southern central Sri Lanka are wonderfully scenic with stunning mountain and valley vistas almost everywhere you go, and of course, often carpeted in tea bushes. Thanks to the multitude of micro-climates, the landscape is constantly changing, and it is an incredibly beautiful mountain area, worth visiting for the scenery as well as the tea culture. It is also Sri Lanka’s heartland for market gardens and dairy products; endless rows of vegetables and strawberries hug the slopes, vying for space with the tea bushes. Kandy, the royal capital of the hill country is a UNESCO world heritage site, built beside a placid lake surrounded by hills. This is certainly a thriving cultural capital with its universities and centres for Buddhist learning and the arts. Kandy is home to one of Buddhism’s most sacred sites, the ‘Dalada Maligawa’ Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, as well as a number of other historical and cultural places of interest.
Highlights of Tea Country
Kandy market; Kandy area – handicrafts villages and workshops – brass, musical instruments, basket weaving, batik, painting; Kandy evening cultural show; Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage; Peradeniya Botanical Gardens; Mahaweli River and Victoria Dam; Tea estates; Drive to Nuwara Eliya and around the tea plantations, visiting a tea factory; Hantana mountain and Hantana tea plantations - walks and museum; Buddhist sites near Kandy – Gadaladeniya, Hindagala Vihara, Embekke Divale, Lankatilake; Mahiyangana – Rajamaha dagoba; Aluvihara Buddhist temple; Aluvihara Heritage Centre (Ena de Silva batik art and workshop and Sri Lankan rice & curry lunch); Knuckles Mountain Range - scenic drives and walking; Rubber plantations; Spice farms; Rail journey to Tea Country; Relaxing in the lush tropical hills; Treat your body, mind and soul to a programme of Ayurvedic massage and herbal treatments; Golf at the Victoria Golf course; Riding at Victoria Saddle Club; Walking and trekking; Cycling; White water rafting at Kitulgala.
Cultural highlights of Tea Country
Places of interest in Kandy include the Temple of the Tooth, the sacred Buddhist site which holds the tooth of Lord Buddha which is said to have been brought from India in the third century. The Temple lies within the Royal Palace complex along with the National Museum, the Audience Hall and a museum dedicated to the famous elephant, Raja. British legacies remain in central Kandy, in the form of grand old buildings and hotels, St Paul’s Church and Royal Palace Park. It is possible to walk most of the way around the lake besides which Kandy is built, where you can see the Royal Bathing Pavilion and the royal summerhouse which is on an island in the centre of the lake.). There is a lively market and a plethora of shops, gem showrooms and arts & crafts workshops. There are also several nightly cultural shows that showcase traditional Kandyan drumming, music and dance and the city boasts a fine international cricket stadium. Other highlights of the region include Pinnawela elephant orphanage where abandoned or injured elephants are cared for; Nuwara Eliya, a hill town with many British influences; the mountainous scenery and tea plantations around Ambewela and Bandarawela; the Highland Railway between Kandy and Badulla; and Tea Experience and Tea museums, an essential part of any visit to this part of Sri Lanka.
Festivals in Tea Country
Kandy - Esala Perahera Festival - July or August (depending on the date of the Esala full moon). This spectacular cultural pageant is held over 10 days with the processions and celebrations getting more elaborate and longer each day. Although in ancient times this was a procession to honour Hindu gods, during the reign of King Rajasinghe it was decreed that the procession should be in honour the sacred tooth relic of Lord Buddha. Each night, dancers, drummers, flute players, whip-crackers and elephants form a procession around the streets and Kandy lake. The ornately decorated elephants increase daily in number to 100 on the last night, the finest of them being the Maligawa Tusker which carries the Sacred Tooth Relic, led by the Chiefs of the Temple in traditional silver and gold ceremonial dress. The Nuwara Eliya season runs from April to June. Horse racing in High Tea Country (trotting) in January, February, April, August and December. Bandarawela Perahera on full moon day in June.
Climate in Tea Country
Climate in Kandy: The daytime temperatures in Kandy and the surrounding hills range from around 22° C to 31° C, with cooler evenings averaging 17° C. It is fairly humid and misty in the evenings with short outbursts of rain. Heavier rainfalls occur during the south-west monsoon from May to August. Climate in the High Tea Country: At an elevation of above 4,000 feet the climate is cooler and less humid with cool mornings, warm days and cool evenings. Daytime temperatures are in the low to mid 20s Celsius and at nights can drop to around 10° C. The driest part of the year is between December and April, and September is normally quite dry. The rainy season is May, June and July, and October and November due to the north-east, south-west and intermediate monsoons, and July is generally the coldest month. February and March are usually dry and around 20° C. Micro-climates exist from valley to valley. The weather at Warwick Gardens, for example, is around 16° C at night and can reach 26° C during the day, whilst the temperature at Bandarawela goes from 12° C to 20° C.
