From Sigiriya, we headed to Kandy, Sri Lanka's second-largest city.
We would have liked to have caught the train, but that would have involved backtracking to Colombo on the train we came up on, and taken at least 10 hours. We therefore discounted the train, which left us with a choice between a bus and hiring a car. We were torn between these options. A bus would have been much cheaper (about LKR 100 each from Sigiriya, via Dambulla), and left us with a truly authentic travel story, but we decided against it in the interests of time (we reckoned it was at least a four hour trip, including connections), comfort (we knew the buses got packed), and Mrs H's enormous backpack (the thought of being jammed into a bus with the backpack on our knees for four hours didn't do a lot for us).
And so, we decided to rent a car and driver. The son of the old man who ran a souvenir stall in Sigiriya agreed to take us. We paid LKR 5,000 for a late model (but small) car. He spoke great English, drove carefully and calmly, and chatted away to us about the sites on the way, which included Matale, famous for its spice gardens.
Although we encountered a few roadworks, the roads were pretty good - on a par with many State Highways in New Zealand or the less-travelled A roads in the UK. It's about 70 kilometres from Sigiriya to Kandy, but despite the short distance it still took us a little over two hours. This was mainly because of the sheer volume of traffic, which made it difficult to overtake, and then, later, we hit end of school traffic.
Our destination was the Hotel Suisse, on the Lakefront. Dating from the mid-19th century, the Hotel Suisse is a grand, albeit slightly faded hotel (in the photo below, the Hotel Suisse sits in the foreground - the modern building at the back is another, more modern, complex).
The building was constructed by the British, before being sold to a Swiss lady who ran it as a guesthouse (hence the name). It was apparently used as a military command centre during the second world war, but was turned back into a grand hotel afterwards.
The hotel is classic colonial architecture, which has been well-maintained and is generally in good order.
It has large gardens, terraces, a grand ballroom, a traditional bar and billiards room where it's all too easy to imagine British officers gathering for their Gs&Ts. There's also a swimming pool and a playground (but the latter, Mrs H was told sternly, is strictly for children aged 12 and under).
The service in the hotel was great. We were welcomed in the lobby with smiles, and given a welcome drink. We chose a deluxe balcony room, with a terrace overlooking the lake. The room was classically furnished in a style befitting the era of the hotel. It was clean, tidy and cool, with tiled floors.
The bed was a good size and comfortable.
And the bathroom had a good-sized wet-floor shower, with a bath.
Being hill-country, and close to the lake, we thought there might have been mosquitos, but when we were there in July at any rate, there were no problems to speak of. We spent a good deal of time on our balcony, overlooking the gardens. Despite the warning sign, we didn't see any mischievous playful monkeys in the hotel grounds (although there were certainly many in the trees down by the lake).
The weather while we there was variable. It shuffled from being hot and sunny to grey and threatening - but we were fortunate not to experience hard rain.
The reason we chose Hotel Suisse was its proximity to the lake and the city centre: it was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel to the main shopping area, and to the famous Temple of the Tooth. It's about the same walking distance whether you go left or right from the hotel. We did get a tuktuk on one evening - it cost us about LKR 150.
Breakfast was included in our room rate. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet style menu; with eggs cooked and fruit juiced to order. We were happy to eat outdoors on the terrace, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Hotel Suisse. There were intermittent problems with the wifi, which left us incommunicado for a while, but overall we enjoyed our stay and would recommend it to others travelling to Kandy. We scored it 8/10.
