Sign up to get Today’s Best Articles in your inbox
Join 350,000+ subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of
The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Chena Huts review: rustic by name, luxurious by nature
There’s nothing basic about the ‘huts’ at this smart beach resort in south-east Sri Lanka
On a glorious headland at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, Cape Weligama presides over a coastline of coconut groves, soaring cliffs and sandy beaches.
The resort itself is an idyllic collection of 39 terracotta-roofed villas and suites, as well as 13 swimming pools, set in 12 acres of tropical gardens. Elegantly furnished, the villas feel private and secluded, their wide verandahs and private gardens nestling behind hedges of hibiscus and bougainvillaea.
The spectacular Moon Pool (below) – a 60m crescent of water on the very tip of the headland – is open to all guests, as is the family-friendly Cove Pool. Other pools dotted around the grounds are shared between only a handful of guests.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Weligama itself is a small seaside town whose beaches are the main attraction for visitors. The Cape Weligama resort sits between two of them: the east beach, with its refreshment shack and watersports centre, and the more private west beach, accessed by a staircase built into the side of the cliff.
The ocean is warm and perfect for swimming. While strong waves and currents can be challenging on other parts of Sri Lanka’s south coast, a large reef protects the east beach – and, further out to sea, provides an endless stream of breakers for local and international surfers.
Borderlands, the watersports centre, can arrange surfing lessons and diving courses, or rent out kayaks and stand-up paddle boards. Sunset cruises and whale-watching expeditions can also be arranged. But no one would judge you if you never left the confines of the resort. The spa, the pools, the gardens and your private verandah may well offer all that you need.
(Image credit: Resplendent Ceylon)
Further afield
Cape Weligama is a 40-minute drive along the coast from Galle Fort (below), an enchanting town with a history that dates back almost 2,000 years. It’s the kind of place you could spend a couple of days exploring on your own – or alternatively, the crew at Weligama can arrange for a knowledgeable local guide to seek out the hidden history of the narrow cobbled streets.
Sign up to get Today’s Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the day’s biggest news and analysis – and the best features from TheWeek.com
While Sri Lanka’s larger tea plantations are in the central highlands, its lower-lying slopes are also well suited to some varieties. Handunugoda Tea Estate, less than ten miles inland from Weligama, produces small quantities of high-quality virgin white tea in a factory it describes as a “living and working museum”. Much of the machinery is 150 years old.
(Image credit: Holden Frith)
What to eat
Afternoon tea is an institution at Cape Weligama, not least because its parent company, Dilmah, grows and produces a wide range of fine Sri Lankan teas. There is no finer place to enjoy them than on the terrace of the Cape Club bar (below), overlooking the ocean, as you while away the afternoon with a selection of sandwiches and cakes.
Main meals are served around the corner at the Ocean Terrace, a gorgeously high ceilinged restaurant with huge windows and a wide verandah. The menu is Sri Lankan-accented, making the most of the fresh produce harvested from the surrounding land and sea, but encompasses a range of European and Asian classics.
(Image credit: Holden Frith)
When to go
Weligama is warm all year round, with average highs hovering around 30C most months. Sharp showers are possible at any time of the year, but the driest months are January to April. The most sustained rains come during the monsoon season, which runs from September to November. However, Sri Lanka’s weather is unpredictable – increasingly so – and it may be worth taking a chance on off-season break.
Booking details
Rooms available for two people sharing from about £310 per night on the Resplendent Ceylon website. The hotel can arrange transfers from the airport to Cape Weligama. SriLankan Airlines flies non-stop from London to Colombo from about £840 return. Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad fly via the Middle East from several UK cities, from about £550.
Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.
