Lunuganga Geoffrey Bawa’s Country Estate

Nothing to see as rooms are sold out normally. Outside structures are not so attractive. Waste of money.

Visited on its 75th anniversary and the place is awesome. Had a tour of the place and it was a great time.

Amazing experience if you want to discover true Sri Lanka architecture. Quiet relaxing environment. Good food and beverages available at the Cafe within the premises. Highly recommended.

ITs a super place. Calm and cool and very beautyfully landscaping and architectural designs.

Magical Bawa country estate. The vistas offer once in a life time views. The garden may be among the most stunning private gardens anywhere. Teardrop Hotels do an exceptional job running the place as a guesthouse and do wonderful food too. The cutlets and fish v memorable and service was charming even when the property was thrown open to many visitors for the anniversary celebration recently.

I'm speechless. I left my heart in this garden.
It's a charming extraordinary place.
Nothing can describe the feeling in there and the energy.
I wish I had some more time to spend.
Will want to visit again and spend few nights in there.

I visited during off season (July) and turned up at 3: 15ish, the tour started at 3pm but I was unaware of the starting times.
Luckily I was the only one on the tour and I’m so grateful that my time of arrival didn’t matter, the tour guide was superb, he didn’t rush anything and took time to explain everything while answering all my questions too. He has really great knowledge and worked with Mr Bawa in his final years too.

It is 15usd for entry, although it can be seen as expensive, if you have an interest in architecture/design/nature or Geoffrey Bawa himself then I’d say it’s worth it.

The tour guide explained the places Mr Bawa would enjoy doing certain things, like where he had had breakfast, where he watched the sunset etc and weaves in information on how he incorporated different design techniques to make this the perfect getaway for his pleasure and place of creative escape.

The gardens took 30 years to complete to the point we see it today, everything is original and it’s easy to see the genius behind Bawa’s work, to design things with such elegance on such a large scale is truly amazing and I can truly admire his work. He even adjusted the way in which certain trees would grow for aesthetic pleasure.

The tour guide is also very knowledgeable on the botanical life here, as well as the history of the place and purpose for each design choice.

Truly a beautiful experience and blessed I was able to do it alone, makes it that extra bit special! Thank you the tour times are 11am, 2pm and 3pm. There is also a cafe/restaurant but I did not go, the rooms are mostly all available for accommodation too:)

Beautiful, green, calm, are the words that best describe this place, it's huge and one gets a good long walk during the tour, apart from enjoying it's beauty.

Staying at Lunuganga felt like experiencing the best of genuine Sri Lankan hospitality, it wasn't trying to be anything else!

The rich and inspiring architecture by Geoffrey Bawa surrounds you with an overwhelming sense of beauty and calmness. Wondering along the hills and the gardens felt like a luxury, it was truly a privilege to stay and feel sanctuary in these grounds. My family stayed in the Cinnamon Hill House 1 & 2 during our visit, and words do not do justice to the feeling we got when spending the night within the walls of that cottage. The architecture was simply beautiful and authentically Sri Lankan, it made me feel proud of my heritage. The bathrooms, each open to it's own atmospheric courtyard were the perfect places to soak in a bathtub and spend time just relaxing. The estate maybe old, but renovations carried out in recent years have carefully conserved the heritage of the architecture while also bringing modern amenities to the guest. They also had a newly built infinity pool with very close proximity the Cinnamon Hill cottage with a beautiful view to the lake behind it. All in all, it was a very relaxing stay.

The food was delicious! Dinner was served under the stars with lanterns for sufficient lighting, it was truly a magical experience.

I also have to give a shoutout to the amazing staff and management who run the estate. You get the feeling they genuinely love their jobs and want to treasure mister Bawa's legacy. They are very approachable and likable, and they made the stay multiple folds better.

I would love to visit Lunuganga again in the future, hopefully very soon, and stay in a different room and experience what that room specifically has to offer. The diversity of the accomodations intrigues me, and I feel like the experience would just get even better.

I Definetely recommend staying at Lunuganga. Not only will you not regret it, it will be a visit to remember and will definetely trigger your own creativity and inspire you, especially if you're an artist yourself.

5 stars!

My trip there was a few years ago before they decided unwisely I am told to hand over the management to a 3rd party…
But my visit at that time was awesome and felt like I was in a different world so beautiful Geoffrey Bawa estate is.
I strongly recommend a visit to Lunuganga and travellers should make the time to visit and spend a few hours there if you can

One of the rarest but must go place. Wordless to describe its atmosphere, view and architecture. There is a restaurant also in the premises.

We have stayed here before the hotel management took it over. I am afraid, that for what it is - and it is a very special place - the prices have become way over the top. I am saddened by the fact that architecture buffs without the deepest pockets now will no longer be able to stay here and study the place in detail. It's now just another nice hotel, I guess.

Although I enjoyed my garden tour. I'm disappointed because my sil came all the way from the UK and as she had mobility problems and when we asked whether we could take the car up.we were told no.
You should have better facilities to taking up people with disabilities. PR was nil both at the security and office, they seemed to know nothing. Only the tour guide was good. By not allowing vehicles to go up you just lost two visitors to the Geoffrey Bawa's country mansion.
Also there was no access to see the Bungalow that Geoffrey Bawa lived in.

Went for lunch today, approx 1: 30pm. Stopped at the gate, because we didn't have a reservation. The manager let us in with the understanding that it'll take 40 minutes to cook the order and that we'll buy tickets for the garden tour at 3pm. We said okay to both.

It's a pretty place. Lunch was good. The lunch for 2 costed us LKR 6.5k, the garden tour was LKR 10.4k.

We didn't stay at the hotel but purchased the site explorer package and the Architecture of this whole property is Magnificent. Simply Amazing.

Lunuganga is the country home of famous architect Geoffrey Bawa. The estate is huge and they take you for a walk explaining how Bawa used to go about his day. He had different bells at strategic locations in the property. Each bell has a unique sound for each location. On hearing the bell, the servants bring him is evening tea or afternoon drink based on the bell they hear. It has amazing views of nature. Classical statues and surreal sculptures can be found all through the garden. People who love architecture should visit the place.

Splendid place to visit; whether you're a fan of Geoffrey Bawa, conneiseur of architecture or landscaping or just someone seeking serene spaces - this will do for you. Open for visits (guided tour) three times a day or for a stay in experience with the teardrop hotels, there are many ways you can experience the place. Allow 2.5+ hours for a tour visit

Nice place to spend time. It would take around 90mins for guided tour. Guide is a nice person who speak both sinhala and english. Ticket cost is 3000 for locals

Lovely place, really inspiring! But very expensive. It was worth it for me as a landscape architect, I can't tell for others.

If you are a big fan of Geoffrey Bawa, you must try this place. This is a different kind of experience, Atmosphere was great. Hospitality at it's best. Staff was soo friendly, professional, flexible and very helpful and that was the best someone can ask for. We stayed at Cinnamon hills. Rooms are align with Bawa's architecture and interior. And each room has it's uniqueness. And love the garden, can stay there whole day. So many places to visit inside this heritage. They offered complimentary garden tour and that was very informative and you will falling love with Bawa's thought process.
Food was good. And now they have a pool, that newly opened and we were the first couple that used it. Overall I was very satisfied and highly recommending this place for a nature lover and the people who love to stay in calm places.