Sandalu Eco Resort - Knuckles

We stayed 2 nights in July.

The place is worth to visit. Amazingly surrounded by mountains.
You need to take all required food to cook.

The cook Mohan is one of the best.
You may ask other helper to buy fresh cow milk, so you can have fresh milk tea. (it was 200 rupees per bottle)

Rooms are pretty big
Total of 6 rooms
Only 2 rooms has full privacy
Other 2 and 2 rooms are interconnected and washroom to be shared (Needs improvement on privacy)

Rainy days you won't be able to put your feet in grass, the Bangalow is surrounded by leeches

Many people attached photo of the resort, so I decided to add some photos I took during a short hiking.

We walked till Knuckles Waterfall and in between there are few small falls with beautiful scenery. And we saw couple of mountain deer.

Special Note.
The last 2km road was horrible avoid going in Car or Buddy van. Use any vehicle which has high ground clearance. In rainy days you may need 4*4.
We were on a buddy van and 1 or 2 person had to get down from vehicle, one person need to watch the rocks in middle of the road. Must be a skill driver, otherwise you will be hitting the stone for sure

It was an amazing experience. Clean & Beautiful Resort well maintain by the staff. The resort caretaker is very kind and always support us for our requirements. He cooks food well. There are many places around to visit. Highly recommend this Resort!

Located in a beautiful place surrounded from several mountains. Rooms was spacious and the service from Appu and Mano was awsome. Recommended for anyone. Will come back again

Amazing place with amazing staff. Very nice location. Great service with delicious food. Special thanks goes to manoj for reaching top of knuckle Mountain. Appu uncle made delicious foods for us. Thank you all

Had a great time good for a group trip.road can be hard some times other wise good one.there was a pool table also very mesmerized view u can relax

Amazing place with a wonderful staff. Nice & calm location with a great view. Good for anyone looking for a relaxing stay. Highly recommended.

Very nice bungalow with a fantastic view ️
Large rooms with specious washrooms.
Caretaker Steven was a great helper and Other two helpers as wellthey made delicious food take all necessities and give the Manu.they will cook.
Road to the place was a bit challenge.last 2km was a difficult drive. They will arrange a vehicle and you can leave the car in the school near by. Have to 500/- a day for school security and vehicle 2500/- one way. But it was worth it
Natural waterfalls close by. With in walking distance if you enjoy hikes. Saree ellla was a great spot for bath. ️
Bungalow has a huge ground to play.nearby water stream which was great too. Overall we had two nights with BBQ music and fun. Day time hikes waterfall bathing natural waterfalls and quiet wonderful evenings with our lovely friend s

Everything is perfect, except the road which we need to reach this location. If you want a trouble free journey, I'm not recommended this place.

We stayed one night very recently here.
Beautiful place. Stunning views. Nice spacious rooms. The lounge area is really nice, clean and spacious with stunning views that yyou could hangout for hours.
There is a beautiful family suite with two large rooms connected with great views and a couch to hang out ideal for a large family or a group.
There other separate rooms that are smaller but have nice spacious bathrooms which you seen in the pictures.

The caretaker was really nice and kind and cooked great food and the kitchen was tidy and clean as well.
5 Starts for the all that!

SO WHY ONLY 3 START review?
I’m sure for most of you the two most important things in an accommodation is a clean bed and a clean toilet.
Even though the family suite looked stunning, it's bathroom was not.
It is not on of the stunning bathrooms you see in the pictures.
Except the floor, everything else looked tatty, dated, stained and worn out.

The shower was no top of a hot tub that would not drain properly and after two minutes of shower, your feet get submerged in dirty water. The hot water didn’t work on the sink tap either and the walls were all stained and looked dirty.
Same could be said to the toilet seat.
Everyone in our family felt uncomfortable using the bathroom and very uncomfortable using the toilet

And it would have been nice if there were white bed sheets. I'm sure they were washed but we felt unsure and uncomfortable with dark Maroon colour sheets after coming out from an uncomfortable shower.

I think we got carried away with the nice spacious and connected rooms and picked that and overlooked the bathroom suffered from that mistake.
Sorry but this bathroom needs improving, I would recommend the family suite for any family or friends if it wasn’t for this

One other IMPORTANT thing to note is:
Last 3 KMs of the road if you are travelling from the Gomara side is in a really bad state and only suitable for a 4X4 or vehicles with good ground clearance.
Road is a lot better from the Rangala side except for the last kilometre.
Even though were warned about the state of the road, wish we were told about the alternative route before we arrived.

Overall it is still a nice place. Just mind the bathroom in the family suite and the bumpy ride

The experience at Sandalu was very good. Clean and spacious bedrooms and washrooms. The cook was good as well. Overall a good choice to enjoy a vacation.

A really good place to stay when you visit to knuckles. Mainly food are really tasty. (Thanks Appu.) Highley Recommended.

It's good place. But they have water problems in rooms. Before you go there call them and confirm it.

I haven't stayed there but visited the place. Visitors are strongly advised to see the lower rated reviews as those gives the real negative facts. Short vehicle with good ground clearance is a must as over 2km of final strech is in really bad shape. Driver needs to be skilled in maneuvering such roads. Alternate route from Katooloya (locals call it Cataloy) side has less than 1km of rough road but there is a Y junction which is near impossible to take left turn. Better to go further up and reverse, then come back. Rainy days (frequent in this area) make situation worse.

Bunglow and caretaker is really good. Location is super and everything is good. But little bit difficult to access since difficulty on road to bunglow. Never recommend Marcopolo bus with 30 seater to travel there.

It's good place. But they have water problems in rooms. Before you go there call them and confirm it.

The resort was super beautiful and clean. Interior and the rooms were really well done up. Food was good. However approach road is TERRIBLE. They say you can bring a bus but trust me you can’t. So we had to park the bus and walk to the resort. They arranged their cab but later charged us 1200 per ride which was not informed before also. Unless it’s a Jeep or cab no other vehicle can use that road, and so much worse and risky on rainy days. Road was super slippery.

Staff is very nice. Unfortunately the local guests who have stayed there have torn down the place. Such a shame that most of the things in the game room don't work.

Elegant villa based amidst the serenity of the Knuckles mountain range. Beautiful maintained rooms are really spacious and clean.
Kudos to the caretakers whom made us delicious meals. I would give a five star rating.

Highly recommend this place for an one night two day out. Reasonable prices with very attractive views from the top floor
I went to knuckles to some other hotel with some of my close friends and got lost. Found this place by accident and for our luck
Staff is very friendly you have to book there before you go. And you have to bring your food and beverages. There are two caretakers which one of them is a fine cook
Highly recommend

Lovely scenic beauty. What a nice weather. Peaceful environment. But really not happy with the maintenance, washrooms are bit smelly.

Good for a group and people who would love to go hiking or camping in Knuckles.

The road is very narrow and very bad condition.make sure you are not using a cars like Aqua or Prius