Santani Wellness Resort & Spa

Santani is one of most beautiful places I ever experienced, located in the mountains with spectacular views, very modern and luxurious yet quite wild and mysterious. We had amazing time with my partner! Very romantic and peaceful, with amazing healthy food and yoga every morning and afternoon. Santani is one in a million experience that you guys must try coming to Sri Lanka. Service was extremely good and all staff very kind. Will definitely go back.

Absolutely wonderful place. No regrets at all about extending our trip so we could stay there a bit longer.

The views are incredible. The food is amazing. The service is both exceptional, but also friendly and comfortable.

We stayed in a 'garden' room, so didn't have any views of the mountains but as we were getting that every meal and whenever we we walking / by the pool, it was actually quite nice to retreat away into our jungle hideout.

The whole place (including the rooms) blend inside and outside together really well, so you absolutely feel at one with the nature there. It's like nowhere else we've ever stayed to be honest.

Whilst it's an Ayurvedic retreat on paper, I would say it's not. *too* Ayurvedic. We stayed at another place (called Plantation Villa) which was more focussed on the Ayurvedic healing / diet etc than Santani.which I would say is more of a high-end luxury experience. So slightly depends what you're after.

Wonderful pool, spa, and daily nature walks all a must.impromptu swimming in the natural pools was an absolute highlight for our whole trip.

Thanks Santani for such wonderful memories.

The Most Wonderful stay at Santani! Beyond our expectations, the food was delicious, the views and mountain breeze at breakfast would take some beating! We loved both the morning and evening yoga sessions. We stayed in the Jungle Rooms, they were so exotic, a little loud at night with all of the birds (so you do have to wear ear plugs definitely). The most calming place, with the most attentive staff.

The view and the fresh air. It was like what Kandy was 30 years ago with the added luxury of amazingly delicious and modern food!
The staff deserves a special mention as they are our first point of contact, Sri Lanka is always known for hospitality and Santani lives up to it.
Thank you and will be back again, for a longer stay

Santani is one of a kind! No words can discribe the feeling and the atmosphere. You are out of time!
I can only recommend! Was an AMAZING experience, once in a lifetime!

Most tranquilizing! Its lika a dream paradise.sounds of birds.the beautiful mountains.the cool breeze.all nature surrounding.simple cottages.soothing treatments in the spa.relaxing yoga.most Delicious meals.friendly staff.refreshed me and my holiday was really worth.thank you Mr Mahesh, Mr saliya, Dr mudeetha other all workers of the hotel Santani.

Brilliant resort!
My husband and I stayed here for one night in the mountain view chalet as part of our honeymoon, and wish we could have stayed longer! Everything about this place is fantastic; from the beautiful, spacious and clean room, the delicious food, the fabulous 7am outdoor class with Lorelei, the wonderful spa and massage which we loved, and overall the staff!

I absolutely loved waking up to the sounds of nature and monks chanting from a nearby temple. Nothing could be more serene and in touch with nature.

A special thank you to all the staff who went above and beyond to make our stay there truly remarkable, and even setting up a beautiful dinner outdoors for us.

We can't wait until we can return to Santani!

Our driver had some issues finding the place but, once we got there, we decided to not do anything else than enjoy it instead of visiting other places around.

Service is friendly and discreet. No one bringing bags and smilling at you until you tip. All one without you noticing so that when you get to your room, everything is there.

Food:
Amazing! Having some nicely presented tasty food.

Rooms:
Great! Only thing is that I god a bit cold one night but, if you are worried about this, you can talk to them and, they have blankets.

Yoga:
Great to start and finish the day with some yoga

Spa:
Great massages. The sauna was however out of order when we visited.

They also have daily walks that you can take. One of them ends up in a river where you can swim.

I would like to go back and stay a bit longer (3 nights last time). It's amazing to relax!

We stayed at Santani for a few nights in February. Overall, the resort was beautiful and we loved the food, scenery and location.

Each day you could pick from the Sri Lankan or Western tasting menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner and we loved pretty much everything we ate. The food and ambiance of the restaurant were definitely highlights of the stay.

The spa was pretty good too, and the massages were some of the best I've ever had, but make sure to reconfirm everything because there were a few mix ups with treatments and gender preferences for therapists. The checkin process, in general, was a little clunky.

There were only two negatives that are good to know before booking. We stayed in garden chalets and the first night was so peaceful.because we didn't have neighbors. The next night was a nightmare because our neighbors were really loud and because everything is so open to the outdoors, we could hear EVERYTHING as if they were in the same room as you, including them going to the bathroom (not so romantic for a honeymoon).

The other part is that the bathroom is fully outside which is fun at first but after the first day, we just wanted a bathroom with privacy.

We had an amazing stay at Santani. It was a holiday of our lifetime. Everything was perfect from the beginning when we received very warm welcome by the manager and head chef. The whole stay in Santani was a life changing experience. They provided excellent service, all the staff were friendly and very helpful. We were served delicious customized dishes to balance our doshas. The yoga was probably the best part of it. We had attended group yoga everyday and also had private yoga session which was very good value. In a week we not only became more flexible but we also got hooked on yoga probably for rest of our lives. Thank you Rahul and Barbara.
Altogether we spent there 7 nights and would have hoped to stay little bit longer.
We also loved the eco and minimalistic concept of the whole place (restaurant, rooms, spa, reception) everything was so beautiful yet so simple. We had spa treatments everyday that we loved, best massage of our lives. Spa staff very professional, kind and warm. Same goes to the lovely Dr. Mudeetha who proved to be beautiful, intelligent and caring person. We have learned a lot from her which we are really grateful for. Thank you for showing us the green house:)
The setting of this place is just mind blowing, you cannot be closer to nature and more grounded than this.
We would highly recommend staying in Santani for at least a week to get the benefit of this magical place. We will be forever grateful for this experience and are thanking all of the Santani's staff for making this happen for us.

See you in the near future and thank you for everything
Katerina and Martin from Ireland

Where do I start? Well, these past four days have been very interesting to us, unfortunately not in a good way. We are a couple who is used to traveling and which likes to explore different places. From high end to average places we enjoy exploring other cultures and accommodations. To come straight to the point: the price we invested into Santani-Resort is not acceptable!

For over 700 USD a night you at least expect some benefits like an ayurveda introduction or a well equipped spa. In fact one massage with a “discount” of 25% is even more expensive than getting one in Europe with the same Ayurveda-treatment. The staff is kind and friendly, unfortunately though not used to fulfill the needs of western expectations in in this price category. We haven’t been served our dinner at the same time once for the past four days due to the service. In addition to that the staff seemed to have a hard time to understand to bring us some plain tomatoes or avocado for our breakfast. Things we thought were basic seemed to be groundbreaking requests here.

Besides that the food and the view from the resort was lovely. Western standards which meet the local cuisine.

The spa unfortunately was like the rooms: Disappointing! The spa-staff seemed mostly confused and not really knowing how to consult us when it comes to Ayurveda or basic massages. Also every guest is “welcome” to spend another 150$ per person to be consulted which treatment and which diet is appropriate for them. By spending over 700 USD a night you would at least expect these kind of “consultancies” being included in the price.

The beds in the rooms are ok. The open toilet, the dark bathroom lighting and no air conditioning takes time getting used to though. Friends of us and ourselves haven’t been able to sleep through the night due to a temple which is close by and where loud noises and prayers come from every morning around 6.

All in all we are leaving this place disappointed. The reason for us writing this review is due to our final experience at Santani where we have been told by the guest manager to receive a lunch before our departure which will be covered by the hotel. When we came to the restaurant to receive the lunch - one hour before leaving - exactly the same manager informed us that he will charge now 32$ for a meal (the meal would have included a soup and a quinoa salad). That is unacceptable!

This place feels like a total rip off and by having spent more than 4000 USD for four nights, we definitely wont recommend it to anyone nor come here again.