Scattered along the south coast of Sri Lanka,fronting the crashing waves of the Andaman Sea, a hotel building boom is starting in this suddenly in demand island. In contrast with the charming, culturally relevant boutique hotels that already exist with more in development, the nearby, just opened Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort exemplifies another hotel style that’s coming—a large, international/generic resort. But in the middle of it, the just opened Ani Villas complex, a companion to the company’s other properties in Anguilla, Thailand and the Dominican Republic, stands out for its singular quality.
The creative force behind it is noted Parisian designer Reda Amalou, designer of Vietnam’s beautiful (if challenging with its various steps and levels within a room) hotel the Nam Hai and the style here is similar: clean Asian lines with top quality materials-- teak, granite, marble—and contemporary furniture but with a Sri Lankan edge. Apart from the villas, there is also an event space for staging weddings.
The concept is grounded in privacy with exclusive use of one villa of eight rooms, the other with seven available in total by renting a minimum of four rooms. (The two villas can be rented separately or together for a full property rental.) The cuisine ranges from local to Thai, Indian or Italian, there’s a tennis court and gym with a fitness instructor, a spa with an Ayurvedic master, a yoga pavilion and for kids (and adults) water slides into the pool. And a concierge to plan cultural excursions--into historic sites, tea country or the national park looking for leopards.
