Jetwing St Andrews a stay review:

Those who follow this blog know, In November last year Ananth, Dhriti and I visited Sri Lanka on 8 day tour and had the time of our lives. After managing to bag a pretty decent deal for a set of luxury hotels, thanks to belonging to the travel industry we were pretty excited to check out these properties, So during our trip we spent 3 nights each in Jetwing St Andrews and Jetwing lighthouse and 1 night in Cinnamon lake side and we loved our stay there. Read on to find out what we loved and what we just tolerated about these places of stay and decide for yourself if this would be your choice of stay there.

Jetwing St Andrews:

High above the coastal regions of Srilanka lies the central highlands of Sri Lanka and its here in the town of Nuwra eliya nestled at the lap of nature, the colonizers decided to start and run their tea plantations and also used this place as a summer retreat to escape the scorching heat of the summer. This property Jetwings Set Andrews is one such colonial bunglow which is roughly about 100 to 130 years old. The bunglow is welcoming tourists for the past century and you get to see plenty of framed bills and receipts from the initial days of this hotel. There are a total of 56 rooms which are a mix of rooms right from the base category to the Gem suite rooms which are supposed to be their most luxurious rooms. Separate cots for babies are allowed on request.

We were booked into superior rooms which are the basic rooms, a cozy room with gute furniture and matching upholstery and a compact and clean bathroom is more than enough for a family of three. We were welcomed with a mouthwatering small cake and some freshly made cookies and chocolates which were a thrill for Dhriti!!

so many beautiful corners to click those amazing pictures, conveniently located a short drive away from all the major attractions of Nuwra eliya this could easily be an ideal pick for you if you are a honeymoon couple or traveling with a family and are quite flexible with your budget and your vacation would be a mix of outdoor activities and relaxation at the room and you are not using the room just for the night stay.

Activities:

If you are here on an impromptu trip and have no clue about the sightseeing spots or activities here, the hotel also has a travel desk here to arrange some local experiences for you which are unique to Nuwra Eliya. Apart from that there are a lot of places to check out within the town and around Nuwra Eliya which are given in detail in my Other Sri Lanka blogs!! here are some of the activities the hotels could assist you in,

1. Treks and hikes to local points

2. Temple, Monastery visits

3. Tea factory and plantation visits

4. Day trips to certain nearby towns and offbeat locations

5. Waterfall hopping

Food:

When you visit Sri Lanka on a packaged tour, you are most likely on a half board meal plan which includes both your breakfast and dinner. So this could be a challenge to you if you are a pure vegetarian or a vegan. Imagine a tiring day filled with travel and activity after which you are hungry and ready to dig in some tasty food and their menu or buffet spread contains hardly any veg options, Annoying right? Well the food here was great, they tasted amazing and everything but the set menu as well as buffet spread had very little to offer vegetarians and a pretty huge spread for non vegetarians. specially when you are a vegetarian out of tradition this can become a bit challenging, but don't worry just reach out to them and clearly explain your dietary requirements and they customize almost anything for you in the veg version at no extra cost. This was something I observed in all the hotels I stayed in Sri Lanka and though this may sound controversial I feel that these menus are spreads are curated specially for the western tourists. Indians mostly choose to stay in budgeted hotels and thereby are not really a major consideration here.

would I recommend this:

I totally would recommend this to everyone, the only point to keep in mind is that since this is a heritage property there are no lifts, so you need to walk up the stairs if you are someone with difficulty climbing stairs, this is something you may want to consider or request for a ground floor room.

With regards to the food, I would still stay go for it because the taste is amazing and also not very spicy or oily which ensures a safe tummy!! we should just be ready to explain our diet clearly to them and wait until they bring your food and you can take my word you would not regret it. This is clearly affordable luxury at its best and it's cheaper to stay in a luxury hotel in Sri Lanka than in India so go for it.