Gem River Edge - Eco home and Safari Guesthouse

Quite place for relaxation, echo friendly hotel in Kataragama, they are make lovely vegetarian food and tasty, river bathing as different experiences.

Gem River Edge is located at a wonderful river which is perfect for a refreshing bath. This place is filled with respect not only towards the nature but the more in treating and serving the guests. It's a homestay which makes you feel at home as soon as you enter Gem River Edge. Especially, because of the open-hearted and friendly staff I extended my stay at such a natural place. So finally I ended up living and volunteering there for about month. Highly recommendable. ;)

Veggie, no alcohol licence. It was in a lovely setting. Lovely food, probably some of the best we had on our trip. The safari was organised for us, but there was a miss match between our expectations and what was delivered. $80 each for a private jeep and driver. But couldn't speak English even on a basic level (forward, backwards, left, right) no explanation of animals and not even that good at spotting animals.

Gem River Edge is a perfect quiet green place. Carla and her staff are very warm welcoming people. They have a good cook, the food is nice. It's a good base for visiting the evening Puja in Kataragama and a nice Eco friendly safari in Yala National park (including self made lunch! ). You can have their bicycles to cycle around the small town and visit the paddy fields and the lake, it's great to do that! The rooms are cosy, but a bit dark and the mattresses are not as soft as you want them to be, but OK, you can't have it all.

Superb location next to a river. Good conceptual idea. Great visit just for the setting and location. Staff possibly the most friendly in Sri Lanka Dinner slightly expensive. Pillows and mattress could be more comfortable Shower is outside Wi-Fi is not strong Safari was overpriced and food for lunch was a little poor. This was off season and they were renovating the property which, when done will be amazing. I would recommend staying here for the people and the setting.

A beautifully relaxing setting close to the Holy City of Kataragama, Yala National Park and the Buddhist temple Situlpawwa. Plenty to do and see around the area. You'll receive great hospitality from the moment you arrive with soft drinks, maps of the area and access to free bicycles for exploring the area. The food is fantastic and traditional Sri Lankan style. Definitely worth a trip, particularly during the safari season.

I feel bad having to write this review, as I'm sure the accommodation here is very nice. However, I feel it's important to highlight the issues around the cancellation policy of this guesthouse, especially if you are booking through Airbnb. Despite letting the host know I had to cancel my reservation 6 days in advance (due to exceptional circumstances), I was still refused any kind of refund and ended up paying for 2 very expensive nights of accommodation that I couldn't use. I felt this was very unfair given the circumstances and also how much notice I gave on the cancellation, as I'm sure they could of easily filled the room with new guests in that time. Secondly, if you do cancel the booking through Airbnb, be warned that you will be charged an additional £10 cancellation fee. I had cancelled the Airbnb booking to help the guesthouse, so that they could stand the best chance of refilling the rooms in good time. The cancellation fee was not mentioned anywhere by the hosts on their airbnb profile and they admitted that other guests in the past have complained about this issue. Despite this, they were totally unwilling to refund me even the £10 cancellation fee and have now stopped all communication with me.

Very peaceful calm and quiet place to relax.