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Maalu Maalu Resort & Spa is a beachfront resort of thatched, two-storey wooden chalets on Pasikuda Bay, built in the style of a Sri Lankan fishing camp. Run by Thema Collection, it describes itself as the first hotel at Passikudah, and it sits directly on the beach, with a long infinity pool between the chalets and the calm, shallow water of the bay.
All rooms are in the timber chalets, with polished wooden floors, air-conditioning and a fan, a minibar, an in-room safe, a TV, free Wi-Fi and Ayurvedic toiletries from the resort's Ayurvie range. They come in four categories, and the names below are the ones you will see when you choose a room.
The two suites share facilities with each other, so a family or group booking an Ocean Suite and the Panoramic Suite above it will have a seafront chalet and its pool to themselves.
There are five places to eat and drink. Karadiya, the main restaurant, serves a buffet and a set menu of Sri Lankan and international dishes with live cooking stations. Habala and Ruwala, the pool bar and restaurant, are built into two converted fishing boats beside the pool. Mora is the à la carte restaurant for a quieter dinner, White Sands lets you choose fresh seafood from a market display and also cooks teppanyaki, and Thora is a bar with an air-conditioned room and a terrace for a drink at sunset. The resort says more than 80% of the produce it serves is grown locally.
The beach and the infinity pool are the main attractions, and the water of the bay is clear and shallow, which suits swimmers and children. The Ayurvie Spa has a resident Ayurvedic doctor, and there is a fitness room, a kids' club for children aged 4 to 12, beach volleyball and a karaoke room and nightclub. The resort can arrange snorkelling and diving on the Pasikuda reef, windsurfing, kayaking, jet skiing and banana-boat rides, village bike rides, a mangrove boat trip with local fishermen, snorkelling at Kayankerni and cookery demonstrations. Some of these cost extra.
Kalkudah Beach, a quieter stretch of sand, is just to the south, and the small town of Pasikuda is around the corner. Further down the coast, Batticaloa has the old Dutch fort on the edge of the Batticaloa lagoon. Inland, the ruined royal city of Polonnaruwa and the elephant parks of Minneriya and Kaudulla make good day trips.
Yes. Trains on the Batticaloa line from Colombo stop at Kalkudah, about 3.6 kilometres from the resort in a straight line, and at nearby Valaichchenai. Arrange a pick-up from the station with the resort or with us in advance.
Pasikuda is on the east coast, about 200 kilometres in a straight line from Bandaranaike International Airport, and the drive crosses the island through the Cultural Triangle, so most visitors break the journey or come here at the end of a round tour. We can arrange a private car and driver from the airport, and the resort itself offers an airport shuttle. Batticaloa airport, south along the coast, is the nearest domestic airport.
It suits families, with its attic rooms, kids' club and shallow bay, and couples who want a beach holiday with good food and a spa on a coast that is far less busy than the south and west. The east coast is at its best from roughly April to September, when the south-west is wet. For more choice in the area see our places to stay in Passekudah.
Bookable activities, tours, and tickets within a 25 km radius.
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