Times UK ‘Top Twenty’ names Uga Escapes’ hotels
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One of the world’s most respected newspapers, the Times of London, has named all three of Uga Escape’s currently active properties to a list of the top twenty boutique hotels in Sri Lanka. The article, which appeared in the paper’s ‘Destinations’ section recently, lavishes praise on Uga Escapes’ acclaimed boutique properties, which have already won numerous industry awards, as well as certificates of excellence earlier this year from the trusted consumer review web site Trip Advisor.
Uga Bay at Passlkudah is described in the Times article as ‘a fusion of tropical and Mediterranean architecture’ with beach views from every room, while Jungle Beach at Kuchchaveli, north of Trincomalee, earns a bouquet for its ‘treehouse feel’ and luxurious ‘rustic-chic rooms designed like jungle cabins’. The latter, which World Luxury Hotel Awards in its July 2014 called the best hideaway resort on the shores of the Indian Ocean, is also the most complete architectural expression to date of Uga Escapes’ commitment to sustainability and oneness with nature.
The same ethos is also on display at Ulagalle, the first and flagship property of Uga Escapes, set amidst the deep rural countryside at the heart of Sri Lanka’s ‘Cultural Triangle’, the heartland of the island’s ancient kings, where ruined temples and monuments dominate a landscape of paddy-fields and lush forests. At Ulagalla, where wild peacocks roam the hotel grounds and exotic tropical songbirds call from every tree, the Times praised the ‘elegant suites with a contemporary colonial design’ and the chance to ‘get up close’ to the wildlife and exotic birds that roam its 58-acre grounds.
The birds of Ulagalla and its sister resorts were, in fact, recently the subject of a book by the well-known Sri Lankan ornithologist, which was published by Uga Escapes. Birds of Uga features 92 species, with colour photographs, descriptions and space for spotters’ notes. ‘Uga Escapes’ seems to be on a roll these days: being featured in the London Times and is just one of a string of recent achievements for the all-Sri Lankan-owned company.
In early 2015, it will open its first city hotel, ‘Uga Residence’, a restored and remodelled colonial mansion at Park Street, Colombo. With other attractive properties scheduled to open in the south of the country in the near future, it will soon be possible for a visitor to explore all of Sri Lanka while sleeping every night in the luxurious, close-to-nature ambience of an Uga Escapes hotel.