Kottamba Kanda
Kottamba Kanda villa from the pool terrace: white walls, terracotta roof and colonnaded veranda (architectural render)

Kottamba Kanda

A private villa on the hill above Hiriketiya bay

Opening September, now taking enquiries for the first season

The hill of kottamba trees

Kottamba is the sea-almond tree; kanda is the hill. The name is the address: a low hill on Sri Lanka's south coast where these broad-leaved trees hold the light, four minutes on foot above the water at Hiriketiya.

The house sits at the top of it: two white storeys under a steep terracotta roof, a colonnaded veranda, and a green-stone infinity pool on the terrace in front, its edge dropping away to a lower garden and the jungle below. Four bedrooms, a detached garden pavilion, and a lawn large enough to lose the children in.

It is taken whole, by one party at a time. A private chef cooks what the morning market gives him; butlers and housekeeping keep the house running and stay out of the way. You arrive, and the rest is arranged.

The villa opens in September 2026. It is being built now, on the hill, to the drawings you see on these pages.

The villa seen through the garden trees, its infinity pool spilling over the wall to the lower lawn (architectural render)

The hill

Above the bay

The bay at Hiriketiya is a near-perfect horseshoe: a mellow wave inside it for learning, a livelier one off the point for those who already know how. It is four minutes down the hill on foot. You tend to hear it before you see it.

The place
The green-tiled infinity pool at Kottamba Kanda with a sunken lounge below it and the veranda behind (architectural render)

The pool

Water and garden

The pool runs the length of the terrace in front of the veranda: a green-stone infinity pool whose vanishing edge falls to the garden below, so the water reads jade rather than blue and seems to run off into the trees. Around it, a garden of sea-almond and frangipani, kept green the year round, wide enough to be quiet in.

The villa
The double-height living hall with its galleried teak landing, open stair and doors onto the garden (architectural render)

The hall

Open to the roof

The house is built around a hall two storeys high: teak rafters over terracotta boarding, a galleried landing running round it, an open teak stair. The tall doors at the back stand open through the day, so the breeze goes straight through from the veranda to the garden, and everyone drifts back here between the pool and dinner.

Inside the house

The rooms and the grounds

The living hall from the entrance, bar to one side and the pool seen through the open doors (architectural render)
The Canopy, the master bedroom: a teak four-poster bed under the rafters, doors open to a balcony in the tree canopy (architectural render)
The entrance porch and side lawn of Kottamba Kanda under a kottamba tree (architectural render)
The Evening Room: a four-poster king bed, glass doors to the terrace and the bathroom beyond (architectural render)
View the gallery

The place

Four minutes from the water

Hiriketiya is the reason people come and the reason they stay longer than they meant to. Beyond it: the empty length of Talalla, the coves east towards Tangalle, and the ramparts of Galle Fort an hour up the coast.

Explore the area
The garden at Kottamba Kanda: lawn and planting under tall trees and a coconut palm, a corner of the pool in front (architectural render)

First stays, September

The villa opens in September 2026, and the first calendar is filling now. Send your dates and we will tell you what is free.

Request a stay