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.

Render of Hiriketiya's horseshoe bay with surfers on a small swell

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

Render of the green-stone infinity pool, its far edge dropping to the garden terrace below

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

Render of the dining space set for dinner, kitchen light beyond

The table

A chef of your own

Breakfast when you wake, not when a buffet closes. Your chef shops the Dikwella market at dawn and cooks it the same day: a Sri Lankan rice and curry, a whole fish off the boats, or whatever the table asks for.

Dining

The rooms and the grounds

Render of the double-height living hall with teak cathedral ceiling and galleried landing

Render of the master bedroom with a teak four-poster bed and jungle canopy beyond the shutters

Render of the villa garden path under kottamba trees

Render of the green-stone infinity pool in the evening, villa lit behind

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

Render of the jungle path down from the hill toward the bay

First stays, September

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

Request a stay