The Sanctuary at Tissawewa

I chose this hotel for may last 3 days travelling in Sri Lanka. It is not cheap but the old colonial charm of a repurposed goverrners mansion in a large private park was irrisistsble. On top of that, it is about the only hotel that is actually inside the ancient Buddhist city of Anuradhapura which makes visiting the sites much easier. The rooms are of the epoch so don't expect all the facilities of a modern chain hotel. Rooms are fairly small but with pretty much all you need and of course clean. Beds are with mosquito nets. There are, for me essential, a chair and writing desk and on the wide veranda there are chairs and tables for books from which to appreciate the park with its families of monkeys, peacocks, parrots an a resident eagle. Take binoculars. WIFI is free and available seemingly everywhere even if only advertised in the WIFI Zone in the veranda lounge by the front desk. The staff are helpful and will organise trips to the sites, though I had not required that. There is of course a restaurant with good food served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One niggle I had with the service was waiters pouring my tea. Milk is always poured first , then the tea. They couldn't get the hang of that and not pouring didn't appear to be an option. The front desk were happy to change the large denomination notes served by ATMs into the lower values needed for tipping, riding the tuc-tucs, eating in restaurants, visiting sites etc. An altogether plesent stay.