- Lunuganga - Sri Lanka

Set a little inland from the Bentota area, Lunuganga offers seclusion as well as luxury. A pool was added in 2022, ticking the final box to make this hotel one of the most sought after boutique stays on the west coast

Lunuganga Estate was the country home of the renowned Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. Started in 1947, the garden led Bawa, a lawyer called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1940, to decide to become an architect. As he went on to become Sri Lanka's and one of Asia's most prolific and influential architects, the garden at the Lunuganga estate remained his first muse and experimental laboratory for new ideas. He continued to change and experiment with its spaces and structures throughout his life until his final illness in 1998. Left to the Lunuganga Trust on his demise in 2003, the gardens are now open to the public and the buildings on the estate are run as a country house hotel.

There are five private suites across the Lunuganga Estate available for reservation. They were built in different periods of Bawa’s career and incorporate motifs and ideas from the projects he was working on at the time. The suites are preserved as they existed during the lifetime of the architect and are decorated with a resplendent mixture of antique and modern furniture, and traditional and contemporary art; the very tasteful, eclectic aesthetic that was Bawa’s hallmark. Each of the suites has a highly unique character and offers distinctive vistas across the estate. All suites have air conditioning, optional mosquito netting, and attached bathrooms with hot/cold showers.