Roy and his famous hostel! Our stay at Roy’s Villa Hostel in Sigiriya
Roy.... Do you know Roy? Everybody else seems to. From travellers to tuk tuk drivers, restaurateurs to Instagrammers, everyone seems to know and recommend Roy and his hostel. Our laid back Uppuveli hostellier (Wanderers Hostel) had recommended him, a Biryani restaurant we had randomly found ourselves in, recommended him, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that 95% of the travellers we met, were either going to, or had been to, Roy’s Villa Hostel. With such overwhelming recommendations we felt it would be silly to miss out. So following our escapades in Habarana we booked two nights in Roy’s hostel.
Unfortunately the only person who didn’t know Roy’s hostel was our otherwise lovely tuk tuk driver who had the task of getting us there! After a lazy decision just to get a tuk tuk for the short distance between Habarana and Roy’s, we found ourselves guiding our tuk tuk driver via Google Maps as we navigated our rattling ride off of the main road. Passing farmers harvesting and drying their rice, waving school children and bird filled paddy fields. Finally we drew up to the wooden entrance to Roy’s hostel.
We are not hostel experts, most of our stays in Sri Lanka had been in guesthouses. We are confident however, when we say that Roy’s is nothing like a normal hostel.
Set within the paddy fields of Kimbissa, you wander up past beautifully maintained gardens with trees lining the path to the triangle roofed main building. This is the building we would eat in, relax with other travellers and play Carrom in (more on this later).
Inside was a large space, surrounded with big communal tables and benches. Hammocks hung between the supporting pillars, packs of cards and books were scattered around and a fridge full of beer sat invitingly at the back. It had everything a backpacker needed.
We were already pretty impressed, then came where we were to sleep…
The rooms at Roy’s Hostel
The private rooms at night!
We were ushered off to our private room (yes we know, posh packers strike again) and it was quite frankly, gorgeous! A private entrance porch with a little outside table and sofa led to our front door. Inside there was a big comfy bed, plenty of storage space and joy of joys multiple plug sockets!
The best feature however, was its bathroom. Spacious and modern, the bathroom curved round in an L shape to reveal a rain shower open to the elements. We are fairly sure this is not a standard feature in most hostels!
See below for our cringy room tour, honestly who do we think we are… Kara and Nate?
Food and Drink
One of the things we loved most about Roys was the atmosphere.
One of our many delicious meals!
The time we had chosen to travel to Sri Lanka was very odd. We had set off against government advice (both from our own government as well as much of Europe’s) and had landed in a country in the midst of political upheaval and financial crisis. Long story short, there were not many tourists or other backpackers around. Roy’s was like a little oasis, we shared our time there with a lovely group of fellow travellers who, like us, had decided, “screw it we’re going anyway”. The common areas at Roy’s were great and the meals sociable. We ate our dinners at a long table, the meals being served as a ‘family affair’ with all of us eating together.
Roy also has a fridge full of beers and a few cocktails to try whilst you are there. The beers were definitely welcome after long days out in the sun, just be careful as you only pay when you leave and you can easily run up a bill!
*Since writing this article, Roy has built a new restaurant on site. Let us know in the comments if you’ve visited.
Cooking Classes at Roy’s Villa Hostel
One afternoon, we all gathered in the common area for a cooking class hosted by Roy himself.
Careful she’s got a knife!
A parade of spices was brought and laid out in front of us and we were guided through their names, flavours and uses, both in Sri Lankan cooking and ayurvedic medicine. Handing out the knives, we were quickly put to work chopping, peeling, and preparing jackfruits, pumpkins and aubergines. What appeared to be torture devices screwed onto the table, turned out to be coconut scrapers. We used these scary looking devices to strip the white flesh from coconuts, before squeezing the fresh milk from the shavings.
Ingredients prepared, the flames were lit and we began cooking. Frying and stirring in big clay pots, within the next hour we had created and assembled four massive portions of steaming vegetable curries.
That lunch, we dined on sweet and sour aubergine, a rich pumpkin curry, aromatic dahl and an excellent jackfruit curry. The class was really easy to follow, and involved everyone, without putting anyone in an uncomfortable spotlight. We really enjoyed ourselves and learnt a lot about Sri Lankan curries and ingredients.
The delicious fruits of our labour!
Karom / Carrom
In the main communal area of the hostel, there was a mysterious board.
We’d seen them all over the country, usually accompanied by hunched men flicking what appeared to be a checkers chip around, but were yet to understand the game. The game is called Carrom and is popular throughout Sri Lanka, Nepal and India. We both love a good board game and we had been curious about how to play, so Roy sat us down with his extremely energetic son (see the tips section later) to explain the rules. We won’t go into too many details here, but Carrom is really good fun, involves a lot of flicking, frustration and, in our case, covert swearing! A bit like a game of Pool, the main idea is to sink your pucks into one of the four corner holes by flicking a ‘cue’ puck with your fingers. The game ends when you have sunk all of your pucks, and then finally the red puck. This is a super simplified version of the game and, if Roy’s son is anything to go by, it can be taken very seriously and become extremely competitive!
What To Do At Roy’s Hostel?
Roy’s hostel is centrally located for a bunch of activities to do during the day. Through the hostel you can easily arrange tours to any of Central Sri Lanka’s attractions, these include the following:
The Lion’s Rock Fortress of Sigiriya
One of or if not the biggest tourist attraction in Sri Lanka and it deserves to be! This incredible ruined fortress rises up out of the Sri Lankan jungle and dominates the surrounding landscape. It really is unmissable. Read all about why you should visit it here!
Pidurangala Rock
The cheaper alternative to Sigiriya. Smaller and without the impressive ruins of Sigiriya, it nevertheless commands an unbelievable panoramic view over the surrounding landscape and Lion’s Rock itself. Read about our Pidurangala climb here.
Side note: we keep seeing clickbait articles advising to skip Sigiriya and just do Pidurangala as it is cheaper and you get a great view of the Lions Rock. Do Not Do This. This “advice” is only given by people who skipped Sigiriya as justification as to why they missed out. Sigiriya was incredible and one of the highlights of our whole Sri Lanka trip. Go to both, it is worth it!
The Cave Temples of Dambulla
An incredible collection of ancient temples set into caves high above Dambulla town. Read more about visiting these beautiful cave temples here.
Elephant Safari
We had already done a safari in Habarana (read all about it here) so we didn’t opt for this. However, two other travellers who arranged it through Roy’s said they had a fantastic day.
Any of the above trips came with transport there and back. Pidurangala also including an early morning wake up call with Roy guiding you up the beautiful and occasionally perilous path to the top!
If you are in the area and want to do any of the above indepantly or want it booked in advance, check out get your guide for tours and trips:
Where To Eat In Kimbissa?
The danger to a place like Roy’s, is that it's almost too good. You can have breakfast, lunch and dinner provided and all activities arranged for you. As much as we love this, we do also get itchy feet and love a good explore. So, one day we set off from the comfy sanctuary at Roy’s to walk into the local village of Kimbissa.
The walk started off fantastically well as we sauntered off in completely the wrong direction. Although we had now accidentally extended our walk, we really didn’t mind as we had ended up next to a beautiful lily strewn lake. Wading birds fished, whilst buffalos wallowed in the cool waters. As mistakes go, 15 minutes in the wrong direction isn’t too bad. Back on the path (and going past a very confused member of Roy’s staff who had just seen us set off in the opposite direction) we continued or rather restarted the 2.5km walk into the village.
Walking along a small back road we wandered past paddy fields, alongside a small stream and through wild rice lined pathways.
It was peaceful and beautiful. Local farmers waved to us from the fields and butterflies flitted around. Dotted amongst the fields were strange structures perched high in the trees. They looked for all the world like a little tree house, the kind where, if you were John, you always dreamed of having one, or if you were Ellie had easy access to. These were not fun playhouses, we later learnt, but refuges, where farmers could escape any roaming wild elephants. We also passed a sign which very much intrigued us. We had apparently entered the territory of the fishing cats. We’d have loved to have seen one, but it was not meant to beas they are apparently very, very rare!
Eventually our rice lined path found its way to the crossroads village of Kimbissa.
Kimbissa is a very small village, consisting of a couple of shops, a pharmacy and a few hotels (restaurants). The only hotel open for lunch that day was set into the side of the general store. We stocked up on supplies, fought our way through a small gaggle of ice cream crazed school children before scoffing up a delicious plateful of food. The hotel only had one thing on the menu that day, so it was just as well we were in the mood for some fried rice!
Hunger sated, we about faced and headed back to Roy’s. Kimbissa makes for a good target if you’re looking to escape the bubble that is Roy’s hostel and immerse yourself in the local landscape. Just remember to take the back roads as there is a more direct route via the main road which is quicker but much busier and nowhere near as pretty.
We did venture on the main road in another expedition for lunch one day, and stopped by the Big Bites restaurant (along the main road there are multiple eateries on offer). At Big Bites, we ordered an egg biryani, but the menu also offered the all usual suspects of fried rice, rice and curry and kottu. The biryani was delicious and the portion sizes make you realise that the restaurant is aptly named! We loved all our meals at Roy’s but we also loved having the option of getting out and enjoying other places to eat.
Thoughts on staying at Roy’s Hostel
We had booked two nights at Roys but ended up staying for double this. Despite its hostel name tag and popularity amongst backpackers, Roy’s provided us with a little bit of luxury and complete ease of access to all the surrounding attractions. Roy himself was incredibly friendly, super helpful and genuinely a really nice guy. It never seemed like he was just there to make money, but instead to really make sure everyone had a good time and show off his wonderful country. Seriously, he would always go above and beyond. Some of our travelling companions said they fancied a swimming pool and he immediately phoned up one of his friends and arranged for them to have an afternoon in their pool! Roy’s hostel costs a little more than other backpacker hostels in the area but it more than makes up for in in what you get. More than just a bed to sleep in and a chance at meeting fellow travellers, Roy’s felt like an oasis full of brilliant people and good fun.
To book your stay click here
This is an affilitate link, we may recieve a small commission for bookings made through this link. It has not been paid for by the accommodation and we have received no incentive to write this article - We just really liked Roy’s!
Roy’s hostel has won multiple awards, and after our stay, we can easily see why.
Tips for Staying at Roys
Roy’s has a set price for everything. Breakfast, lunches, dinners, excursions and drinks (including beer and soft drinks). These are all tallied up and paid at the end of your stay. So be aware of this, especially on the beer front!
The food is delicious and not unreasonably priced, but if you want a cheaper meal, we’d recommend eating in the village or along the main road.
We cannot recommend the Pidurangala Rock expedition enough. It’s an early start (to get there for sunrise) but so unbelievably worth it.
Bring foreign currency and knowledge of cricket. This advice may change with time, but Roy’s extremely energetic young son collects all manners of foreign currency and will happily talk your ear off about each and every one of them. Similarly, be prepared to be bombarded with cricket quiz questions. He's a hilarious young man and a formidable Carrom opponent as well!
Don’t miss out on the Lion’s Rock. A lot of travellers come to the area and opt just to do the far cheaper Pidurangala Rock climb. Sigiriya is completely different, and although expensive (for Sri Lanka), is incredible. The grounds, the ruins, the museum and of course the view from the top are simply breathtaking. We went to Sigiriya once when we stayed with Roy but loved it so much that we detoured back to the area later in our trip just to go to Sigiriya again.
Disclaimer
We know that this article has been overwhelmingly positive in regards to Roy and his hostel. We have included affiliate links and we may earn commission if you book through them but We have not received any discount, commission or any other incentive to write this, it was just that good!
If we have convinced you to stay at Roy’s Hostel, why not book your stay here.
Thank you for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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