Amanwella

Every suite at Amanwella is the same suite: 100 square metres under a terracotta roof, with hand-hewn stone walls, terrazzo floors, and glass and lattice that open on two sides to a terrace and a six-metre plunge pool. So the only choice is the view. The eight Garden Pool Suites get the garden and the treetops; the five Premium Ocean Pool Suites get the beach as well as the sea, and they are the ones to ask for. Kerry Hill designed the resort in the manner of Geoffrey Bawa, and it was finished in 2005, two years too late for Bawa to see it. Around it are 37 acres of coconut trees and an 800-metre crescent of golden sand, 3.5 kilometres along the coast from Tangalle. The Restaurant stands eight metres above the sea, with the 47-metre pool laid out between breakfast and the beach.

Recommended for couples who want a long beach without much company on it, and for families too, since some suites connect and babysitting can be arranged. The season decides what the sea is for: in winter it is calm enough off the hotel's beach to snorkel, and in summer the surf is on the beaches nearby, where the hotel arranges one-to-one lessons with local surfers. Lunch can be seafood off the Beach Club's coconut-charcoal grill, and sunset a drift on Mawella Lagoon in a boat, with canapés, which counts as an excursion. Turtles nest on protected beaches close by, and when they hatch, guests can watch the young make for the sea by moonlight, in rather more of a hurry than anyone at Amanwella.