'If expecting a regular hotel experience best look elsewhere' says the marketing blurb, and that's 100% accurate, for Helga's Folly could have been dreamt up as a joint project between Gaudí and Dalí. This hotel/art gallery/surrealist dream has to be the most extraordinary hotel in Sri Lanka. Indeed, the Stereophonics famously wrote the song 'Madame Helga' about the owner.
It’s run and designed by the outlandish Helga da Silva, who grew up in a world of 1950s Hollywood celebrities, artists, writers, politicians and general intrigue, and she has to be one of the only hotel owners who prefers her property not to be full! As extraordinary as it all is, once you’ve peeled through all the decorations you’ll see that the place is actually looking pretty tatty. Rather than staying in this self-styled 'antihotel' we recommend just popping past for a poke about and a drink – for many people it’s actually one of the most interesting sights in Kandy. Writers and artists get half-price rates (six nights minimum).