Visiting the Galle Face Hotel

What you can do there

The hotel is a private business, but its restaurants and bars are open to everyone. There is no entry fee. You pay for what you eat and drink, at hotel prices.

These are the hours on the hotel’s website in October 2026. They can change, so check before you go.

The rooms, the saltwater pool and the guest lounge are only for people staying at the hotel.

The bagpiper at sunset

Every evening, just before sunset, the hotel lowers the Sri Lankan flag by the sea wall while a bagpiper in Scottish dress plays. The piper was added in December 2015, and the flag ceremony is older. It takes only a few minutes, and you can watch it from the hotel’s terraces by the sea.

Sunset at Galle Face is between about 5:49 PM and 6:31 PM, depending on the month, so the ceremony is often at about 6 PM. Get there by about 5:30 PM. You can see today’s sunset time on our Galle Face Green guide.

High tea

High tea is at The Verandah, from about 4 to 6 PM. In October 2026 the hotel’s own prices were:

• Monday to Thursday: a high tea platter, 4,900 rupees (about $15) a person.
• Friday to Sunday: a high tea buffet, 5,200 rupees (about $16) a person.

It is a good plan for a hot afternoon. Have tea in the shade, then stay for the sunset and the bagpiper. On Poya (full-moon) days the hotel serves no alcohol.

A short history

The hotel began as an old house called Galle Face House, which the hotel says dates from Dutch times. Four British businessmen turned it into a hotel in 1864. It is named after the green in front of it.

• 1840s: a cannonball fired in practice from the old fort crashed through the roof of Galle Face House. Nobody was hurt, and the hotel still keeps the ball.
• 1864: the Galle Face Hotel opens.
• 1894: the hotel is made much bigger, with a new wing by the architect Edward Skinner.
• 1940: Prince Philip, a young navy officer in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), buys a small 1935 Standard Nine car in Colombo. Today it is on show at the hotel.
• 1942: K. C. Kuttan starts work at the hotel as a waiter. He stays for 72 years.
• 2012: the hotel is one of four old buildings on a set of Sri Lankan postage stamps.
• 2013 to 2015: the biggest repair in its history. The old north wing reopens in late 2015.
• 2024: the hotel is 160 years old.

The hotel calls itself “one of the oldest hotels east of the Suez”. It is one of the oldest, but not the very oldest: the Great Eastern Hotel in Kolkata, India, opened in the 1840s and is still open.

Famous guests and the famous doorman

K. C. Kuttan came to Ceylon from Kerala, in southern India, in 1938. He joined the hotel in 1942 as a waiter, then became a bell boy and finally the doorman. With his big white moustache and a uniform covered in badges, he greeted guests with his palms pressed together for decades. He met Lord Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru and the film star Ursula Andress. He never retired, and he died in 2014, aged 94.

The writer Arthur C. Clarke lived at the hotel for about a year while he finished his book 3001: The Final Odyssey. The hotel’s “Wall of Fame” lists many more famous guests, from film stars to world leaders. Those names are the hotel’s own list.

Prince Philip’s car, a small grey 1935 Standard Nine, is kept in a little museum in the hotel’s south wing, with old photos, silver and the famous cannonball. The hotel does not say clearly if visitors can walk in to see it, so ask at the front desk.

What to wear and other rules

• Clothes: the bars and most restaurants ask for casual clothes. The fine-dining restaurant (1864 Limited Edition) asks for “casual elegant”. Neat clothes are best everywhere. Do not wear swimwear or gym clothes.
• Alcohol: served from 10 AM, but never on Poya days. You can’t bring your own.
• Photos: photos of the building and the sea are fine. Other people here are paying guests, so ask before you take photos of them, or of the staff and the piper up close. Professional and wedding photo shoots need the hotel’s permission.

Tips for your visit

• Come at the end of the day. High tea at about 4 PM, the bagpiper just before sunset, then a short walk to the street food on the green.
• Check the weather. January to March are the driest months. In April, May, October and November, afternoon storms are common.
• Don’t swim in the sea at Galle Face. The waves and currents are strong, and people have drowned here.
• Toilets: there are public toilets at the south end of the green, close to the hotel.