Hotel Suisse (Kandy)

Hotel Suisse, Kandy
The Hotel Suisse is a star-class hotel situated in the ancient City of Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is considered one of the oldest hotels in Kandy.

History
During the Kandyan Period, the chief minister who was in charge of the royal granary used an old building where the present hotel is located (Abeyawardana, 2004). After the British occupation of the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815, the ownership of this property was taken over in 1818 by the British Army for their commanding officer (Abeyawardana, 2004). They renamed the building the "Haramby House" (Abeyawardana, 2004).

Later this was bought by Burdayron, a Swiss lady who converted it into a residential hotel named "Hotel Suisse" (Abeyawardana, 2004). During the period of the Second World War (1943-1945), this became the residence of Louise Mountbatten (1900-1979), the Supreme Allied Commander who was operating from Sri Lanka as the chief of the Allied Operations in the South-East Asia Theatre (Abeyawardana, 2004). The present Mount Batten Suite of the hotel is said to be his residence (Abeyawardana, 2004).

After gaining independence in 1948, this property was used by the Education Department but later it was reverted to its original use as a hotel (Abeyawardana, 2004). Presently, the hotel is a property of the Ceylon Hotels Corporation which is managed by the Galle Face Hotel Group.

The hotel
The hotel is located right beside the historic Kandy Lake, on a plot of land extending about 4 acres. It has 90 rooms with all other amenities including a swimming pool and a helipad.

Attribution
1) Hotel Suisse by mehlam is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

References
1) Abeyawardana, H.A.P., 2004. Heritage of Kandurata: Major natural, cultural and historic sites. Colombo: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka. p.211.

Location Map
This page was last updated on 10 August 2022
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