Old Village Spice Garden & Restaurant

Tourist trap. They do not have an entrance fee but they expect you to "donate" at the end of the tour. They do have some good plants. But the whole focus is on selling products from their shop where the prices are at least 10 times more than elsewhere. I believe the taxi drivers/ guides get a commission for bringing tourists here.

The spice garden is small, in less than 10 minutes they show you some plants and they say how they extract creams or tablets and how they can help you. Massage was made by some “students” for free, it was good... We left a donation. In the shop they will let you buy as much as they want. Prices are expensive! PAY ATTENTION, I GOT A DEBIT ON MY CARD OF 357€ just for few things... see pictures...

This is scam!!! Avoid!! I knew that spice gardens should be avoided but we were told that this is ayurvedic and government certified place. They present the products but at the end you buy the products which are not even in 1% what they showed you, i.e. sandalwood oil turned out to be a mix of few drops of sandalwood and - I would say - glycerine!!! They don't let you check products at the shop, as they are warped so you can not check what is inside. We managed to get all our money back with a help of our driver, which was great!

This is a tourist trap. The guide provided informative explanation, but it made you feel under pressure to buy something since the guide spent so much time on the explanation. We were brought by our driver here and we didn’t expect anything like that and it was rather awkward that the guide even hinted for tips if we didn’t want to buy anything at the end of the day. Also, the free massage is NOT FREE! They expect tips and the guide even blatantly advised a minimum tips of LKR500! The whole experience was awkward and unpleasant for tourists and we didn’t say we wanted to visit any spice garden to begin with! Stand firm if you do not plan to visit here even your driver try to persuade/ bring you here to avoid the awkwardness and uncomfortable situation!

Guides is waiting at the entrance and try to start guide when visitor come. When I refused the guidance because I know that it is not free and will be overcharged, they say I can't enter. I did not have good feeling with this kind of business.