Mond Treescape
HIRIKETIYA, SRI LANKA
When doing my homework for our Sri Lankan adventure, I had the word ‘treehouse’ scratched out on my holiday shortlist, underlined three times with lots of excitable scribbles around it. After a few evenings spent scrolling, I stumbled across Mond Treescape on Airbnb and set about rearranging our entire South coast itinerary to make it work, because a) the word ‘treehouse’ was glaring at me from my list and b) there was no way I was missing out this particular treehouse.
Owned by Swiss-Sri Lankan duo Jessica and Renato, Mond Treescape in Hiriketiya sits 150m down the road from the Mond main house, which has rooms and a rooftop terrace for breakfast, lunch and snacks* (*cocktails) to tide you over until sunset. Shaped by Swiss architecture, the main house is as much a playground as it is a hotel, so bring your camera to breakfast and nab a spot on the roof. The service is smiley and the menu is fun, with ocean views and the occasional peacock roaming around.
When doing my homework for our Sri Lankan adventure, I had the word ‘treehouse’ scratched out on my holiday shortlist, underlined three times with lots of excitable scribbles around it.
With two treehouses to choose from (‘Waxing’ and ‘Waning’), the free-standing rooms rest 3.5 metres above the jungle floor and sit snugly in a tropical garden. The treehouses are stripped back, completely open air with a king sized bed, rain water shower and not much else. But what it lacks (furniture, air con, a proper door on the bathroom), it makes up for with a certain stillness. The soundtrack of the Indian Ocean. The magical moment when we spotted our first fireflies, lazily dancing outside the mosquito net. We fell asleep reading with the torches on our phone. We woke in the morning to hear monkeys navigating the palm trees around us. Your showers will be very brief, you’ll have to walk down the road to get your first cup of coffee and you’ll want to hide any and all possessions from opportunist monkeys - but we really loved it. We learnt quickly that life is very simple in a treehouse and that is a brilliant thing. All adventures need a ‘Mond moment’ built into them.
Location wise, the treehouse is a 10 minute downhill stroll to Hiriketiya beach, a small horseshoe shaped bay that’s a surfing mecca. Believe the internet hype because it’s just as dreamy as the photos, framed by palm trees and punctuated with sweet spots for sundowners. When the waves are right, it tends to get busy quickly, so consider swapping it for the nearby Dikwella beach (recommend grabbing a tuk tuk ride for this journey!), but nip back to Hiriketiya to catch sunset. Food wise, we loved dinner at Smoke and Bitters, and the combination of Lion beer and wood fired pizza at Beach House was just the tonic.
Whilst our treehouse stay was a brief one, there’s no doubt it left a mark, as we haven’t stopped talking about it (sorry friends). Here’s to the next treehouse adventure - and may there be many more.
“Alexa, play jungle noises”
Mond Treescape, from £42 per night.
*It’s worth pointing out that they also own rental villa, Soto House, if there’s no room at the Mond inn. Whilst we didn’t stay there, it looks just as chic and works out better value for longer stays.
