We spent a month at Slow Life by Nomadico, a coliving house in Hiriketiya Beach, Sri Lanka. (Chesney actually extended another 3 weeks when I went home to visit Canada.) It was still in its first year of operation and we went in the low season, so it had its pros and cons. Here’s more about our experience and what to know before you book.
This is not a sponsored post, but my blog contains other contain affiliate links. Bookings or purchases generate a small commission for me at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!
What it's like at Slow Life Coliving in Sri Lanka
Near Hiriketiya Beach on Sri Lanka’s south coast, Slow Life Coliving has 6 private rooms and 2 twin shared rooms. Each has its own private or ensuite bathroom, air conditioning, a desk, and a wardrobe, and there’s a shared office space on the third floor. Slow Life Coliving operates under the Nomadico global network.
It’s just a 20-minute walk through jungle backroads or a 5-minute drive to Hiriketiya Beach and the town. (We usually opted for the backroads for the opportunity to spot wildlife along the way.)
The vibes are very chill and the rooms are comfortable. I assume because it was the low season and the biggest room wasn’t booked, we got a nice room upgrade when we arrived. There’s at least one social activity on every day, whether that’s a chill movie night or group Muay Thai class, so it’s easy to make friends quickly.
We stayed for 1 month and absolutely loved having a place to sit comfortably at our laptops and hang out with new friends in our free time.
Pros and cons of Slow Life in Hiriketiya Beach
I see a lot of potential at Slow Life. And if you went tomorrow, I’m certain you’d still have a good time. But there are definitely a few things that could be improved (especially for the price), and I’m optimistic that will happen over time.
Pros: What we loved
The Wi-Fi. There were three power cuts across our month-long stay, but the Wi-Fi backup generator at Slow Life worked a treat. We never had to worry about our work being affected by an outage.
The office. It has proper office chairs and a big enough desk that several (but not all) of us could work comfortably around it. Essential for any coliving stay!
The rooms. The bed was comfy, we each had a side table, we had lots of natural light, and it was nice to have a wardrobe to hang our clothing.
The vibes. Of course this relies heavily on who’s in the house, but we had a great squad for our whole stay. I feel like the house, and Sri Lanka in general, attract the right people.
Easy beach access. We’re far enough from the main centre of town that it’s quiet at night, but close enough that it’s easy to walk or pop down on a scooter.
Thursday lunch. The amazing housekeeper or “aunty” cooked a big rice & curry lunch for everyone once a week. We were able to help her cook (as if she needed us), which meant I was able to walk away with a delicious sweet coconut pancake recipe.
Wildlife everywhere. I loved coming across monkeys (outside), peacocks, hornbills, monitor lizards, weird bugs, free-roaming cows, and other animals every time we left the house. It’s a little thing, but the location really is serene.
The Nomadico network. Slow Life is backed by a company dedicated to creating good coliving spaces around the world. They have set standards each property has to meet, and once you’re in the network you’re connected to other digital nomads in a big, global WhatsApp chat.
Cons: What needs work
The kitchen. It’s an outdoor kitchen, which is cool in theory but feels like it was built for the coliving in a hurry. There are no good knives or tools, but there’s an air fryer, microwave, rice cooker, and most essentials in varying condition. During our stay, there was ‘evidence’ of mice left behind on the counters and dishes, and we could hear them scurrying around in the ceiling. Exterminators were brought in after we left.
Food storage and monkeys. On the back of the kitchen topic, the lack of reliable food storage and limited fridge space (1 fridge, 6+ people) meant it was too dangerous to leave our fruit on a shelf in the house. We learned that the hard way when a group of monkeys made their way inside and tore through our fruit stash. Kind of hilarious, but also not when you have to clean it up.
Availability of drinking water. There’s only one water filter on the second floor. But it felt like we were constantly topping up the filter for ~6 people.
Tea and coffee stations. There’s the outdoor kitchen and two little coffee stations on the second and third-floors. The system kind of works, but as an avid tea-drinker, I feel like there should be a kettle in every room. The office coffee station should also have a mini fridge for milk etc.
Management and communication. Unfortunately, remote management of this new business was at the core of a lot of issues. That can work when there are systems in place to keep things running, but communication was scarce for much of our stay. I have a detailed example below.
Travel essentials for Sri Lanka
📶 eSIM
Stay connected with internet access all over Sri Lanka — no physical SIM swap needed.
💸 TravelSpend
Track your budget easily (ft. a colourful doughnut chart with stats).
✈️ Seats.aero
Find and book flights with your points for Aeroplan, Qantas, Delta & more.
💳 Wise or Revolut
Compare the best multicurrency cards for spending in LKR like a local.
What we paid for our coliving in Hiriketiya Beach
Our double room at Slow Life Coliving was 940 EUR between the two of us. (Nomadico manages payments in euros, so I’ll use them here for easy comparison. 940 euros is about 350,000 Sri Lankan rupees if you want to use the local currency.) Note this is also before our generous free upgrade, so if you want the exact Leopard room we had, it’ll cost a bit more.
Since Sri Lanka is an affordable destination, you can travel much cheaper with hostels for 5 EUR per night, or even less. Before and after our stay at the coliving we were averaging 20 EUR per night for hotels and private Airbnbs.
So this comparison makes the 30 EUR per night at Slow Life feel very expensive. But the trade off is worth it for reliable Wi-Fi and a social atmosphere shared with other slow travellers and remote workers. If they follow through with the free perks, that also balances out the cost.
Work setup for digital nomads in Sri Lanka
Slow Life has an office built right into the home — the most essential part of any coliving, really. There’s a big desk with comfortable office chairs, a white board, and a small tea station. There’s one room (our room, the Leopard Room), on the same floor, but otherwise it’s all office space.
It’s very comfortable and even if there’s a power cut, the Wi-Fi has a little backup battery that will keep it running. So you won’t be able to charge your devices, so remember ABC — always be charging. Though we only had a handful of power cuts throughout our entire 2+ month trip to Sri Lanka.
Coworking spaces in Hiriketiya Beach
If you want a change of scenery so you’re not literally just “home” all day between your room and the office, there are a few other good places to work in Hiriketiya Beach.
- Dots: This is the best one by far. They have a dedicated coworking space that’s air conditioned, so it’s easy to spend all day there without feeling like a burden. They also have great food, a yoga studio, a pool, and weekly events like live music. (You can also stay at Dots.)
- El Cielo: This is a nice rooftop, and if you go up for a few hours, you can use the pool. It’s primarily a hotel and restaurant, but they were happy to welcome us as “office” users as well.
- Mave: I really love Mave as a brunch spot, but it’s not really the best coworking option in my opinion. Mostly just because it’s open-air. I went for a couple of hours one day and it was fine, but it gets so hot you can’t practically stay for very long. But they have good coffee and want to welcome coworkers, so give it a go!
- Ohana Beach Club: This isn’t actually at Hiriketiya Beach but over in Dickwella. But they’re friends with the owner of Slow Life Coliving and have a promotion where you get your first drink free if you go for coworking. It’s a stunning spot, but it’s also right on the ocean, and personally, I worry about the salty air and sand around my laptop. You’d need a scooter or tuk tuk to get here.
Lots of other places will let you work for a little bit, but these are the only ones I found that will welcome you going to lock in and work for hours.
Left: Ohana Beach Club | Right: El Cielo
All about Hiriketiya Beach
The main things to do in Hiriketiya are surfing and yoga. The whole energy is very chill, and while there are more activities to check out, “Slow Life” really is a suitable name.
- Food: You can cook at home or walk 15-20 minutes to the main part of Hiriketiya Beach for more restaurants. There are a couple of restaurants nearby and some convenience stores.
- Getting around: Rent a scooter, walk, or take a tuk tuk when you need it. You can hail one or use the app PickMe to call one like an Uber.
- Activities: Yoga, surfing, fitness classes, beach walks, and the Saturday Dickwella Market are just a few things to check out. I have a full article dedicated to this below.
- Expat/traveller community: There are a few expats in Hiriketiya from the long haul. We met a yoga teacher, tattoo artist, and some other remote workers with their own apartments paying month-to-month. There are also lots of backpackers passing through.
- Affordability: Because it’s a bit of a tourist hotspot now, Hiriketiya Beach can be expensive if you want to go for a smoothie bowl every morning and dine at Raa for dinner. But if you’re a shoestring budget kinda traveller, you don’t have to spend a fortune. Eat at local restaurants and opt for free yoga classes and one-off surf classes and you can keep the budget low for sure.
Other coliving houses in Hiriketiya Beach
At the time of writing, there are only two other coliving houses in Hiriketiya Beach. Neither looks better than Slow Life Coliving, but I’ll cover them briefly for fair comparison.
Ohana Hiriketiya Surf Coliving
- 2-minute walk to the beach, restaurants, coffee shops
- Affordable rooms (starting at 8k per night)
- 6 private rooms
- Backup generator for uninterrupted Wi-Fi during power outages
- Casual office with no air conditioning (but bedrooms have air conditioning)
I wouldn’t actually count this as a coliving because people can book just a few nights on Airbnb. You can also book out the whole villa, and there are no organized activities like at Slow Life. But it calls itself a coliving and it has an office, so I’m mentioning it.
- 4 private rooms in a villa
- No organized activities
- Small office with jungle view
- 20-minute walk or 2-minute drive to the beach
The Yala National Park safari debacle
This was an unfortunate part of our Slow Life Coliving stay, and I’d be remiss not to mention it at all because it’s still being advertised and I don’t want you to be misled. Long(ish) story short:
This pop-up for a “free safari weekend” was promoted on the Nomadico Sri Lanka website. It was the hook that convinced us to book this more expensive coliving spot over cheaper options in other areas of the country.
The site has almost no details on how the perks actually work, so we asked before booking, on arrival, and several times during our stay. (We were starting to feel annoying, but like?) Answers were always vague. As the end of our stay was approaching, we started looking at booking our own safari to Yala because we were so convinced this one wouldn’t happen.
The safari did end up being organized in our final week.
But a couple of days before the trip, it was revealed that the "all expenses paid" part somehow didn't include transport, lunch, or dinner.
A cabin, park fees, a guide, and breakfast were covered, which I acknowledge is still a win. But something rubs me the wrong way about calling it an “all-expenses-paid Yala National Park safari weekend,” and then not providing any details about the added costs until the last minute. We all felt a little bamboozled and the communication around the whole thing was pretty sketchy.
I gave the host some feedback and suggested they simply call it a “discounted safari” or say “free hotel and safari” rather than such an over-promise of “all-expenses-paid.” I was told they’d update the website. But instead, I’ve seen the safari repeatedly advertised as “free” on their Instagram page. (Certainly a choice.)
Let me know if you think I’ve misread something here:
We stayed 4 weeks, but the 2+ and 3+ week perks aren't cumulative.
So a stay of 2 weeks plus up to 6 days gets the Ayurvedic massage, and 3 weeks and up to 6 days gets the camping night. A 4-week stay skips straight to the safari and doesn’t pick up the earlier perks along the way. I think that’s fair enough, but the terms could stand to be clearer. “All included” is a bit misleading.
We also only had 1 free surf lesson of the promised 4, despite asking about those several times. (Of course, we’re adults and can pay for our own surf lessons, and did. But it’s still a selling feature that wasn’t delivered.) No weekly skill share, but that’s my personal nightmare so I didn’t mind.
Is a stay at Slow Life Coliving still worth it?
Yes, I’d still say it’s worth it to stay at Slow Life Coliving in Hiriketiya Beach. But the gap between what’s promised and what you’ll actually get is wide enough that you should know in advance. It might be different in the high season when there are more people around, and I’m hoping they’ll figure out how to best deliver on everything they promise with more years of experience.
Naomi Lai
Naomi is a Canadian travel editor and writer with 13 years of international travel across Southeast Asia, Europe, South America, New Zealand, and beyond. She covers everything from budget backpacking to luxury travel — always from personal experience.
More about Naomi →