Sri Lanka's Tea Country: The Hill Stations and Plantations of Nuwara Eliya
The hill country of central Sri Lanka is a landscape of extraordinary beauty — rolling green hills covered in tea bushes, colonial bungalows, and the cool air of altitude that makes it a refuge from the heat of the coast.
Sri Lanka's hill country was developed by the British in the 19th century as a tea-growing region, and the landscape that resulted — terraced hillsides of tea bushes, colonial bungalows converted into hotels, and a narrow-gauge railway that winds through the mountains — is one of the most beautiful in Asia. The region centres on Nuwara Eliya, a hill station at 1,868 metres that the British called 'Little England' for its cool climate and its golf courses, rose gardens, and mock-Tudor architecture.
The train from Kandy to Ella is one of the most scenic railway journeys in Asia — a six-hour ride through the heart of the hill country, past tea plantations, waterfalls, and the Nine Arches Bridge (a colonial-era viaduct of extraordinary elegance that appears on every Sri Lanka travel poster). The train is slow, the seats are basic, and the journey is entirely worth it — the views from the window change constantly, and the tea pickers working the hillsides are visible from the carriage.
Ella, a small town at the southern edge of the hill country, has become one of Sri Lanka's most popular destinations — a place of hiking trails, yoga studios, and restaurants with views over the Ella Gap (a dramatic break in the hills that gives views all the way to the southern coast). The hike to Little Adam's Peak takes about an hour and offers the finest views in the area; the hike to Ella Rock is longer and more demanding but rewards with a panorama of the entire hill country.
The tea estates of the hill country offer some of the finest plantation experiences in Asia. The Pedro Tea Estate near Nuwara Eliya and the Dambatenne Tea Factory near Haputale both offer tours that explain the process from leaf to cup — the plucking, the withering, the rolling, the oxidation, and the drying — and the tasting sessions at the end reveal the extraordinary variety of flavours that the different estates and elevations produce.
Adam's Peak (Sri Pada) is the most sacred mountain in Sri Lanka — a 2,243-metre peak topped by a rock formation that Buddhists believe is the footprint of the Buddha, Hindus the footprint of Shiva, and Christians the footprint of Adam. The pilgrimage season runs from December to May, and the climb — 5,500 steps, taking three to four hours — is made by thousands of pilgrims each night to reach the summit at dawn. The view from the top, with the shadow of the peak stretching to the horizon in the morning light, is one of the finest in Sri Lanka.
The Horton Plains National Park, a high-altitude plateau at 2,100 metres, is one of Sri Lanka's finest wildlife destinations — a landscape of cloud forest, grassland, and waterfalls that is home to the Sri Lanka leopard, the sambar deer, and the purple-faced langur. World's End, a sheer escarpment at the edge of the plateau that drops 870 metres to the lowlands below, is the finest viewpoint in the hill country — best seen in the early morning before the clouds roll in.
The best time to visit Sri Lanka's hill country is from December to March, when the northeast monsoon brings dry weather to the highlands. The southwest monsoon (May to September) brings heavy rain to the hill country, which makes the landscape lush and the waterfalls spectacular but the hiking trails muddy and the views often obscured. The shoulder months of April and October offer a reasonable compromise.
The Knuckles Mountain Range, east of Kandy, is one of Sri Lanka's most rewarding and least visited hiking destinations — a UNESCO World Heritage Site of cloud forest, grassland, and waterfalls that is home to more than 30 endemic species of birds and mammals. The range takes its name from the knuckle-like appearance of its peaks when seen from Kandy, and the multi-day trekking routes through the villages of the range offer an experience of rural Sri Lanka that the more visited hill country destinations cannot match.
The cuisine of Sri Lanka's hill country is distinct from the coastal cooking that most visitors encounter — a tradition of rice and curry that uses the vegetables, spices, and dairy products of the highlands rather than the seafood and coconut of the coast. The hoppers (bowl-shaped pancakes made from fermented rice flour and coconut milk) served with egg and sambol at the hill country guesthouses are one of the finest breakfasts in Asia, and the string hoppers (steamed rice noodle discs) with dhal and pol sambol are equally good.
Practical tips for the hill country: the train from Kandy to Ella is the most scenic section of the journey, but the trains are often overcrowded and the seats in the observation car (which offers the best views) must be booked weeks in advance during peak season. The alternative is to take a tuk-tuk or hire a car for the journey, which allows stops at the tea estates and waterfalls that the train passes without stopping. The guesthouses of Ella and Nuwara Eliya are significantly cheaper than the colonial-era hotels, and many offer views that are just as fine.
The Lipton's Seat viewpoint, above the Dambatenne Tea Factory near Haputale, is one of the finest panoramas in Sri Lanka — a hilltop from which Sir Thomas Lipton (the tea magnate who built his fortune on Ceylon tea) would survey his estates, and from which the view extends over a sea of tea bushes to the southern coast on clear days. The walk from the Dambatenne factory to Lipton's Seat takes about two hours through the tea estates, and the combination of the walk, the factory tour, and the tea tasting at the end makes it one of the finest half-days in the hill country.
