Nuwara Eliya - 2 and a half days in Sri Lanka's Little England

In Nuwara Eliya we arrived after a 4 hour train ride from Kandy. Read more about the train journey here., and from the train station we took a tuktuk via the PickMe app, for 20 minutes until we reached our accommodation, AGP Homestay. Yes, the accommodation was further away from the city center, but we liked it better that way because it allowed us to walk a lot around and see more of the local life.

We stayed 3 nights here, so we had about 2 and a half days to explore, but I recommend 2 nights maximum. All the major sites can be visited in one day and you'll still have time for a more leisurely walk. I have seen many people coming on day trips from Kandy or Ella here, but I find it extremely tiring: at least 8 hours are spent on the round trip by train and another 6-8 hours on sightseeing. You'll see why we stayed an extra day.

Some information about Nuwara Eliya

Briefly, a few facts about Nuwara Eliya: it is considered Little England of Sri Lanka for the English-style buildings that still dominate the place. It sits at an altitude of 1868 meters, so temperatures are about 10-20 degrees lower all year round. Locals told us it would sometimes snow on the nearby mountain, which is also the country's highest, Pidurutalagala, 2524m.

I recommend taking about half a day to explore the city at a leisurely pace. Walk along Gregory Lake, maybe through Victoria Gardens and definitely send your loved ones a postcard from the post office, which is located in the center of the city. This is one of the oldest and most iconic post offices in the country. Built in 1894 by the British, the building impresses with its Tudor architectural style, red brick façade and distinctive clock tower

One day tour

Book a full day for a sightseeing tour around the small town. We booked a tuktuk and for 8 hours we saw quite a lot. We stopped at many viewpoints (the whole area is surrounded by tea plantations with UK names) from where we admired a whole different side of the island. (if you're interested in a guidebook, here it is his their official page. or write me in the Contact section and I will give you his phone number).

We were surprised to see how many vegetables the locals grow and the fact that everything produced here, for example, is shipped to the rest of the country, especially the south. And another thing, did you know that Lipton has its tea plantation right in Sri Lanka and that it is the largest tea plantation on the island? You can find it in here., closer to Ella or Haputale.

Bluefield Tea Factory

The day tour continued with the tour of Bluefield Tea Factory which lasted an hour and we had our own guide. Entry is basically free but a tip is recommended at the end to the guide as a thank you. In that hour he told us all about how tea is made and the fact that 9 varieties of tea are produced at this factory, and we also had a few minutes to pick some tea leaves. At the end we were able to taste 2 varieties of tea for free and we were also able to choose one for a fee.

Ramboda waterfall

After the tea factory, we visited Ramboda Waterfall.After paying the entrance fee, we continued on foot for about 30 minutes to the waterfall on a path consisting mostly of high steps. At the waterfall I recommend you bring your bathing suit because it forms like a pool and the water is very warm. If it rains a lot, however, it's forbidden to go very close to the waterfall because the water floods everything. The way back is the same, only this time you'll climb all those steps.

The last stop of this day, was at Shree Bhakta Hanuman Kovil - Hindu Temple.It's interesting, has nothing to do with the Hindu temples of Bali and has a beautiful view of the valley. Bonus you can see some families of monkeys.

Single Tree Hill hike

This hike, which is more of a walk, starts at the Pizza Hut on the left. You'll see a marker with the name Pedro Estate and a paved road leading uphill. Well, that's where the walk starts, meandering past the beautiful tea plantations. It's about 5km round trip and it took us an hour and 40 minutes because we stopped every minute to take pictures. Like I said, it's a pleasant walk, so nothing to be scared of. In fact, it's not even particularly popular with tourists.

You will be constantly rewarded with super views of the city, and halfway there is also a temple with a large Buddha statue and a couple other man-sized ones, a bit weird but interesting. I'd advise you not to go all the way, because the last 10 minutes will be through a semi-forest to the transmission station and there will be no views. I say stop just as the forest starts and then turn around.

Horton Plains and World's End

And now about the bonus I mentioned at the beginning or why we stayed another day in Nuwara Eliya? Horton Plains National Park is located in the central highlands of Sri Lanka at an altitude of over 2,000 meters, closest to Nuwara Eliya. The park is recognized for its remarkable biodiversity, home to many endemic species of flora and fauna. It's a perfect place to admire the area's myriad birdlife, and maybe you're lucky, even the mountain leopards.

It is advisable to leave as early as possible on the route, so we organized a driver from our accommodation and left at 6am. The drive from Nuwara Eliya to the entrance took about an hour and a quarter and for this round-trip taxi we paid about 40 euro. Entrance tickets were 35 euro/person. After you are checked to make sure you don't have any plastic on you so you don't accidentally throw the item into the wild, the trail begins.

It's a circular route and you can do it in any direction you want, the end is the same. We took a left at the intersection to Mini World's End and then World's End and Baker's Fall. It's about 10km to go, and time wise it shouldn't take you more than 4 hours. We did 3 and a half hours and maybe it would have been better to leave our accommodation as early as 5am. Towards the end it was extremely hot and no shade at all.

One of the main attractions in the park isWorld’s End, an impressive cliff with a drop of about 880 meters, offering panoramic views of the surrounding area. Overall, it's not a hard route at all, we saw extremely many families with kids having a really good time. There are stretches where it's good to be extra careful where you step, and obviously when approaching the platform to take in the views, you need to be extra careful.

Another reason to get an early start on the route is that the place is covered in fog most of the day, except early in the morning.

I must admit that the view impressed me, I didn't expect Sri Lanka and this area around Nuwara Eliya to be so full of high mountain ridges and everything to be an extremely beautiful raw green. I also found this idea of the end of the world interesting and, of course, we don't really say NO to a hike. But now I don't know if it was worth the money...it was our most expensive activity of the trip. And to top it all, it was full of tourists on the trail, even though I read everywhere that it wasn't really worth it...As for animals, we saw a few deer and extremely many specific birds.

In Sri Lanka, I felt exactly as it says on the hoodie many, many times: lost in a beautiful state of mind that I didn't know I needed at the time. If you want one of these hoodies, or another one with other super cool messages, go to this link and use this code IOANA15 and you have 15% discount on everything on the website. Let's get lost in the beautiful world!

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