Discover Sri Lanka Your Way.— Private chauffeur-driven journeys across the island
Hill Country
Sri Lanka's Little England, 1,900 metres up
At nearly 1,900 metres, where the air tastes of woodsmoke and lawns sparkle with frost on January mornings, the British built themselves a home from home. Nuwara Eliya — 'Little England' — has half-timbered cottages, hedged flower gardens, a racecourse and a golf club founded in 1889, all surrounded by the highest tea gardens in Sri Lanka.
It is the coldest town on the island and the heart of the tea industry, with working factories, strawberry farms and the revered Seetha Amman temple on its fringe — and it is the jumping-off point for Horton Plains, where the escarpment at World's End drops nearly 900 metres through cloud. Most itineraries pass through in a day; give it two and the town's odd, genteel charm starts to work on you.
Things to do
Gates open around 6 am; leave town by 5:30 to be among the first through. The 9-kilometre loop crosses patana grassland past sambhar deer to the Great World's End, where the ground drops nearly 900 metres — usually cloud-free only until 9–10 am. Carry everything out with you; the park's litter rules are strict.
Twenty-seven manicured acres in the middle of town, threaded by the Nanu Oya stream, with flowerbeds, a children's playground and genuinely good birding — yellow-eared bulbuls and other hill-country specialists are easy here. The locals' favourite evening stroll.
Boats and pedalos for hire, ponies on the lawns at weekends and a flat, pleasant circuit of the water — about an hour's walk. Early in the morning, mist hangs over the lake and the hedged gardens around it look borrowed from another century.
A vividly coloured temple near the strawberry farms, believed by devotees to stand where Sita was held in the Ramayana epic. Pilgrims leave offerings at the streamside shrine; for anyone following the Ramayana trail, it is the most atmospheric stop in the hills.
Tour a working factory while it processes the day's leaf, then pick your own strawberries at a farm on the town fringe — strawberries and cream in the tropics is a Nuwara Eliya tradition the British would recognise.
Nuwara Eliya lies approximately 180 kilometres from Colombo — roughly 4.5–5.5 hours by road depending on traffic, usually combining the expressway with the climb through Hatton's tea estates.
From Kandy it is approximately 75 kilometres (2.5–3 hours) via Ramboda, where waterfall viewpoints and tea shops break the climb; from Ella it is about 55 kilometres (roughly 2 hours) back over the same ridge.
Nanu Oya station, on the main hill-country rail line, is about 8 kilometres from town — the train from Kandy takes roughly 4 hours — and your driver can meet you there with the vehicle while you enjoy the scenery from the carriage.
Commonly combined with Colombo, Airport (CMB), Negombo, Kandy.
Private tours
6 DaysCool air, tea to the horizon and the island's great railway — Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Horton Plains at dawn, finishing on Ella's green ridges.
7 DaysThe island's four personalities in one week — ancient rock fortresses, tea-carpeted hills, a leopard country safari and the golden beaches of the south coast.
8 DaysEight days shaped for two — hill-country train rides, private tea tastings, candle-lit dinners we can arrange and the golden southern coast at sunset.
10 DaysThe complete island loop at a humane pace — ancient cities, Sigiriya, Kandy and the tea highlands, two safari parks and the Dutch lanes of Galle.
Begin your journey
Tell us how long you have and what you love — we'll shape a private journey around Nuwara Eliya and the rest of the island.
