Trips and Tours to Nuwara Eliya

After the dismal failure of Sri Lanka’s coffee crop in the mid 19th century, an Englishman called James Taylor in 1849 planted the first tea bushes in nearby Kandy. Unlike the diseased and doomed coffee crops, the tea crops took hold and today, Sri Lanka is the world’s third largest producer of tea. With a 20% share of global demand, Sri Lanka is also the world’s largest exporter of tea. Tea bushes grow from sea level to elevated slopes, but it is the tea grown above 1000m that offer the greatest character, aroma and flavour. Tea pickers can be spotted all over the lush green slopes around Nuwara Eliya and Kandy throughout the year.

Nuwara Eliya is often referred to as 'Little England' for the quirky relics from the British colonial period. Reminiscent of a small English rural village, you're likely to pass red telephone boxes, Victorian-era post offices and colonial bungalows as the locals go about their business on three-wheeled auto rickshaws. The colonial legacy here in Nuwara Eliya makes is a great place to enjoy a night in a heritage property and is a stop on the scenic train ride between Colombo and Badulla.