Nuwara Eliya Things to Do

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The gardens are situated 10km southeast of Nuwara Eliya at the foot of Hakgala Rock. They were originally established in 1860 as an experimental plantation of cinchona trees. This is the tree from which quinine is derived.

Today the gardens cover 27 hectares. They are devided in to various sections, rose gardens, ferns, orchids etc. These sections are separated by pathways & lawns. I spent an enjoyable 90 minutes exploring them.

The price for a foreign tourist was Rs 600.00.

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Somewhere in the center of Nuwara Eliya - Negombo road we found a place named Katulgala.
There was a small mountain cold water river.
The hardness level was 3 out of 6, as I remember.
We had about 2 heart beating moments while our rafting.. but everything was passed nice and we were happy!
30 minutes of pleasure for 3000 rupees only! :)

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Our driver made a stop at the Mackwoods Tea Centre, so that we could see the tea making process and buy some products (as my husband is a big tea drinker!).
Mackwoods was founded in 1841 by Captain William Mackwood, a British ship's Captain and manages 27,000 acres of tea and rubber plantations today.
We were taken on a short tour of the tea factory where some of the different processes were explained and shown to us. We then tasted one of their best teas at the small cafe, before heading to the shop to buy some items, which were very reasonably priced.
There are some great views of the tea plantations from the outside terrace and I would definitely recommend a stop here.

They call Nuwara Eliya "Little England" which I would agree and disagree with. To be honest I was not overwhelmed with Nuwara Eliya, it is pretty and the train journey there from Kandy and away to Ella were both spectacular, but I felt that the town itself had very little to offer.

We wandered around the town and looked in the shops and stalls at the market.

The Tea Plantations are numerous and some of the houses are very pretty with gorgeous little gardens (hence the Little England name!!) But there is very little to do except from those things!

At night it was freezing cold - hence being higher up in the mountains.

But I am glad that I did visit to see for myself the stunning scenery in this part of the country.

There are many things you could do, which involves mostly hiking. Remember! this is Hill Country!

1. Lovers Leap (a steep rock formation where couples once committed suicide - not too long ago when lovers couldn't get married due to political / religious / status reasons - they would end their lives at this point) - Its a nice place to hike (but the end result is not that great anymore). Cement Tanks now fill rock which were once wet & rocky terrain!

2. Horten Plains. Wilderness @ its best. A round trip to Worlds End + Bakers Fall would cost you 4 hours on foot. When heading to the Plains by vehicle, follow the correct carpet roads (passing the farms & milk factories). Avoid the night (visibility drops to 100 ft due to heavy mist)... Civilization is NOT present for miles on these roads! - All the locals know the roads to Horten (which run like mazes).

3. Haggala Botanical Gardens. If your not in a hurry, this vast jungle with paved foot paths would be ideal for long strolls. Just watch out for leaches!

The Hakgala Botanical Gardens – approx. 9.6km from Nuwara Eilya – are much smaller in scale than the Peradeniya Gardens near Kandy and rather mope wild and unkempt. However, those aspects give the gardens a ramshackle charm and we spent a very pleasant couple of hours strolling around looking at the flowers and plants – the gardens are particularly known for their roses - to the accompaniment of the breeze rustling the treetops. There is also a small troop of monkeys keeping a wary eye on you as you wander!

In the Nuwara Eliya area you can visit one of the tea factories, where the picked tea leaves are dried and processed into the form that we all know (but not in the bags!)
A lot of the machinery used is still very old and is still labour intensive,

The Hill Club is a members only club and a remnant of the British Empire.
Visitor's can apply for temporary membership for use of the facilities. A dress code applies for dining where you could borrow appropriate clothes. No jeans allowed.