The Hill Country refers to inland Sri Lanka, where stunning peaks and tea plantations dominate the landscape and it is an area often favoured by tourists because of the (slightly) cooler climate. It is home to the ever popular towns of Kandy, Ella and Nuwara Eliya; where there is no shortage of stunning scenery, lovely people and incredible things to see and do!
It is safe to say that these lovely hill towns are no longer undiscovered gems and are quickly being swallowed up by tourism (guilty of contributing!). However, the beauty of the hill country is what attracts so many people, and it simply has to be on your itinerary when visiting Sri Lanka for an extended period.
For this post I am going to do things slightly differently and I am going to share an annotated photo diary which will include locations.
We stayed in a beautiful colonial house which had its own private balcony for guests where we would sit and have tea and marvel at the incredible view over the city of Kandy. This homestay was one of the most stylish we stayed in throughout our trip and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Kandy, especially as it was incredibly affordable!
A trip to the beautiful botanical gardens of Kandy...
Tip: ride the local bus to the botanical gardens from the city centre for a mere 8p. Rickshaw drivers will overcharge you and the bus is great fun and great value!
After spending 2 days in Kandy, we hopped aboard a bus heading towards Nuwara Eliya - a small colonial town plonked in the middle of stunning tea plantations and waterfalls cascading down the cliff edges.
The climate in Nuwara Eliya is cooler than the rest of Sri Lanka and so a vast array of crops can be grown due to differing altitudes and fertile soils. Vegetable stands were dotted along the road side; everything looked so fresh and colourful and it was such an admirable way to buy your veg!
We only had one day/night in Nuwara Eliya and so we wanted to take in as much as possible especially as the weather was perfect. We hailed a rickshaw driver to take us for a little tour around the area, which was so amazing and he was incredibly patient with us as we wanted to stop so often to take pictures!
After 1 night in Nuwara Eliya we boarded the famous train that runs to Ella. You have to book this in advance and we booked our tickets in Kandy a couple of days before the train was due to depart.
A view of Adams Peak from the train..
The journey took roughly 4 hours and although it was very touristy, it really was the best way to arrive into the little town of Ella.
Ella is an incredible place for walking and we decided to do little Adams Peak and then walk to the nine arch bridge from there for a little bit of train spotting.
That completes by small photo diary from my week in the hill country, please comment below if you have any questions or thoughts!
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Much love,
Lizzie xx
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