sLOVEnians travel

It’s 6:15 AM and we are standing in front of Ella train station with a bunch of people. The train station is closed and there is no one at the ticket counter. WTF? The train should be leaving soon … Then the news came to our ears – the railway is on strike. Until further notice. Wait … what?? But we have tickets. And we have a room waiting for us in Nuwara Eliya.

Sad, we left the station, went to the main road and hopped on a Badulla bound bus. There we changed busses and arrived to rainy and foggy Nuwara Eliya just 2 horrible and nauseous hours later.

We walked to our guest house, got a hot cup of tea while they were cleaning the room for us as we arrived so early. I put on all my long clothes, we unfolded our rain coats and went exploring despite the weather.

So what to do in Nuwara Eliya:

1. Visit a tea factory

We decided to go to Pedro tea factory as it’s the nearest. The tour of the factory is 250 rupees, but because we already saw the production in Handunugoda estate, we just wandered around the plantation and talked to the hard-working women. Afterwards we had a cup of tea (which is only 50 rupees!) and enjoyed the view.

2. Walk around town

The town is called Little England because it was built by the English and it looks just like an English village.

3. Visit the central market

This is a bustling Asian market full of vegetables, fruit, spices, meat, fish and clothes. I bought some good cinnamon and spicy dry chilis.

4. Visit a waterfall

Above the city is a waterfall, but because of the weather (look at the picture) we didn’t hike up to see it from up close.

5. Spoil yourself with high tea at the Grand hotel

The Grand hotel is supposed to be one of the best hotels in Sri Lanka. When we found out they serve high tea we were instantly interested. You’re in for a tasty treat. 😉

 

We didn’t do much more here, because it was super cold and rainy. So be prepared if you plan to visit Nuwara Eliya between June and September.

We didn’t regret to come here, but the highlight was the tea plantation and our high tea. Now we are off to Sigiriya to climb the rock, see some elephants and temples. 🙂

If you like to see more tea plantations and are a friend of moving pictures, here’s our VLOG where we also take you around Nuwara Eliya (and Ella and Yala National park).