Nuwara Eliya appears to have been left as the British left it during the Victorian period. It is known that, even though they appreciated their colonies as a place in which to prosper and chart a future, those from cold England hated the tropical climate. The accompanied high temperatures and humidity along with a countryside that was not suitable for fox hunting but rather for conveniently avoiding snakes became the greatest torture for the whites who lived in British Asia from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Hence they invented the concept of “mountain station”.
The small Sri Lankan city is located in the south-central part of the island, in the so-called Hill County. Its average altitude – 2,000 meters above sea level – corresponds perfectly to the idea of ??a “mountain station” and serves more than just cooling. At night and during the dry season, it is hard to stand still. Luckily, with their mansions, the English left large fireplaces in which wing chairs allow you to settle in and sip one cup of tea after another.
Because the great wealth of Nuwara Eliya is its tea plantations. In fact, it is reputed to produce the best leaves on the island, which are carefully dried and packaged to be sold around the planet at high prices. This city of just over 25,000 inhabitants is among hills, authentic tapestries of plantations that more than economic exploitations look like playgrounds (hence in English they are called “tea gardens”).
The buildings that in other areas of India, Sri Lanka or Pakistan have succumbed to the passage of time here have been pampered and restored. And today, the traveler can walk in front of the emblematic Post Office headquarters with its characteristic red facades or the snowy base of the Hatton Bank and, enveloped by the mists, believe that they are in old England.
The 18-hole golf course is still active, a carpet of grass where you only have to scare away from time to time a buffalo or groups of macaques that sneak onto the greens. And the pond that feeds it, Lake Gregory, created in 1873, continues to be a preferred picnic area for its inhabitants. Only now you see saris and not petticoats; shawar kalmeez and not baggy pants; flip flops and not riding boots.
At the height of the colony, at the end of the 19th century, Nuwara Eliya achieved great fame among the British elites, who came here to rest. One of its most famous guests was Samuel Baker, an explorer who discovered Lake Albert in the Congo for the West. The most important waterfall in Nuwara Eliya remembers him, as it was named after him.
Visits to the tea and strawberry plantations, a heritage from the British era, are some of the most recurring activities. From Nuwara Eliya you can also undertake the ascent of the island’s highest peak, Pidurutalagala (2,524 metres), but continuing with the frozen British charm, most prefer to stroll through Moon Plains, a Sri Lankan copy of Scottish landscapes. Or by the Galway Land national park, a new reference to the metropolis, this time in the form of an Irish place name.
Accommodations in Nuwara Eliya are among the most expensive in the country, but also among the most charming. Access to the city is a five-hour bus ride from Kandy for tough butts. The prize, reaching a region that the Sri Lankans themselves call the End of the World (World’s End).
