Staying in Nuwara Eliya’s “Little England”

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
5
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
6
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
6
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
2
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
60 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
288th/454
Top 70%
continent
Asia
country
Sri Lanka
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$60 ($30-$70 in 2022 prices)
Time of year visited
December
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Gardens Hilltop towns
All Tags
Fabulous hotel Forests Local villages Mountains
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐
Summary

Nestled up in the middle of Sri Lanka’s Tea Country, Nuwara Eliya was one of the old colonial centres for the tea industry and, with the combo of old quaint buildings, race course, golf courses and, well bloody drizzly bleak weather, is affectionally known as “Little England”.  As an Englishman I can confirm I felt right at home!

 

The wandering around the town is nice, as you get to places like the old post office, police station and hotels straight out of a Charles Dickens novel, but it is the surrounding Tea Estates that are the highlight

 

Top Tips:

1. The drive from Nuwara Eliya to Talawakelle / St Claire Tea Centre is the prettiest for views – its hard to go wrong with the surrounding countryside as it’s all gorgeous, but this is the pick of the bunch.  Also, the drive from St Talawakelle to  Tawalantenne is dramatic, but super windy and a bit nauseating.  For a driver, I went with Yoga (+94 75 165 0205) who was great and charged around US$50 a day

 

2. Stay in one of the colonial hotels – it will give you the full “Little England” / Old Colonial feel.  The Grand Hotel is best for this in the centre; Ferncliff Bungalow for something in the centre that is far quieter but still quintessentially English; and the Amaya Langdale / Oliphant Villa for luxury 20mins or so from the centre

 

3. Visit one of the Tea Factories – the Damro Labookellie Tea Factory is good for learning about the tea.  The Heritance Tea Factory for more style

 

4. Have High Tea in the Heritance Tea Factory – beautifully restored old Tea Factory that is now a hotel providing luxurious afternoon tea from 3pm onwards

 

5. The parks are ok for an hour or so – Victoria Park is nice enough to walk through for 30mins, and so is the nearby Galway Land National Park, but have low expectations (highlights are the colonial buildings and tea estates)

 

6. Wrap up – it gets cold!  The don’t call it Little England for nothing – expect drizzle and cold evenings in the winter!

Highlights
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#1 The drive through the picturesque tea estates from Nuwara Eliya to the St Claire Tea Centre

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#2 Having High Tea in the Heritance Tea Factory, and learning about how they made the tea in this wonderfully well restored old tea factory

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#3 Stopping to watch the pickers working their way through the 18kg / 40 pounds of tea they need to pick a day (tough going!)

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#4 Stopping for tea in one of the roadside tea centres, in this case St Claire's

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#5 Staying in one of the old English Manors like Ferncliff Bungalow with its pretty grounds

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#6 Taking a 30min walk through either of Victoria Park or the nearby Galway Land National Park

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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