Tea Country & Hill Stations

Coffee failed in the hill country in the 1870s. Tea took its place, and within a generation the central highlands of Ceylon were as Scottish as anywhere outside Perthshire. The bungalows are still in working order. So are the clubs, the churches, the post offices and the small market towns the planters built to feed themselves.

Nuwara Eliya is the headline hill station. Hatton, Haputale, Bandarawela and Ella are the quieter satellites. A night in a planter bungalow on a working tea estate is the single best heritage experience the island offers.