When Is the Best Time
If visiting Sri Lanka; don't miss the tea plantations in higher elevation. To watch the tea pickers harvesting the leaves you need to get up early. They start working with cool and pleasant temps at sunrise before it is getting too hot for them to work.
Nuwara Eliya has a mild climate without a real "dry" season. From December to February/March nights are cold and even frost can occur, but it warms up during the day. The driest months are February and March. Heavy precipitation occurs from October to December.
Very busy from mid-April on due to the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year. In April it is essential to book many months in advance. Hotel prices increase a lot.
Best Months to Visit
Location and Tips
Sri Lanka home of the Ceylon Tea and former British crown colony between 1802 and 1948. James Taylor from Scotland planted the first tea estate in Sri Lanka in 1867. He perfected the technique of plucking; two leaves and the bud. With the ideal climate and soil conditions, it gets the unmatched quality, taste, and variety. There are more or less 30 different grades of Ceylon tea. It's an experience to visit a tea plantation. You get to see and know everything from history, to plucking, fermentation, export and more. Different teas are offered for tasting, and of course, there is a huge variety of teas in the shop to bring back home. Nowadays Sri Lanka is the world’s fourth-largest producer of tea. However, before the British came, the hills were covered with jungle.
