Allow about 4,500 rupees (US$15) per day for lunch and dinner.

You can eat out very cheaply in Sri Lanka and your tour leader provides recommendations for where to eat locally; however, the options may not always be suited to larger groups.

Some locations you stay may have limited local restaurant choice, in which case meals will be at the hotel. Hotel meals are generally buffets; the majority offer an à la carte menu, but service can be slow. Where suitable, your tour leader will be happy to arrange a shuttle transfer into the local town or, if you prefer to be more independent, take a tuk tuk or taxi. Your tour leader can help recommend some good places to eat.

Vegetarians are well catered for but please inform us before departure of any special dietary requests. Please note, the availability of certain products is minimal or non-existent in Sri Lanka. For example, wheat- or dairy-free options outside of hotels are limited. Please be prepared for this and you may need to bring these from home. Spicier food can be avoided easily and lots of the hotels will serve Western options alongside traditional food.

Venture into one of the tea country’s most remote corners on Pekoe Trail Stage 10, leaving Dayagama along old estate roads that narrow to fern-framed paths. Elevation builds gently as views widen across valleys few travellers ever reach.

Enter the mist-drifted Horton Plains cloud forest, where moss-draped trees, orchids, and birdcall shift the mood from pastoral to primeval. Enjoy a relaxed picnic lunch on the trail before transferring onward from the park’s fringes.

Hike Pekoe Trail Stages 13 & 14, moving from a cool forest reserve above Haputale onto open tea ridges with deep valley views. Paths climb steadily, meeting schoolchildren, estate shrines, and vegetable plots stitched into the slopes.

Pass through St Catherine’s, a workers’ village where daily life unfurls beside emerald rows. You’ll likely see tea pickers at work, baskets brimming with two leaves and a bud—a window into the craftsmanship behind Sri Lanka’s signature export.

Set an even pace along Pekoe Trail Stage 21, traversing tidy tea trails between Udapusellawa and Kandapola. The highland light sharpens plantation lines, while village life threads the route in greetings and roadside smiles.

Explore fields that also grow cool-climate crops—think carrot and leeks—as the landscape alternates between pine fringes and open ridges. Expect generous valley outlooks and stretches ideal for unhurried photography and conversation.

Discover the Ceylon Tea Museum inside the historic Hanthana Tea Factory, viewing vintage rollers, driers, and exhibits on pioneers James Taylor and Thomas Lipton. From this hillside vantage, join a guided hike onto Pekoe Trail Stage 1 through neat green terraces and forested folds.

Walk with views over the scenic Kandy Valley, passing estate bungalows and workers’ hamlets that still anchor life in the hills. Your leader sets a steady pace while sharing the rituals, labour, and pride behind Sri Lanka’s world-famous brew.

Walk the Pekoe Trail Stage 2 from Galaha, skirting market towns and tea slopes before entering cool pine forest paths. Estate lanes open to valley views and the gentle rhythms of plantation life—a living landscape shaped by monsoon, mist, and meticulous hand-plucking.

Finish amid the Loolecondera Estate, where Sri Lanka’s tea story began. Visit James Taylor’s cottage and learn how a 19th-century experiment transformed Ceylon’s economy, culture, and countryside into the iconic tea country you’re hiking today.

Visit the Temple of the Tooth (Sri Dalada Maligawa), Sri Lanka’s most venerated Buddhist shrine. Step through carved gateways and courtyards to the relic chamber, where pilgrims offer lotus blossoms and lamps in a timeless ritual of devotion.

Your leader contextualizes the sacred Tooth Relic, brought to the island in the fourth century CE. Listen for drumming and incense at ceremonial times and admire the golden-roofed shrine that anchors Kandy’s spiritual identity.

Settle by the window and ride the highland railway from Kandy to Watagoda, a classic route that threads river valleys and tea-blanketed slopes. Watch mist unravel from ridgelines as vendors hop on and off with short eats and sweet milk tea.

Between tunnelled cuttings and viaducts, you glimpse terraced estates, waterfalls in spate, and unrushed station life at rural halts. This gentle journey sets the tone for days of footpaths, vistas, and village encounters ahead.

Hike Pekoe Trail Stage 6 from the station at Watagoda, tracing tea lanes beside mirror-still lakes and the storied Holyrood Estate. The path drifts through hamlets where life moves to the cadence of plucking, weighing, and rolling the day’s leaf.

Cross tracks and estate bridges toward Talawakelle, the energetic hub of the Dimbula district. Expect tea-scented breezes, panoramic breaks for photos, and the satisfying rhythm of a route carved into tea-laced hills.

Continue through deep tea country on Pekoe Trail Stage 7, where undulating paths lead past the colonial-era Chrystler’s Farm Tea Factory and viewpoints above Hatton. A hill climb rewards you with long looks over quilted green estates and distant peaks.

Pause at Singamalai Lake—source of drinking water for surrounding villages—before skirting the luminous Castlereagh Reservoir. The interplay of water, forest, and plantation creates serene contrasts ideal for steady-paced walking and photography.

Board a local service for a short scenic train ride into the high country, rolling past vegetable terraces, tea gardens, and cloud-wreathed ridges toward Ohiya. The carriages sway gently as windows frame sudden bursts of valley and sky.

Watch colonial-era stations glide by, their semaphore signals and flowerbeds recalling an older pace of travel. This compact journey delivers big views and crisp air as you approach the slopes beneath Horton Plains’ plateau.

Set out to summit Kirigalpotta (2,388m), the highest hikeable mountain in Sri Lanka. Trails thread through whispering cloud forest, where lichens curtain branches and fleeting sunbeams spark emerald moss.

Break onto a wind-scoured ridge for horizon-wide views when clear; in mist, the summit feels ethereal and intimate. Keep an eye for sambar deer on the plains below before returning, legs pleasantly worked and camera well used.

Climb through eucalyptus and tea to the crest of Ella Rock, gazing across the dramatic Ella Gap to distant summits. Descend on forest paths and walk a section of railway into easygoing Ella town.

Continue toward Demodara on Stage 16, pausing at viewpoints of the Nine Arches Bridge (Bridge in the Sky). This 1920s feat of stone engineering curves through jungle, its arches framed by bamboo and banana—a photogenic icon of the hill country.

Conclude your hill-country odyssey on the final stage, contouring past the historic Court Lodge Tea Factory and through quiet estates and villages. Trails weave between rows of glossy green, with children waving from verandas set among guava and pepper vines.

Arrive at the renowned Pedro Tea Estate to pause for photos and reflection on the journey through Sri Lanka’s tea heartland. It’s a fitting finale—scenic, storied, and steeped in the aromas that draw the world to Ceylon tea.

Join pilgrims for a nighttime pilgrimage to Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak), climbing by lamplight on a well-trodden stairway to a summit shrine revered by multiple faiths. The steady four-hour ascent rewards with bells, blessings, and—when clear—dawn breaking over the highlands.

Learn about the mountain’s sacred footprint and centuries of devotion that animate the season from December to May. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; expect a late-night start and a memorable, sleep-defying sunrise.

Explore Kandy on a guided orientation walk circling tranquil Kandy Lake, colonial-era arcades, and the lively Central Market, where spice stalls and flower garlands perfume the air. Along the way, join a guided panoramic tour of the city’s key quarters to get your bearings and story-rich context.

As dusk settles, meet your tour leader and fellow travellers for a hosted welcome dinner. Sample a Sri Lankan rice-and-curry spread with crisp hoppers while hearing how the highlands shaped Kandyan kingship, Buddhism, and the island’s tea heritage.