Beyond the tea plantations, discover a Sri Lanka of warm welcomes, unexpected encounters and unforgettable experiences
Most people who travel to Sri Lanka see its tea country from a car window, or from the window of that famous blue train. Very few have heard of the trail that winds right through it.
The Pekoe Trail runs for around 300 kilometres from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya. It’s pieced together from old railway paths, plantation roads and the footpaths tea workers have used to get between villages for generations. It takes its name from pekoe, the youngest and most tender leaves on the tea bush. It’s split into 22 stages, and each one can be walked on its own, so you don’t need three weeks and serious boots to get a taste of it.
This spring, I walked two stages with Rebecca Dodds, our Sri Lanka expert, guided by the brilliant Niro. It’s still one of our favourite days of ‘work’ either of us has ever had.
Tea hills and a street party
We started near Hatton on Stage 7, the 16-kilometre stretch from Kotagala to Norwood. The terraces roll on as far as you can see, every bush clipped into neat rows, and within an hour my camera roll was solid green. We passed a tea factory that has stood since the 1870s, its blue roof bright against the hills, and pickers at work in vivid saris.
Then, in a village of maybe six houses, we heard music. A man was playing outside his front door, so we stopped to listen. Within a minute we were dancing in the street with him. Two more hikers rounded the corner mid-song and joined in. You can’t plan a moment like that.
Niro kept us at a steady pace through the heat. We finished in the garden of a local woman, Sharmi, who invites walkers in for the freshest mint and lemon juice. We stayed a good half hour longer than we meant to.
Nine arches and a lesson in roti
For our second walk, we stayed at Nine Skies, a 1920s plantation manager’s bungalow on the Demodara Estate, just outside Ella. From there, we met Niro in Ella for Stage 16, a gentler 9.5 kilometres down to Demodara.
The centrepiece is the Nine Arches Bridge, finished in 1919, which curves 91 metres through the tea hills on stone arches. The story goes that it was built without a single steel beam, because the steel had been diverted to the war effort. Local folklore credits a Sri Lankan builder, P.K. Appuhami, with solving the design. It’s one of the most photographed spots in the country now, so go early. We crossed while it was still quiet enough to hear birdsong.
Further along, a lady called Ganga welcomed us into her outdoor kitchen. She tied us into traditional aprons and taught us to make roti from scratch. We scraped fresh coconut with her family’s traditional scraper, so badly that she told us we’d never get a job. Then we helped put together a full traditional breakfast, surrounded by the family’s farmyard. It felt like being welcomed into someone’s home rather than visiting it, and it’s the memory we both come back to most.
Never walking alone
On both walks, we had a medic as well as a guide. Priyantha and Asanka are both qualified doctors, and each carried what amounted to a small hospital on his back. You’d never know they were there, until you need them.
A landscape with a story
Tea country began with a disaster. In 1867, a Scotsman called James Taylor planted Ceylon’s first commercial tea garden at Loolecondera, which Stage 2 passes. When disease wiped out the island’s coffee in the 1870s, planters turned to tea. By 1965, Sri Lanka was the world’s biggest tea exporter, and the tea here is still picked by hand.
FACT BOX: The Pekoe Trail
Route: Around 300km through Sri Lanka’s central highlands, from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya
Stages: 22, each between 9km and 20km, and every one can be walked on its own
The whole trail: 16 to 22 days
Gentlest stages: Stage 16 (Ella to Demodara), Stage 1 (near Kandy) and Stage 6 (around Kotagala)
Best time to go: December to April, and July to September (December-February get very busy, so aim for March if you can!)
What to pack: The highland stages sit above 1,500m, so bring light layers, a rain jacket, broken-in shoes and a refillable water bottle
Find Out More
Holiday Architects: Weave your own adventure on the Pekoe Trail into your Sri Lanka holiday.
All Holiday Architects holidays are tailor-made to suit you, call 01242 253 073.
EXPLORE YOUR WAY
