Bus Ride to Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, 2012

Our latest Sri Lanka travel blog covers the incredibly beautiful bus journey from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya. Nuwara Eliya is also called Little England because it used to be a small place that the colonials built in the likeness of home and, do to the temperate climate, was a popular destination for the colonial administrators to retreat to to stay warm. Nuwara Eliya is important for the tea industry in Sri Lanka and lies at an elevation of 1,800 meters, 1,300 meters higher than Kandy. As you can expect, we drove through some of the most beautiful hill country covered in super green tea plantations. It was one of the more stunning bus rides we have been on. The videos and pictures below, we are sure, show you the beauty.

Beautiful View (by Queenie)

Video of the Bus Trip

The video below shows the views from the bus, as do the pictures below.

Beautiful Bus Trip

We got up fairly early in Kandy to take the bus to Nuwara Eliya. We had breakfast, packed, paid and jumped into a tuk tuk that dropped us off at the bus terminal near the train station. We were fairly soon hustled onto a bus, bought a ticket and were ready to go. We didn't really know how long the trip would be but we were looking forward to it. We knew Nuwara Eliya was meant to be a beautiful place but did not expect the journey to be as beautiful as it was.

Beautiful View (by Queenie)

We knew Nuwara Eliya was higher than Kandy but didn't realize the extent of it. We basically spent the entire bus drive going uphill which made for a slow trip in the bus we were in. The gears on the bus were perpetually straining against the weight and sometimes I thought we would roll backwards. Nevertheless we went from Kandy, at an elevation of 500m, to Nuwara Eliya, at an elevation of 1,800m, with no problem. Of course, because we were going into the mountains we had some spectacular views, as shown in the pictures below.

Into the Mountains(by Queenie)

Mountain Village (by Queenie)

Tea Fields (by Queenie)

Tea Fields (by Queenie)

Mountain View (by Queenie)

The bus ride was long, rigorous and beautiful. We were impressed by the views of the hill country. They were fantastic, everything we could ask for. We mostly just sat on the bus listening to the music and looking out the window, occasionally opening the window to take pictures and videos. I wouldn't say it was the most comfortable bus ride we have had, but it certainly was fantastic.