Built by the British as a hill station retreat at 1,868 metres, Nuwara Eliya is Sri Lanka’s most improbable destination: Tudor-style architecture, rose gardens, a horse racing track, and a climate that makes fireplaces genuinely useful even in March. The surrounding tea estates produce some of the world’s finest high-grown Ceylon teas, and a working factory visit, from freshly plucked leaf to finished cup, is one of the island’s most informative and sensory experiences. Nuwara Eliya rewards travellers who take it on its own terms.