DESTINATIONS TEA TRAILS |FOOD & DRINK
Splurge: Sri Lanka
Uga Halloowella, Sri Lanka BEST rest rest OF THE
India: To combine tea plantations with fabulous food and fragrant fields of cumin, cardamom and pepper, suggest Explore’s A Taste
of Southern India: Temples and Tea Plantations itinerary. From £1,199 per person, excluding flights.
explore.co.uk
Azores: Few places in Europe have the right climate for tea, but these Portuguese isles have the perfect terrain. On Intrepid Travel’s Highlights of the Azores trip, clients visit a tea plantation and taste its speciality pekoe and
broken leaf blends. From £1,930 per person in 2026, excluding flights.
intrepidtravel.com
Taiwan: On Wendy Wu Tours’ 14-day Treasures of Taiwan trip,
clients visit a tea farm to learn how the plants are grown and hear about an indigenous wild variety that can be made into a refreshing oolong. From £4,990 per person, including flights.
wendywutours.co.uk
Sri Lankan hotel brand Uga opened a five-star bolthole – Uga Halloowella – in January in the heart of the island’s tea country. It’s set 1,440 metres above sea level and overlooks the Castlereigh Reservoir, an estate dating to 1880, around the time when British planters settled in the highlands to cultivate tea. Uga Halloowella reflects its colonial past, featuring cosy pinewood-panelled walls and teak furniture, plus a pretty lawn and infinity pool.
Included in a stay is a trip to the
Chrysler’s Farm Tea Factory, where guests will see how tea leaves
Walkers will pass
19th-century tea factories, tea terraces, cricket clubs, churches and Hindu temples
are hand-picked. If they are there during the harvest, they can meet women who pick the tea – about 65% of the tea workforce in Sri Lanka is female. The factory tour is followed by a tasting of freshly brewed Ceylon blends. If clients want to immerse themselves further into Sri Lanka’s
tea heartlands, they’re in luck: Uga Halloowella is a stone’s throw from the 186-mile Pekoe Trail, which opened at the end of 2023. This stage of the long-distance hiking and biking trail is just over 10 miles and runs between the villages of Kotagala and Norwood, but the hotel can organise a leisurely hike along part of the trail that finishes with a lakeside picnic. En route, walkers will pass a handful of 19th- century tea factories, undulating tea terraces, cricket clubs, churches and vibrant Hindu temples. This property is best visited as
part of a multi-centre trip: walk up to the dramatic Unesco World
Heritage fortress at Sigiriya; explore historic architecture in Kandy; take the scenic train from Hatton to Ella, with views over verdant tea plantations along the way; and tag on a few days at a beach resort to relax with a cup of tea. Book it: Kuoni can arrange a 13-night all-inclusive Luxury Sri Lanka itinerary from £5,250 per person, based on two sharing. The price includes select excursions, two nights at Uga Halloowella, transfers, a private chauffeur and flights departing from Heathrow
on certain dates in September.
kuoni.co.uk TW
travelweekly.co.uk
19 JUNE 2025
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