The Knuckles are a separate highland ecosystem east of Kandy - cloud forest above 1,500 metres, endemic wildlife, river crossings and trails that range from gentle village paths to full-day ridge routes. Almost none of Sri Lanka’s standard itineraries include it, which is one of the best things about it. For travellers who want wilderness rather than organised beauty, it is worth two days.
Nuwara Eliya
The colonial hill station at 1,868 metres - still faintly Victorian
Nuwara Eliya was built by the British to feel like home, and the result is genuinely strange and wonderful - a Victorian post office, a racecourse, a hill club with a dress code and tea estates stretching across every visible hillside. The cold air, the colonial buildings and the estate landscape combine into something unlike anywhere else in South Asia.
