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10 places to visit in and around Nuwara Eliya

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Nestled in the misty hills of Sri Lanka, Nuwara Eliya is the perfect holiday destination if you’re trying to escape the heat or just simply want to relax amidst a beautiful backdrop of majestic green mountains. While in Nuwara Eliya you will find that there is much to see and do. Here’s our suggestion of 10 places to visit in and around Nuwara Eliya.

1. Ramboda Falls
If you’re approaching Nuwara Eliya through Kurunagala town rather than through the Kandy road as is common, which we recommend you should due to the heavy traffic found on the Kandy road, you will come across this gorgeous waterfall. Stopping here is a real treat because just nearby you can find a coffee shop and a 5 foot natural spring that you can relax in.

2. Lake Gregory
While in Nuwara Eliya a visit to the peaceful Lake Gregory is highly recommended. Visitors have the opportunity to go horseback riding, jet skiing, take a relaxing boat ride or swan boat ride on the lake, walk around the gardens or simply sit back and enjoy the cool climate and the beautiful view.

3. The Hill Club
An exclusive hotel with membership facilities, the Hill Club in Nuwara Eliya offers a fine dining experience in the hills of Sri Lanka. Temporary memberships can be obtained at Rs 100 if you’re dropping in for lunch or dinner. We recommend that you do. They are very particular about the dress code however and if you’re dropping in for dinner, a coat or blazer is a must. If you haven’t got a coat or blazer you can rent one from the club.

4. Nuwara Eliya Golf Club
Set at an altitude of over 6000 feet, the Nuwara Eliya Golf Courses are some of the most beautiful in Asia. If you’re a fan of golf we highly recommend a few rounds of golf set amid beautiful mist hills and greenery.

5. World’s End
Just an hour’s drive from Nuwara Eliya Town, visiting world’s end is best attempted in the morning with a packed breakfast. Gazing down at the gorgeous untouched plains while you have your breakfast is an experience not to be missed.

6. New Zealand Farm
19 KM out of Nuwara Eliya Town, New Zealand farm is surrounded by gorgeous scenary. Spend some time with the animals or take a tour of the factory and learn about the process of manufacturing milk, cheese, butter and other dairy products. At the end of your tour you can also purchase some dairy products to take home.

7. Franciscan Sisters Convent
A convent run entirely by nuns, Franciscan Sisters Convent produces delicious homemade wine, jams, chutneys and other little treats that you can take back with you after your holiday in Nuwara Eliya.

8. Mackwoods Tea Factory
Nuwara Eliya produces some of the world’s best tea. See how Ceylon tea is plucked expertly and even join in and try your hand plucking tea before learning the whole process of how this fine tea is made. At the end of the tour, enjoy a warm cup of Ceylon Tea as you gaze out at the lush green fields of tea.

9. Devon Falls
Visiting Devon Falls would be ideal on the way back after your holiday. 97 meters high, the waterfall has been named after a pioneer English coffee planter and is an ideal location to stop, relax and take a few pictures before leaving Nuwara Eliya behind.

10. Kithulgala
The suspended bridge from the successful 1957 movie “Bridge on the River Kwai” can be found here. You can also try your hand at some exciting activities such as white water rafting, waterfall trekking and the confidence jump.

Here’s what our guests had to say about us

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Walkers Tours has had a successful year so far. While some of our clients experienced the beauty of Sri Lanka for the first time – promising to return to this little paradise of ours, others have come back for another exciting holiday. With many happy memories made during their travels in the island, some of our clients have been kind enough to share their experiences with the team at Walkers. We would like to share a few of the feedback we received with you.

Feedback date – 08.10.2015

“This is to express my appreciation of the service provided by Walkers Tours during the recent holiday my wife and I had in Sri Lanka. We had transfers to and from the Airport which were carried out by excellent, polite and friendly drivers in very clean and comfortable cars.

The absolute star of our visit was our tour guide. I was born in Hatton in 1949 and this was my first visit to Sri Lanka since 1957. We had planned our visit carefully through Thomas Cook to try and visit places I could just remember aided by some black and white photos. Our tour guide realised very quickly what we wanted to do and entered fully into the challenge of finding different locations including the room in which I was born, now part of the Hatton Police Station! He looked after us with great care, consideration and thoughtfulness, drove superbly and was always enthusiastic about the next stage of the mission.

Without a doubt our tour guide made our holiday the fabulous experience that it was for us both.

Feedback date – 27.09.2015

First day back at work from our memorable and delightful holiday. After ploughing through my inbox, I already feel like we need another holiday. The purpose of this email is to say a very ‘’BIG THANK YOU’’ for looking after us during our stay in Sri Lanka.

Your service was ‘’excellent and top notch’’ to say the least. It is not often that a travel agent follows up to ensure everything is going to plan which is a welcome change and much appreciated.

If you don’t mind can, I request you to pass on our gratitude to our chauffeur who dropped us at the airport. He was very professional, knowledgeable and polite which the made the drive very interesting and pleasurable.

I have to rush off now and once again thank you so much for looking after us and wish you every success!

I will definitely do the needful in recommending your office to family and friends.

Thank you for your help.

Feedback date – 01.09.2015

I have recently returned from a bespoke tour of Sri Lanka, I wanted to provide feedback on the experience – which was excellent. The tour was well organized, the hotels excellent, the people very friendly, the trips / sites amazing. But the biggest thank you goes to our driver, who worked tirelessly throughout the tour, his knowledge and enthusiasm was exceptional, he couldn’t do enough for us, he is a credit to your company and made it a holiday of a lifetime. Please pass on my thanks and gratitude, when he dropped us off at Colombo airport it was very busy, so I didn’t get the chance to thank him properly. I would like you to pass on my thanks, best wishes and good health to him and his family – he deserves a bonus :-). If anyone I know is traveling to Sri Lanka I will not hesitate to recommend your tours.

Thank you

While we are humbled by the kind comments left by our happy guests, we are also grateful to our chauffeurs and tour guides who work tirelessly to ensure that each and every tour is a memorable one. If not for the effort of these individuals we would not have been able to make each and every one of the above mentioned tours a success.

Elephant sanctuaries we highly recommend you visit

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Sri Lanka is home to many amazing creatures of all shapes and sizes, the largest on land, being the Asian Elephant. While they roam freely in the wild, there are instances when these gentle giants face situations of distraught.

Thankfully, elephant sanctuaries across the country provide refuge to orphaned calves and injured and elderly elephants. Two such sanctuaries that take the welfare of their lovable giant friends very seriously are The Elephant Freedom Project in Kegalle and Eth Athuru Sevana in Willpattu. Both sanctuaries seek to provide protection and rehabilitation with careful loving care.

Coupled together with the excitement of meeting these lovable elephants is responsible tourism and we at Walkers Tours, highly recommend visiting both the, Elephant Freedom Project and Eth Athuru Sevana for a unique experience that will add value to your holiday in this island paradise.

The Elephant Freedom Project in Kegalle

The Elephant Freedom Project is located in Randeniya, Hiruwadana in Kegalle and is just two hours from the Bandaranaike International Airport. The project which was started by two Dutch brothers and a Sri Lanka family began taking in elephants who have lived in dismal conditions since the year 2013.

One of their most popular tenants is Raja who has lived a very harsh life in the logging industry. The Elephant Freedom Project has been able to provide this 50 year old elephant with a loving home away from his abusive past.

Guests can bathe the elephants and go on gentle walks with them. The project is always on the lookout for volunteer’s kind enough to help in taking care of the elephants and ensuing their home is clean and safe.

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Image credits The Elephant Freedom Project

Eth Athuru Sevana in Willpattu

Eth Athuru Sevana is Sri Lanka’s first rehabilitation centre and is located on 200 acres of land bordering the Udawalave National Park. Since its inception in 1998, the centre has been on the lookout for baby elephants that have been orphaned or have sustained injuries. The centre then houses the elephants and takes care of them until they are fit to return to the wild and live their lives in freedom.

Baby Namal who was found dehydrated and malnourished after being caught to a snare lives in Eth Athura Sevana permanently. While the staff at Eth Athuru Sevana have successfully nursed the baby elephant back to health, the injuries sustained from the snare had been too great and his foot had to be amputated. Namal now wears a brace made especially for him but lives a very happy life in his new home.

Interaction with these calves are kept to a minimum to ensure successful rehabilitation. Guests are however allowed to visit these baby elephants during feeding time and are encouraged to help with the feeding. Any contribution in the form of cash donations or supplying of milk powder is welcome and will help Eth Athuru Sevana with its efforts in helping these baby elephants.

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Image credits Amazing Lanka

Walkers Tours sponsors round tour for AIESEC’s “Explore Sri Lanka” programme

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AIESEC, a global platform for young students to gain new experiences and exposure to better develop their leadership skills in solving world issues, under their ‘Explore Sri Lanka’ initiative invited interns from various countries around the world to experience Sri Lanka in hopes of promoting the various exciting aspects of holidaying in Sri Lanka.

Walkers Tours Sri Lanka, was proud to sponsor a round tour of Sri Lanka with expert guide services for the visiting interns over five days. The first day began with a visit to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, which is a haven for injured and orphaned elephants. The students then visited the final kingdom of Sri Lanka, Kandy and the sacred Temple of the Tooth.

On the second day the students visited the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens before proceeding to the Matale Spice Garden and Aluvihare Temple. They ended the day with a visit to
Sera Ella and Riverston Matale before heading to Habarana.

The third day saw them take part in the Hiriwaduna Trek to experience village life of Sri Lanka which includes a Bullock Cart Ride and local lunch served at a farmer’s clay hut. The day was complete with a visit to the majestic Rock Fortress of Sigiriya.

On the fourth day the interns visited ancient city of Polonnaruwa and ended the tour on the fifth day with a half day tour of the commercial capital of the country, Colombo.

Below are some of the images the interns shared with us while on tour.

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We hope the interns had an enjoyable tour with us and wish them all the very best in their future endeavors.

Thank you for sharing your memories with us!

We would like to thank all our fans for sharing your Instagram images of your tour of Sri Lanka with us. Here are some of our favourites!

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To see all our fan images connect with us on instagram (walkerstours) and stay tuned on Facebook to see our next batch of fan pictures. If you would like to join in and share your great shots of Sri Lanka with us, simply use #walkerstours when uploading your instagram images!

Experience golf in Sri Lanka with Walkers Tours

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Find the perfect mix of golfing action and relaxation in paradise with our 5 Day Golf Tour of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is home to 4 stunning 18-hole golf courses, with scenic courses in the hills and the commercial capital. The Victoria Golf and Country Club in particular has been voted ‘Best Course in Asia 2005′ and been included in the ’Top 100 Most Beautiful Courses’ by Golf Digest.

Here’s a summerised break-down of our 5 Day Golf Tour. Feel free to book our tour by visiting http://www.walkerstours.com/sri-lanka-tours/golf-tours/5-day-golf-tour.html or write to us at info@walkerstours.com and create your own personalised golf tour today.

Day 01 – On arrival you will be met by our English speaking Chauffeur Guide and the Airport staff who will offer assistance.
Thereafter transfer to Mount Lavinia.
Dinner and overnight stay at Mount Lavinia Hotel

Day 02 – After breakfast conduct a city tour including a visit to the Colombo Museum.
Thereafter proceed to Kandy.
Dinner and overnight stay at Mahaweli Reach Hotel

Day 03 – After breakfast proceed to the Victoria Golf Club for a round of Golf.
Spend the evening at leisure by the pool.
Dinner and overnight stay at Mahaweli Reach Hotel

Day 04 – After breakfast proceed to the Victoria Golf Club for a round of Golf.
Thereafter transfer to Mount Lavinia.
Dinner and overnight stay at Mount Lavinia Hotel

Day 05 – After breakfast proceed to the airport in time for the connecting flight.