Siri Pada is Sri Lanka’s iconic mountain. It was known by Arab seafarers, because its conic shape can be seen from the ocean, clear sight provided. Muslims settling down in Sri Lanka regarded the Holy Mountain of Buddhists and Hindus as sacred, too, giving the footprint („Siri Pada“ means „Sacred Foot“) at the top a new meaning: According to Muslims,the giant footprint was left by Adam, the first human being, when he had to leave paradise. This means, the top of Siri Pada is believed to be the place where Adam first touched the surface of the earth, the spot on our planet that is closest to paradise. This is why the mountain got ist Western name „Adam’s Peak“, later on also used by European colonialists, though Christians from India had a different explanation: The footprint was left by St. Thomas, their apostle.

Besides being a place of pilgrimage for four major religions, Siri Pada is definitely Sri Lanka’s best vantage point, offering an unforgettable 360 degree panorama. There are two flights of steps leasing to the top. The shorter though also exhausting one is from the highland side, the older and longer one starts in the lowlands in the Ratnapura region.

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Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka’s hghest town, likes to be referred to as  „Little England“ due to its colonial architecture in the Tudor style and garden landscapes and its tradition of distinguished club life. The cool climate attracted the British high society during the hottest month of the year. Nuwara Eliya was Sri Lanka’s hillstation. Nuwara Eliya was inhabited not before the 19th century. English and Scottish pioneers invented vegetable plantations in the misty and rainy and cold region in order to provide European food for the British families in Colombo. Nuwara Eliya has also become the name of one of the three highest tea regions of Sri Lanka. It stretches from the town along the Kandy road. Lambookellie, which is Sri Lanka’s largest tea plantation and Bluefield and Glenloch are open to the public, all of them are close to the most frequented access road to Nuwara Eliya, which starts in Gampola near Kandy. For Indian travellers or Hindu pilgrims in particular, Nuwara Eliya is the number one destination für spiritual journeys in Sri Lanka, as it is the nearby Sita Eliya which is believed to be the famous Ashoka Vatika of the Ramayana epic, the hiding place of Sita during her captivity on the island.

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Wrapped in the tranquility of the Tangamalai bird sanctuary near Haputale, Adisham Hall is a former colonial country house built in 1931, which was coverted into a Benedictine monastery in 1961. The British planter and trader Sir Thomas Villiers named his country mansion after his birthplace, which was the village of Adisham in Kent, England. For his dream home in the typical English Tudor style, he  purchased 2.5 hectared of land in the lonesome and peaceful Golden Hills („Tangamalai“) With a breathtakingly panoramic view of the Uva bassin in the southeastern part of Sri Lanka’s highlands. Sir Thomas Villiers spared no expense to embellish his country home with antiquities and luxurious furniture. Adisham Hall soon became a meeting place of the colonial upper class Ceylon.

The English garden and parts of the country house are open to the public on Sundays and Poya Days. The interior of the sitting room and library are well preserved. The colonial stairwell and the rooms inhabited by the monks can not be visited. A chip of a bone of St. Sylvester is enshrined in the altar of the chapel of the St. Benedict Monastery Adisham.

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The Ella Gap is a deep valley connecting the hillcountry with the southern plains of Sri Lanka. The Gap is framed by two peaks known as “Ella Rock” and “Little Adam’s Peak”, which can be reached by hikers. The view to the Ella Gap is the main reason why Ella has become the most popular tourist destination in the southern mountain range in Sri Lanka. The former British resthouse and many guesthouses – though by far not all of them - offer perfect mountain- and valley-views from their balconies. The Ravana waterfalls and Ravana Cave are within the Ella Gap, halfway between the hills and the plains. More about Ella and guesthouses with best vistas here...