Top Attractions in the Hill Country, Sri Lanka – Hillside Charms

One among many other falls in Sri Lanka's hill country, the St Claire Falls are considered the widest in the whole of the country. Head here for breath-taking views and great photo opportunities. The falls are around a hundred metres in height and can be spotted when you take the road that runs from Avissawella to Nuwara Eliya.

Named after Her Majesty, the late Queen Victoria, Victoria Park was inaugurated as such in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee, which marked her 60th year on the throne in 1987. The park resides within the town of Nuwara Eliya and is full of blooming roses and flowers of other kinds that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the country. The unique, cool climate of the hill country allows various imported cold-weather plants to survive here, while, anywhere else on the island, they would surely fail.

You need to travel to Hawa Eliya to see this interestingly titled waterfall. Those residing at one of the local Nuwara Eliya bungalows or hotels such as Jetwing Warwick Gardens will have to arrange a day-outing to the falls as it may take up to three-quarters of an hour to get there by road. Lover's Leap is a lot shorter than St Claire's falls, standing at only around thirty metres in height compared to the latter's towering eighty metres, but nevertheless, makes for an impressive sight, and has an even more impressive tale behind it, as you may have gathered from its name! Legend has it that a local prince fell in love with a woman he met while out hunting near these lands. Alas, their love was not meant to be, for it was forbidden by his royal parents. Cruelly denied the freedom to express their love for one another, they are said to have leaped, hand in hand off of this very same waterfall to their watery graves below, in a final show of their undying devotion for one another.

No trip to the island's central hill country provinces is complete without an excursion to the well-known Horton Plains. At a lofty perch measuring over seven thousand feet above sea level, these plains are named after the British Governor, Robert Horton, who presided over the area during colonial times. The Horton Plains have been designated the status of a national park and sprawl over seven thousand acres of land. There is a treasure trove of wildlife and plant species to be observed here, as well as mainly pleasant trekking trails that end in scenic locations such as Baker's Fall and World's End. The former is a waterfall and the latter refers to a plateau that affords a magnificent vista over the surrounding lands below, thanks to a sudden, sheer drop in the cliff-side in excess of a thousand metres.