Luxury Villas in Kandy & Hill Country

Inland from the beaches, Sri Lanka rises into a landscape of forested ridges, waterfalls and terraced tea estates. This is the island’s cultural and scenic heart, and a stay here brings a complete change of pace and climate from the coast. The air is cooler, the views are long, and the region holds many of the country’s most important historic and religious sites.

Kandy, the last royal capital of the Sinhalese kings, sits beside a lake in a bowl of green hills and is home to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, one of the most revered sites in the Buddhist world. Higher still, around Nuwara Eliya, the slopes are covered in tea, the evenings can be genuinely cold, and colonial-era bungalows, a golf course and a lake recall the town’s past as a hill retreat. Horton Plains, with its cloud forest and the sheer drop at World’s End, lies just beyond.

To the north, the hills give way to the dry plains of the Cultural Triangle. Here the rock fortress of Sigiriya rises above the forest, the cave temples of Dambulla hold centuries of Buddhist painting and statuary, and the ancient cities of Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura are within reach. National parks such as Minneriya and Kaudulla are known for their large numbers of wild elephants.

Villas across the region range from restored planters’ bungalows among the tea to contemporary hillside homes with infinity pools facing the mountains, and quiet retreats near Sigiriya overlooking lakes and jungle. The hill country suits travellers who want culture, nature and walking alongside their beach time, and it combines naturally with the south and west coasts on a longer journey around the island.