Skip to content
Adisham Bungalow, the stone country house that is now St Benedict's Monastery, Haputale

Hill country

Haputale

A small hill town on a knife-edge ridge, with tea estates falling away on both sides, Lipton's Seat, an English-style monastery and some of the island's tallest waterfalls nearby.

Plan a trip with Haputale
Time to spend
1 to 2 nights
Best months
January to March and June to September. October to December is the wettest time.
Getting around
Tuk-tuks for the estates and viewpoints. Haputale is on the main hill-country railway between Nuwara Eliya and Ella.
Good to know
Go to Lipton's Seat at sunrise. By 10:00 the view is often lost in cloud.

Haputale sits right on the southern edge of the hill country, at about 1,400 metres. On a clear morning you can see across the plains to the south coast, and the mist often rolls up the ridge by midday.

The road east climbs through the Dambatenne estate, where Sir Thomas Lipton's factory still works, to Lipton's Seat, the viewpoint where he is said to have surveyed his land. To the west is Adisham, a stone country house built in the 1930s and now a Benedictine monastery.

The Uva side of the hills is usually drier from June to September than Nuwara Eliya and Kandy. Ella is about an hour away, and Horton Plains is reached from the Ohiya side.

What to see and do

  • Lipton's Seat

    Open in Maps

    The viewpoint where Sir Thomas Lipton is said to have surveyed his tea estates, with views far across the southern plains on a clear morning.

    2 hr 30 min · SunriseLKR 550to confirm

    Reported at about LKR 550 per person at the estate barrier; confirm on the day.

  • Dambatenne tea factory

    Open in Maps

    A working tea factory built by Thomas Lipton in 1890, with short tours of the withering lofts, rolling and sorting floors.

    45 min · MorningFee chargedto confirm

    A small fee is charged for the tour; the factory is closed on some days.

  • Diyaluma Falls

    Open in Maps

    A 220-metre waterfall near Koslanda. A path climbs to the rock pools at the top, where you can swim when the river is low.

    2 hr 30 min · MorningLKR 350to confirm

    Reported at about LKR 350 to enter the upper falls path; confirm on the day.

  • Adisham Bungalow

    Open in Maps

    A Tudor-style stone country house built for Sir Thomas Lester Villiers in the 1930s, now St Benedict's Monastery, with gardens and a shop selling the monks' jams.

    45 min · MorningFee chargedto confirm

    Open to visitors only on some days, usually weekends, Poya days and school holidays; a small fee is charged. Confirm before going.

Also consider

Worth the trip if you have time. The planner leaves these out unless you add them.

  • Bambarakanda Falls

    The tallest waterfall in Sri Lanka at about 263 metres, a thin ribbon down a cliff among pine trees, best after rain.

    1 hrAdd to a tripMaps

Nearby places to stay

Photos

Tea bushes and tall shade trees on a misty slope at Haputale
Tea bushes and tall shade trees on a misty slope at Haputale
The sign at Lipton's Seat above Haputale
The sign at Lipton's Seat above Haputale
Diyaluma Falls dropping over the cliff near Koslanda
Diyaluma Falls dropping over the cliff near Koslanda