Adventure · Kandy
Sri Lanka's first long-distance walking trail runs from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya through the tea country, and you are not expected to walk all of it.
The experience
The Pekoe Trail opened in late 2023 and runs roughly three hundred kilometres across the central highlands in twenty-two stages, linking Kandy to Nuwara Eliya by way of Hatton, Haputale and Ella. It is named for the grade of tea made from the youngest leaves.
Very little of it is new path. The route strings together colonial cart tracks, estate roads and the footpaths that pluckers have walked to work on for generations, which is why it passes through villages and factory yards rather than around them.
Stages run nine to eighteen kilometres and most take four to six hours. You can walk one from a hotel you are already staying in — stages 15 and 16 near Ella take in the Nine Arch Bridge — or link several with luggage moved ahead of you.
What to expect
Good to know
The official pass funds trail upkeep and the communities along it. Some stages need extra permits, Horton Plains among them.
The trail publishes stage-by-stage status and some sections are under repair. Check the current advisory rather than an old guide.
Every stage begins and ends somewhere with beds and food, which is the whole design. Luggage can be moved ahead.
It rains most afternoons in the hills. Light waterproof, and more water than you think.
Kandy, in a route
Best done from Kandy, with the rest of the route built around it.
