Top Sri Lanka Plantation Tours

The southern Sri Lanka are especially famous for cinnamon. Around 1518, Portuguese traders discovered cinnamon at Ceylon, present-day Sri Lanka, and conquered its island kingdom of Kotto, enslaving the island’s population and gaining control of the cinnamon trade for about a century until the Ceylon kingdom of Kandy allied with the Dutch in 1638 to overthrow the Portuguese occupiers. The Dutch defeated the Portuguese but held the kingdom in their debt for their military services, so once again Ceylon was occupied by European traders, handing the cinnamon monopoly over to the Dutch for the next 150 years. Ceylon then was taken over by the British in 1784 after their victory in the fourth Anglo-Dutch War, but by 1800, cinnamon was no longer an expensive, rare commodity, as it had begun to be cultivated in other parts of the world, and other delicacies such as chocolate and cassia, which has a flavor similar to cinnamon, began to rival it in popularity.

On this scenic, half-day excursion, you’ll enjoy exclusive access to a Sri Lankan tea plantation, known as Lipton’s Seat. Travel like a local in a three-wheeler tuk tuk, enjoying an open-air ride through lush tea country. Then, learn the ins and outs of local tea cultivation before sitting down to a panoramic picnic lunch overlooking the misty hills.