Haputale

Haputale clings to a narrow ridge where the highlands fall away to the southern plains, so when the cloud lifts the views stretch all the way to the south coast. Less visited than Ella, it keeps a quiet, working-town feel among the surrounding tea estates and tumbling railway. The big draw is Lipton's Seat, the lookout where tea baron Thomas Lipton is said to have surveyed his empire, reached through some of the most beautiful estate country on the island. The historic Dambatenne factory below still grades tea much as it did a century ago, and the stone monastery of Adisham adds an unexpected slice of English-country calm.