Pedro Estate Factory, tea plantations and factory in Nuwara Eliya

Nuwara Eliya, a must do in Sri Lanka, is an old colonial city, reknown for its numerus tea factories and plantations. Located on the heights of Sri Lanka, temperature is quite colder, 18 degres in July and is most of time smoggy and rainny. This is also what contributes to the charm of Nuwara Eliya. Combination of a British weather and architecture with an excellent tea making know-how will make you feel the minute you are there in the countryside of Great-Britain. Wrong ! You are still in Sri Lanka... and this is why Sri Lanka is so rich and surprising. Saying that, a tea factory sightseeing is mandatory, don't you think ? 

As we missed some information before departure, we went for the most famous one, Pedro Estate Factory, which also has the advantage to be extremly close and walking distance to Lover's Leap waterfalls.

Pedro Estate Factory is only 10 minutes drive from Nuwara Eliya city center. We decided on such a short distance to reach the site by bus. Bus drivers are known to drive very fast and be a bit crazy, confort is rudimentary but rates are the chepeast you can find. However, this is such a local experience to do, the way to Pedro Estate Factory was a perfect opportunity. Just go the Nuwara Eliya bus station and ask for your way, lots of locals will help you. 

The bus stops directly in front of Pedro Estate Factory and deeps you in local life with children going to school or women going at work, wether they are harvesting tea leafs or transforming it at the factory.

To start the visit of Pedro Estate Factory, you will have to find their shop where visits are organized in small groups. You will be given a green apron, great style ! The visit is organized during the day, when people are not working. Tea is treated at night time in order to have the ideal temperature, this is why the tour can be quite lifeless. Photos are not allowed and machineries are therefore not working. The visit is done by young ladies with a very approximative english, which makes it quite hard to understand. The tour lasts no more than 10 to 15 minutes and is a bit deceptive. 

After the tour, you can shop some tea bags and enjoy a cup of tea, included in the rate of the visit. We decided to go first for a little walk to get lost in the plantations. The tea valley is overlooking a beautiful lake and it worths it exploring a bit. Wethear is normally known to be quite rainny and froggy. We were very lucky that day but be careful to wear the appropriate clothes : trousers, sweetshirt and a waterproof coat.

After this walk, a cup of tea is well deserved ! You can choose between a light one or a darker one. This is good way to take little forces before going to Lover's Leap fall, which is walking distance. On the way to the falls, you will have beautiful views on the factory (next review to come).

To sum up, the visit of this factory is nice for the walk, the landscapes and the pics. If you are interested in learning more about tea making, maybe try to find another factory that will do deeper sightseeing and share with you more interactions.