Cool, Mountainous, and Very Civilized: Nuwara Eliya
I’m waiting to catch sight of a lunar eclipse on this clear, starry night, and I’m shivering in my fleece jacket. I almost didn’t bring it along. I just left the steamy, tropical weather of Galle, on Sri Lanka’s beautiful southwest coast, six hours ago but that’s OK inside my pretty mountain guesthouse there’s fragrant cinnamon wood in the fireplace, a steaming cup of hot tea, and homemade strawberry tarts waiting for me.
Nuwara Eliya (pronounced Noora-elya) is a small enough town that there’s little light pollution, and the scenery is nothing less than spectacular. At 6,129 feet in elevation, the temperatures are always cool and the air is clean. Year-round temperatures rarely exceed 75 F, dipping into the 50s F at night. Mornings are often foggy, and rain can occur any time of the year.