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The Tea Bungalow Galaha · 1890
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trailMist Trail Season Open · Pekoe Trail Stage 1 & 2 in Peak Condition

ගලහGalaha Estate

A restored 1890 planter’s bungalow in the tea hills of Old Ceylon

Book direct: free cancellation up to 72 hours before arrival a personal reply within 24 hours transfers from Kandy arranged

In the hills of Galaha, five kilometres from where James Taylor planted Ceylon’s first tea in 1867, stands a planter’s bungalow built around 1890. Six chambers, a carriage-house cottage, a fire lit at dusk, and a verandah that looks out over the tea.

Not a hotel. A house in the hills.

The bungalow

02 — Two ways to stay

A room of your own,
or the whole house.

A guest in a chamber in the evening, the four-poster's nets drawn back

Individual

An Estate Chamber

Six individually named rooms, each with its own character. Shared verandahs, gardens, and the long table, where trail stories are exchanged over dinner.

  • Ideal for solo hikers, couples, or pairs
  • Verandah, pool and Planter’s Lounge
  • Base for Pekoe Trail Stages 1, 2 & 3
Browse chambers
The bungalow on its hill above the tea terraces

Exclusive

The Entire Estate

No other guests. No imposed schedules. The full bungalow, garden, Carriage House Cottage, Planter’s Lounge and fireplace, entirely yours.

  • Up to 12 guests across all rooms and cottage
  • Private chef, dedicated transfers, full staff
  • Families, groups and private celebrations
Reserve the estate

03 — The Living Estate New · 3D

Wake up here
before you arrive.

Step into a living model of the estate. Choose your dates and watch the real sun rise over Galaha on your first morning, with the mist these hills usually bring. Find your chamber, then walk through your day.

  • The real sunExact for these hills, any morning of your stay
  • Your chamberSee where you’ll wake, then reserve it
  • Your dayTea, trail and dinner, hour by hour
Enter The Living Estate

It’s   in Galaha now

04 — The Chambers කාමර

Six rooms,
one house,
and a cottage.

Each chamber holds its own character, named for the heritage of the estate and the land.

  1. The Founder's Suite
    01 / 07

    The Founder’s Suite

    The most distinguished room in the house, opening onto its own private verandah.

    Price on request
  2. The Highlands Suite
    02 / 07

    The Highlands Suite

    Elevated and cool, it joins the Pekoe Room to form a private family wing.

    Price on request
  3. The Pekoe Room
    03 / 07

    The Pekoe Room

    Named after the Pekoe leaf grade, the finest behind Ceylon tea’s reputation.

    Price on request
  4. The Verandah Chamber
    04 / 07

    The Verandah Chamber

    Straight onto the long rear verandah and the garden beyond.

    Price on request
  5. The Camellia Room
    05 / 07

    The Camellia Room

    Named for Camellia sinensis, the tea plant itself. Soft, botanical, restful.

    Price on request
  6. The Galaha Room
    06 / 07

    The Galaha Room

    Named for the land where Ceylon’s first tea was planted in 1867.

    Price on request
  7. The Carriage House Cottage
    07 / 07

    The Carriage House Cottage

    A former carriage house, now a private two-bedroom cottage with its own living and dining.

    Price on request
  8. All chambers Compare every room

05 — The Pekoe Trail

Walk Stage 1. Sleep here. Walk Stage 2 from our door.

Plan your walk The trail, stage by stage

Trail footage: The Pekoe Trail · Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau

0.0km along the Pekoe Trail

  1. Stage 1 · Easy

    Hanthana → Galaha

    Ceylon Tea Museum to Galaha Post Office. 12.84 km, around 4 hours.

  2. You are here

    The Tea Bungalow

    Your base between stages. Stage 1 pick-up included.

  3. Stage 2 · Difficult

    Galaha → Loolecondera

    To James Taylor’s estate, the birthplace of Ceylon tea. 14.7 km from our door, around 5 hours.

  4. Stage 3 · Moderate

    Loolecondera → Uda Peradeniya

    Onwards through the highlands. About 15 km, 5 to 6 hours.

The bungalow sits between the end of Stage 1 at Galaha Post Office and the start of Stage 2, five minutes from your boots to the trail. Stage 3 begins twenty minutes away by car.

  • We move your bags. You enjoy the trail.
  • Pickup from Kandy or Peradeniya Station
  • Breakfast from 6:30 AM, packed lunches the night before
  • Leech socks, trail briefings and weather updates
Hiker packages Full trail guide

Ceylon tea
began here.

1867
James Taylor plants Ceylon’s first commercial tea at Loolecondera, 5 km away
c.1890
The planter’s bungalow is built in the golden era of Ceylon tea
7
Keys: six named chambers and the Carriage House Cottage
3
Stages of the Pekoe Trail walked from a single base

06 — Life on the estate තේ

Days measured
in cups of tea.

All experiences

07 — Beyond the gate

Temples and gardens,
an easy day away.

Kandy is about 45 minutes away. A driver takes you to the temples and gardens round the old royal city, and has you back for the fire at six-thirty.

Plan a day beyond the gate
Films: Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau

08 — Estate stories

From the
estate journal.

All field notes
Historic tea processing machinery and rolling tables at Galaha Estate.

Tea Heritage · 10 Sep 2026 · 5 min read

How Galaha and Loolecondera Gave Birth to Ceylon Tea in 1867

When the devastating coffee blight swept through Ceylon in the 1860s, a solitary Scotsman named James Taylor planted nineteen acres of tea seeds in Loolecondera Estate. Here is how that seed transformed the hills.

Read story
Ceylon arrack by the hearth in the Planter's Lounge, poured as the fire is lit at six-thirty.

Estate Life · 18 Sep 2026 · 4 min read

Stone, Pine & Ceylon Arrack: The 6:30 Hearth Ritual

In an era of scheduled itineraries and hurried moments, our 6:30 PM fire ritual is an antidote. Here is why no guest ever forgets their evenings beside our stone fireplace.

Read story
Morning light breaking through the pine canopy along Pekoe Trail Stage 2.

Pekoe Trail · 15 Sep 2026 · 6 min read

A Walker's Companion to Pekoe Trail Stages 1 & 2

The Pekoe Trail is 300 kilometres of walking tracks tracing old tea trails. Stages 1 and 2 cross right past our doorstep, offering hikers a rare blend of wild ridge walks and living plantation life.

Read story

09 — Before you come

Plan it
from here.

The weather you’ll walk into, the stages you’ll walk, and the tea you’ll drink: three ways to know the hills before you arrive.

This month in Galaha October On the trail: Monsoon 26°by day, about 19° at night 74%of days bring a shower 22%of mornings begin in mist 05:54sunrise, sunset 17:52 The month by month
A walker on a tea-estate path on the Pekoe Trail
Pekoe Trail planner Plan your walk Choose your stages, your pace and a rest day, and see each day laid out around your nights at the bungalow. Open the planner
Afternoon tea served in the Planter's Lounge
The Ceylon cup Know your tea How the leaf becomes tea, what the grades on a packet mean, and a timer for the perfect cup. Brew a cup

10 — Getting here

Find us
in the hills.

Galaha Estate sits in Sri Lanka’s central highlands, about 45 minutes from Kandy. Private transfers from the airport, Kandy city, Kandy Railway Station and Peradeniya Station.

  • Colombo Airport (BIA)3.5–4 hrs
  • Peradeniya Railway Station~45 min
  • Kandy · Temple of the Tooth~45 min
  • Pekoe Trail Stage 1 end5 min
  • Loolecondera Estate~20 min
Open in Google Maps
Approximate locations · ගලහ

ආයුබෝවන්

Stay
awhile.

Introductory offer Double BB from $75 (≈ Rs 23,100). Enquire for availability, packages and tailored arrangements.

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