Nine Skies, located in Demodara just outside of Ella, is part of the Teardrop family of hotels, a collection of very small, charming properties found across Sri Lanka
Set on a working tea plantation, Nine Skies is in what would have been the old plantation manager’s bungalow, and is over 100 years old. The property has retained the feel of a private house, with just five bedrooms, a small lounge with honesty drinks cabinet, veranda, plush gardens, and swimming pool. Whilst it may feel like a house, make no mistake that when you’re staying at Nine Skies, your every need is taken care of by the friendly staff.
The simply decorated bedrooms all come with four poster beds. We had the twin room, which also featured a bath tub – a bath tub in Sri Lanka you might ask? Well, it came in pretty handy after hiking through the tea plantations and all the way back from Ella. The hotel is perfectly placed for picking up the Pekoe trail, which is a leisurely 10km to Ella, or catching the train from Demodara station if you fancy riding the train instead. The train takes about 20 minutes and is a great train ‘taster’ if you want to test the tracks without committing to a long journey. The station looks like it’s straight out of a Wes Anderson film, and is right next to the tea factory, which also has a similar aesthetic.
Talking of trains, you can see the tracks from Nine Skies and spot the trains doing the famous Demodara loop. Views aside, our other favourite thing about Nine Skies was the food. We enjoyed a plethora of Sri Lankan specialities like string hoppers and fish ambul thiyal (a sour curry) for breakfast, black pork curry wraps for lunch, vegetable rolls for afternoon tea, and a massive selection of curries and rice for dinner. Having been in Sri Lanka and eaten curry for every single meal for eight days straight, we also enjoyed some of the less local dishes like the bacon and egg naan (Dishoom style!), garden salad, house-made granola, and banana fritters with homemade ice-creams and sorbets.
Nine Skies is well enough placed for a visit to Ella, to ride the train, and for hikes but it’s nicely off the beaten track too. There’s lots of books to enjoy, free bikes, phones to guide you across the different plantation trails, board games, and plentiful photography opportunities – so bed down and make this your home away from home in Ella.
Nine Skies Bungalow, Demodara 90080
teardrop-hotels.com