Hakgala Botanical Garden

Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka

---

Hakgala Botanical Garden is Sri Lanka’s second-largest botanical garden, located about 16 kilometres from Nuwara Eliya on the Nuwara Eliya–Badulla road, directly below Hakgala mountain and adjoining the Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve at an elevation of around 1,700–1,800 metres above sea level.

Established by the British in 1861 as an experimental plantation for Cinchona (the source of quinine) and briefly used for tea trials, it was converted into an ornamental botanical garden in the 1880s and now covers about 27–28 hectares of terraced lawns, themed flower beds and tree collections.

The cool, misty highland climate allows the garden to showcase a rich mix of subtropical and temperate plants, with especially noted displays of roses, orchids, ferns, bulbs and many flowering shrubs, arranged in sections such as a Rose Garden, Orchid House and rock and fern gardens that make it a major visitor attraction in the Nuwara Eliya area.