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It was a joy to visit the National Spice Garden. To have heard about the reputation of the commercial spice gardens, and even experience one before arriving here, it was really a stark difference with Sarath at the National Spice Garden.
To begin, Sarath asked us how much time we would like to spend so he could tailor the experience to us. Then as we went around, we had an excellent experience seeing and hearing about the spices in Sri Lanka, how they are cultivated, and better understanding the process.
While the commercial spice gardens are all about churning people through all for tips and shopping at the end, here it was about education and sharing knowledge. The experiences were completely different.
Finally, across the street (where you can park), there is a small shop which is govt run (as is the spice garden research facility). There is absolutely no pressure to buy. Here the prices are local and not inflated, and packaged professionally for taking home. For comparison, the commercial spice garden was selling small bags of cinnamon sticks for 3000r, while here, the same quantity was less than 500r.
This is the only spice garden you need to visit. You'll learn a lot more, and be in an environment that doesn't make you feel like a walking wallet. Thanks to Sarath for sharing his knowledge and providing such a cool cinnamon demonstration. Much appreciated!
We spent a little over 1hr here and another 25min at...
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One of beautiful and largest spice park in Sri Lanka. Government institute. Maintain and monitoring under the Department of Export Agriculture.
Wide range of spice can be seen here. Both commercial varieties as well as wild types are planted. Black pepper, Nutmeg, Coffee, Vanilla, Cardamom, Areca nut, Kithul and oil plants are few of them. Nicely arranged the spice crops in the field as elegant order. it is complete with facilitated information center. Comfortable small conference hall also there. Attractive surrounding because land is situated somewhat upper elevation.
Compare with other spice garden around the Matale, this is beyond the expectation. Really value for foreigners who need to know trusted information regarding spices including correct spice plants, growing pattern and spice products. Well known instructors are here to guide in both Sinhala and English medium. But need to book the place in a formal manner if any group need such a service.
Sale center and nursery also situated other side of road and good quality spice products and nursery plants can be purchased here.
Best place for Agriculture university students, Diploma holders and school children who learn and find the details about spice crop. Some of modern cultivation demonstration filedes are been developed and it is important to spice farmers who interest to learn correct...
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A Hidden Gem There are many commercial Spice Gardens along the Kandy-Dambulla road, I have not visited those but if you have a choice I would really recommend going to the National Spice Garden instead. It is about 2 miles off the main road (there are brown signs marking the turning), and there is space for a couple of cars to pull over. Walk through the gate and up to the visitor centre to the left. There you can ask for a tour of the garden. We just turned up at lunchtime on a Tuesday and were met halfway to the centre by a employee. The lady who gave us the tour was extremely knowledgeable, her English was excellent and she explained what is done at the garden (developing different varieties etc) and gave us tastes all the way round. We told her we had an hour and the tour lasted exactly that. I’m sure if you have more/ less time, they can adjust to suit. After the tour she asked us to fill in the visitor book and wanted a selfie! Apparently not many tourists visit. There was no cost but we did tip her for the tour. Across the road is a small government run spice shop selling various spices. Cheap compared to the UK, I’m not sure how they compare to the commercial gardens. The best things about the visit was the educational nature and how there was absolutely no pushiness to visit the shop. I would highly recommend...
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