Ella
Ella is where the hill-country train ends, and arriving on it is half the reason to come. Two hikes start from the guesthouse door, and it is dry from June to August, when the south-west is not.
Ella in a nutshell
Ella: what to expect
253,000+ stops in Sri Lanka have been planned on Stippl. Here is what they say about Ella.
Ella is a one street hill town, and you go there to walk. Little Adam's Peak is 45 minutes out of town with a short climb at the end, and the Nine Arch Bridge is free, half an hour on foot through bamboo and on the same route, so most people do both before the morning is over. Ella Rock is the harder version of the same view. Ravana Falls is ten minutes down the hill, and Lipton's Seat looks out over the tea estates. Most travellers give Ella 2 nights.
Ella turns up on the longer Sri Lanka trips. A trip that carries Ella carries about three times as many Sri Lankan stops as a trip that skips it, and almost nobody passes through Ella without sleeping there.
Bring a layer, and skip Ella if you came for the beach. Ella sits at about 21°C across the year and 19°C in January, which is not the Sri Lanka most people picture, and it is the most expensive town on the circuit for a room and a meal. Two nights is the standard. The town has grown fast and the quiet is off the main road now rather than on it, so take the guesthouse up the hill over the one on the street.
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Walkers and first-timers
The two signature hikes are short, unguided and start from town, which is why most people give Ella 2 nights.
Backpackers
Ella is one of the fixed points of the island circuit, and the hostel strip along the main road is built for it.
Couples and slower travellers
The hillside guesthouses and the view are the point, and the evening is the best part of the day here.
Train travellers
The Kandy to Ella line ends here, and arriving on it is half the reason people come.
Maybe not for you: beach travellers, since Ella is inland and cool; and anyone on a short trip, because it needs at least two nights to be worth the journey up.
The best time to visit Ella
The first dry window
February and March
Clear, warm and the best hiking light.
The inter-monsoon
April and May
Heavy afternoons, still usable.
The rain-shadow summer
June to August
The driest and sunniest months: high season here while the south coast is under monsoon.
The wet end of the year
October to December
Waterfalls at full force, trails slippery and the views often closed in.
- Ella is dry from June to August, exactly when the south-west coast is not. The rain shadow inverts the national season, so a summer trip that wants hills and sun comes here and skips the beaches.
- Ella is planned about 69 days ahead on Stippl, and 14.4% of its plans are made inside a fortnight. The hostel strip absorbs that; the hillside guesthouses with the view do not in the dry windows.
- Both signature hikes start from town and take a morning, in any season. Little Adam's Peak and the Nine Arch Bridge share a route; from October to December start at first light, before the cloud closes the view.
- Bring a layer. Ella sits at about twenty-one degrees across the year and nineteen in January, which is not the Sri Lanka most people picture, and the evenings on the hillside are cool.
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Things to do in Ella
Photo by Ishara Adikaram via Unsplash
Photo by Mariana Proença via Unsplash
Photo by Matt Dany via UnsplashLittle Adam's Peak
Walk forty-five minutes from town to the foot and fifteen to thirty minutes up, depending which of the three peaks you take, for the view over the gap. Easy, free and no guide needed; go at sunrise.
The Nine Arch Bridge
Walk thirty minutes from town through bamboo forest to the 1921 viaduct, twenty-five metres high and built without steel, free. It shares the path with Little Adam's Peak, so do both in one morning, and check the train times for the photograph.
Ella Rock
Climb about two hours along the overgrown train tracks and up through forest to the rock above town, harder and less signposted than the other walks. Start early, and ignore the guides at the tracks who say you need one.
The hill-country train
Board at Ella for the stretch to Nanu Oya or on to Badulla, the open-door ride through the tea, three hours for a few euros. The reserved carriages sell out; the unreserved second class is the one with the doors.
Ravana Falls
Take a tuk-tuk or the bus ten minutes down the hill to the falls with their two viewing platforms, food stalls and monkeys, free. Very busy at weekends; a weekday morning has it to yourself.
Diyaluma Falls
Drive an hour to Sri Lanka's second-highest waterfall and hike thirty minutes from the upper trailhead to the natural infinity pools at the top. Free, and a tuk-tuk for the half day is about €15.
The neighbourhoods of Ella
Ella Town
Main road, tuk-tuks, bars
The one street: restaurants, bars, tuk-tuks and the noise that comes with them, with guesthouses along it. For a single night and for anyone who wants dinner on foot.
Everything walkable, and the trucks on the road until late.
The hillsides
Valley views, quiet nights
Guesthouses and cottages five to twenty minutes up by tuk-tuk, with the gap view from the terrace. For couples and anyone staying two nights or more.
The view every photo is taken from, and a tuk-tuk for every dinner.
Passara Road
Guesthouses toward the trails
Strung east along the road toward Little Adam's Peak and Nine Arches, both walkable from the door. For walkers who want the dawn start without a ride.
Both trails on foot, and twenty minutes' walk into town for anything else.
By the station
Budget end, on the line
A short walk from the main street, where the cheapest rooms cluster and the hill-country train stops. For backpackers and anyone leaving on the early train.
Steps from the platform, and the whistle at five in the morning.
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Where to stay in Ella
Stay on the hillside, not on the main road. The cottages five to twenty minutes up by tuk-tuk have the gap view the town is famous for, and the guesthouse arranges the ride in for dinner. Most people give Ella 2 nights on Stippl, and the hillside places are small, so book ahead for June to August and over Christmas and New Year.
Ella Town
Hostels and guesthouses on the one street, dorms €8 to €12 and doubles €20 to €45, with the bars in earshot.
The hillsides
Cottages and boutique guesthouses with a terrace, €40 to €120; the tea-estate resorts above them from €150.
Passara Road
Family guesthouses and small hotels with a view of Little Adam's Peak, €30 to €80.
By the station
The cheapest rooms in town, plain guesthouses €15 to €35, and the budget end of the saving.
What to eat in Ella
Rice with three to six-plus curries, sambols and papadam
Chopped roti stir-fried with vegetables, egg and/or meat
Triangular stuffed flatbread
Drunk very milky and very sweet, at the source
Breakfast, burgers and pizza, more of it here than anywhere else on the circuit
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Ella customs and what not to do
Temple rules on the trail too
Shoulders, knees and shoes off at the Ravana temple and the small shrines on the Little Adam's Peak path, and the rule is enforced at the gate rather than politely suggested.
Evening prayers are a service
The puja at the village temple starts at six; arrive before it, stay quiet at the back and do not photograph the monks during it.
Tea pickers are working
The estates above the town are workplaces and the pickers are employees on piece rates; a photograph is asked for, not taken, and a few hundred rupees is the fair exchange.
The bridge is a working line
Nine Arches carries scheduled trains and people walk the track between them; step off well before the horn, and the tunnel end is not the place to be when one comes.
Do
- Walk Little Adam's Peak before seven; the cloud and the crowds both arrive later
- Check the train times before walking out to Nine Arches Bridge
- Ask before photographing anyone on the tea estates
Don't
- Stand on the bridge when a train is due
- Wear shorts into the Ravana temple
- Expect nightlife; the main street is quiet by ten
What a Ella trip costs
Budget
€16–44
A basic room, rice and curry twice a day, and the hikes to Ella Rock and Nine Arches for free.
Mid-range
€43–85
A guesthouse room, restaurant meals, a cooking class, the resort pool day pass.
High-end
€85+
A hotel with a pool and a terrace, dinner out, and a driver for the day trips.
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Fun facts about Ella
Ella's driest months are June to August, when the south-west is wettest. Uva's rain shadow inverts the national season, which is why the hill town works in the European summer when the beaches do not.
The Nine Arch Bridge was built without steel. Stone, brick and cement only, in 1921, and it still carries scheduled trains a century on.
Ella sits at 1,041 metres in a gap in the hills. The Ella Gap opens south towards the plains, and on a clear morning the view runs to the coast.
Ella is the surest sign on Stippl of a full-circuit Sri Lanka trip. Trips that carry it hold more than three times the Sri Lankan stops of trips that do not.
Wednesday is market day on Passara Road. Stalls line the street with vegetables, fruit, herbs and clothing from the villages, and the town is a different place for the morning.
Badulla, 21 km on, is the end of the railway line. The hill-country train from Kandy stops there, which is why Ella is the last station most travellers ever get off at.
Local tips for Ella
The train starts at Nanu Oya
The cyclone damaged the line in hundreds of places and the Kandy section is still being repaired; the running stretch is Nanu Oya to Ella and Badulla. Guides that say Kandy are out of date.
Book thirty days ahead
Reserved seats open thirty days out and sell out the same day; book online or at a station when the window opens. Unreserved second class always has room and has the open doors.
Board one stop earlier
Trains fill from the origin, so boarding a stop before it is the seat trick. Onward from Ella is by road: the south coast is four hours by car for about €50.
How long to stay
Most people give Ella 2 nights on Stippl: Little Adam's Peak and the bridge one morning, Ella Rock or Diyaluma the next. The town after dark is the third.
Ella Rock is unsignposted
People get lost on it; download the offline map before you start and ignore the self-appointed guides at the tracks who say you need one. Start at seven.
Do not hang out of the train
Deaths and serious injuries happen on this line, and the photograph is not worth it. The monkeys at Ravana Falls take bags, and the main road through town has no pavement.
Ella questions, answered
In the hills, after Kandy and before the south coast. Ella carries 9.3% of everything planned in Sri Lanka on Stippl, second only to Colombo, which is remarkable for a village. Put two nights into Stippl and treat the train question as a separate decision.
Two nights, and three is common. On Stippl the Ella stops run to 2 nights, which covers Little Adam's Peak, the Nine Arch Bridge and one waterfall. The third night is for Ella Rock, which is a proper half-day walk rather than a stroll.
Almost never. Only 1.36% of Ella stops planned on Stippl are same-day, the lowest share in Sri Lanka, because the hairpin road in takes hours from anywhere at all. People come here to stop travelling for a couple of days and start walking uphill instead.
The scenic stretch from Nanu Oya up to Ella is the part everybody photographs, and it is the part to aim for. The Kandy end of the line has been out of action since a cyclone and the restoration date keeps moving, so check the current state with Sri Lanka Railways before you plan a day around it.
No. Little Adam's Peak is signposted, gentle and about forty minutes up. Ella Rock is longer, harder and genuinely easy to lose, but what that calls for is an offline map rather than a guide. The men who offer to show you the way at the trailhead will want paying at the top.
No, and that is half the reason people stay. It sits around a thousand metres up, so days run in the low twenties and nights drop to the mid teens, which after the south coast feels like a different country. Bring a layer for the evenings and something waterproof for the walks.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Ella in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
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