The line from Kandy up through the tea country to Ella is regularly called one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world, and for once the description holds up. It climbs from 500 metres to over 1,800, runs through tunnels and tea estates and cloud, and takes six to seven hours to cover about 140 kilometres.
It is also the single most misunderstood part of most Sri Lanka itineraries, so here is how it actually works.
The route, and the shorter version
The full run is Kandy to Ella. If you do not want to give up most of a day, board at Nanu Oya — the station for Nuwara Eliya — and ride to Ella instead. That is three to four hours and covers the most photographed section, including the tea estates above Haputale and the descent into Ella.
Most of our itineraries use the Nanu Oya to Ella leg for exactly that reason: it keeps the best of the journey and gives you an afternoon back.
Booking reserved seats
Reserved seats are released 30 days before departure and, in season, the first and second class reserved carriages sell out within hours. If your dates are fixed, this is worth setting a reminder for.
The classes work like this:
– First class observation saloon — at the rear, air-conditioned, large sealed windows. Comfortable, and the glass ruins the photographs.
– Second class reserved — fans, opening windows, and the best balance of comfort and view.
– Second and third class unreserved — no booking, no guaranteed seat, and the open doorways everybody has seen photographs of. In season you may stand for three hours.
If the reserved seats have gone, unreserved is still a perfectly good journey — but board at the originating station rather than partway along the line, or you will not sit down.
Which side to sit on
Leaving Kandy heading for Ella, the better views are mostly on the right-hand side. Coming the other way, sit on the left. It is not absolute — the line switches back on itself repeatedly — but over the length of the journey the right side wins going up.
What to expect on board
Vendors work the carriages continuously with tea, vadai and short eats, and it is part of the experience. There is no proper dining car. Toilets are basic. Bring water.
The famous doorway photographs are taken by people hanging out of a moving train, and every year somebody is seriously hurt doing it. Sitting in the doorway with your feet in is fine and is most of the view; leaning out around a blind curve on a line with rock cuttings very close to the carriage is not.
Is it worth it?
On a trip of ten days or more, yes, without hesitation. It is one of the things people remember years later, and it moves you between two places you were going anyway.
On a seven-day trip, it is a genuine trade-off: the full Kandy to Ella run costs you most of a day. Either take the shorter Nanu Oya leg, or accept that you are spending a day of a short holiday on a train — which some people happily do.
Practicalities
Trains run several times daily and delays of an hour or more are routine, so do not schedule anything tight at the far end. If you are travelling with us, your driver takes your luggage by road and meets you at the station in Ella, which removes the one genuinely awkward part of doing this with suitcases.
