The Slow Train to Ella

The train from Kandy to Ella takes seven hours to cover about 140 kilometres. Nobody on board seems to mind. The line climbs through tea estates and cloud forest, and every time the carriage leans into a curve, half the passengers lean out of the open doors to watch the front of the train.

Booking

Reserved seats in second and third class go on sale thirty days ahead and sell out within hours. Unreserved tickets are sold on the day — get to the station early, board fast, and be prepared to stand for the first hour.

Sit on the right-hand side leaving Kandy. Then swap with someone after Nanu Oya.

The conductor, unprompted

Ella itself is small and walkable: climb Little Adam’s Peak for sunrise, walk the tracks to the Nine Arches Bridge, and eat rice and curry wherever there’s a queue of drivers.