Ella was the third place I visited during my 2-week trip to Sri Lanka and it was probably the nicest place to spend 2-3 days or more. Unlike the city streets of Colombo and Kandy, this hillside town is like a whole other world – a lot like India’s lesser-known hill stations, without the traffic. It offers breathtaking scenery, restaurants serving world cuisine, plenty of cafes for digital nomads to work out of, shopping, and even nightlife. Being located at a height, it is much cooler than the rest of Sri Lanka, too..
Ella is blessed with an abundance of natural bounty – so you’ll be treated to massive, tiered tea plantations, waterfalls, and viewpoints. Whether you love nature trails, picturesque scenery, or a laidback vibe, this little town in central Sri Lanka has it all.
How To Get To Ella
Out of the handful of airports in Sri Lanka, only the one in Colombo, Bandaranaike International Airport, caters to international flights. From there, it is around 325 km to Ella by road. You can either get a taxi or a bus and embark on the 4 to 5-hour journey. The cab fares can vary drastically from LKR 7000 to upwards of LKR 20,000, so it would be a good idea to arrange your cab well in advance so you’re not left paying an inflated price because you don’t have an option.
I usually travel by self-drive car and we did the same on our trip to Sri Lanka as well. We hired a car from ShineAway Cars Colombo at INR 26000 (LKR 1,38,000) for 12 days and made our way to Kandy and thereafter to Ella. I would recommend this option as the most convenient and comfortable of the lot. For more info on how to rent, how to get your driver’s license, and more, visit my blog post where I answer some popular Sri Lanka-related FAQs
Lastly, you can take the train from Colombo to Ella. If you’re in Kandy, take the very famous train ride that crosses the 9 Arch Bridge. More on this below. Trains are the most budget-friendly way to travel in Sri Lanka and a journey from Colombo to Ella could last 9+ hours.
Getting around Ella is relatively easy and you will find plenty of cabs and tuk-tuks waiting around.
Where I stayed in Ella
I’ve named this section ‘Where I stayed in Ella,’ and not ‘Where to stay in Ella,’ simply because I stayed an hour away in a beautiful resort called Jetwing Kaduruketha in the village of Wellawaya. If you’re looking to maximize your time exploring Ella, the location of the hotel is not convenient. You can choose one of the many hotels and Airbnbs in Ella itself.
Jetwing Kaduruketha
Jetwing Kaduruketha is a sustainable agrarian resort set on 60 acres of land in Wellawaya, out of which, 55 acres are paddy fields. It is a gem of a place off the beaten track, surrounded by hills and fields. The rooms are designed to look like luxurious little huts and they offer almost every comfort, except for air-conditioning and TV.
We visited in summer and didn’t feel the need for an a/c as the property has hundreds of trees offering cool shade. Each room has a patio overlooking lush fields that stretch right up to the horizon, and the gentle breeze on the patio is soothing. You can choose between rooms that have open or closed bathrooms (we chose closed bathrooms as the monsoons were beginning to set in, and I have a strange fear of frogs).
You can get around the property on cycles (or walk) and spend your days going ambling through the fields, indulging in fantastic organic food grown on the property, or watching/listening to the peacocks calling right outside your room. The staff are exceptional and cannot do enough to please you. We loved our personal attendant, Dilani who was ever-smiling, and genuinely eager to please.
A swim at the pool is something you shouldn’t miss – not only is the pool so well designed using several levels, but the feeling of being in the pool and gazing at the fields and hills is blissful. Jetwing Kaduruketha is a worthy destination and we loved every bit of our stay there.
Where I ate in Ella
The food scene in Ella reminded me a lot of that in Goa and Himachal Pradesh. You’ll find something for every palate, budget, and craving; and options span from Sri Lankan and Indian to European and Middle Eastern among others. We tried two popular cafes on the main road that’s lined with restaurants. Both seemed to be frequented by plenty of European tourists.
Cafe Chill, one of the most well-known restaurants has a very relaxed ambiance and a nice view of the main street below. While the food here was good, I preferred the ambiance at Cafe One Love the second restaurant I visited.
Cafe One Love is a Bob Marley-themed restaurant spread over 3 floors. Various seating options ranging from quirky chairs to divans are spread across the colorful restaurant. While their pizzas are avoidable, the sandwiches are great. Service at both places was warm and welcoming.
Where to Shop in Ella
Shopping in Ella is fun. Since most of the action in terms of food and shopping is along only the 2 main streets, you can just plan to spend an evening walking down them and popping into any store you fancy. If you love art and all things vintage, I’d highly recommend dropping into ‘I Love Ceylon,’ a tiny store selling vintage Sri Lankan posters and replicas of them as postcards, magnets, and more.
If you’re looking to buy tea, for which, Ella is very famous, a store right in front of Cafe Chill has an abundance of options (the woman at the store said that they are mostly all the same, but packaged differently). The area also has a lot of options for street-side shopping and we picked up some lovely purses, palazzo pants, and souvenirs.
Remember to bargain, although the storekeepers rarely give in. When we later walked to the supermarket towards the end of the road, we found that most of the items we bought were displayed there at half the price. So pro tip: visit the supermarket first, get a feel of what they have and the prices – and then walk down the streets of Ella for your fill of shopping.
You may also find it helpful to know that while there are a couple of money exchanges here, it is more convenient and perhaps even better to withdraw LKR from ATMs as the exchange rate is better.
Things to do in Ella
You can spend anywhere from 2 days to a week at Ella and be sufficiently entertained. Here’s a list of things I did in Ella, followed by things I didn’t do, but you can if they match your interests.
Ella’s #1 attraction – Nine Arch Bridge
It is rare to find a traveler who’s been to Ella and not visited the iconic Nine Arch Bridge. The Instagrammable bridge lies between the train stations of Ella and Damodara. Its beautiful stone arches set against the jungle and tea plantations make it a stunning sight. Built during the British colonial period, this bridge was commissioned in 1921 and was built entirely from rocks, bricks, and cement with no use of metals of any kind – a testament to the architectural and engineering brilliance of the 20th century. It is said that the steel reserved to construct the bridge was redirected to meet the needs of the British military, and so construction went ahead without it.
While one can visit the bridge at any time of the day (there is no entry fee), most people visit it during the time when the train is scheduled to pass through. The trains are scheduled to run at 9:30 am, 11:30 am, 3:30 pm, 4:30 pm, and 5:30 pm, but they usually run late – however, it is better to make your way there on time to avoid disappointment.
You can always fill your time by taking pictures from various vantage points. I planned my visit to coincide with the 5:30 pm train and it arrived a few minutes after 6 pm. There were just a few dozen people when I visited (it was a rainy evening), but if you want to visit when there is no crowd, head over during sunrise, sunset, or whenever the train is not scheduled to pass through.
To get to the bridge, you can drive or take a tuk-tuk from Ella to the Nine Arch Bridge parking lot. You can either walk down the path from the parking lot itself or grab a tuk-tuk from the parking lot and it will take you as far down as the road goes. From there, it is a 5-minute downhill walk. While I read that the tuk-tuks cost LKR 300 from the parking lot to the last motorable point, the one I got asked for LKR 900.
I can only assume it was because the last train of the day would pass through in an hour and the driver probably knew that if we reached there at the time we did, it was because we wanted to see the train and would pay what they asked for. As I was leaving the next morning and I hate treks, I agreed. However, if you go during the day when there are still 2-3 trains left to pass through, you will have the upper hand and can bargain (or walk).
While the walk is short, it is steep and it can easily be done by someone with moderate fitness levels. If you are not inclined to walk it out, there are a few cafes that have a view of the bridge from a distance, so head over to a cafe and enjoy the view with a cuppa instead.
Visit Ravana Falls
Luckily for us, Ravana Falls was situated between Jetwing Kadaruketha and Ella, so we passed by multiple times on our way to and from our hotel. If you’re heading there from Ella, it is located 10 minutes down the hillside and you can easily get there by car, tuk-tuk, or bus. The three-tiered waterfall is said to be the wildest one in Sri Lanka.
According to mythology, Ravana (who was the king of Lanka) kidnapped Princess Sita, and had hidden her in the caves behind this waterfall. If you’re driving by, a few minutes is enough to admire the falls, take some quick photos, and be on your way. Adventurous tourists and hikers can climb up to the tiers above to swim in rock pools and admire the mesmerizing views of the valley. There is no entry fee.
Enjoy the views at Lipton’s Seat
Ceylon Tea is known around the world and is one of Sri Lanka’s main exports. In fact, 1/4th of the land of Sri Lanka is covered by tea plantations. While you will pass by many a tea plantation during your drives in and around Ella, Lipton’s Seat is where you will find hills and hills covered with them. Lipton’s Seat is in Haputale and offers a stunning view of tea plantations from above. Sir Thomas Lipton, a Scotsman and a tea baron would sit at this lookout spot to gaze at the verdant plantations of his flourishing tea empire.
Lipton’s Seat is located an hour away from Ella, and upon reaching and paying the entry fee of LKR 150 for our car we still had an hour of driving along hairpin curves to the top. I should mention though, that when we were entering the property, the ticket collector verbally said that the ticket cost LKR 200, however, the price on the ticket said LKR 150. When we asked about it, he returned LKR 50 and turned away promptly.
After driving an hour along winding roads from hill to hill, we finally reached the last couple of kilometers to Lipton’s Seat and were again asked to pay LKR 1500 each (foreigner price). We were quite annoyed as this information wasn’t displayed anywhere along the route – and we were disgruntled to find that after 2 hours of driving, we had to shell out quite a bit of money that we hadn’t anticipated (LKR 6000 for the 3 of us), that too, right at the home stretch.
So we turned the car around and returned without seeing Lipton’s Seat – however, we were treated to awe-inspiring views on the journey, so we didn’t care about missing one more viewpoint.
Other things to do in Ella
This section usually contains things I didn’t personally do in a destination, either because it wasn’t of interest to me or because I had other priorities. I’m listing them below as you may like to fit them into your Sri Lanka itinerary, however, I have no first-hand info or tips to offer.
Taking the train from Kandy to Ella (or even Damodara to Ella) should be on your bucket list, and this is something I really wanted to do but I couldn’t get tickets. Known as one of the most picturesque train journeys in the world, the Kandy to Ella train ride is on the bucket list of a large number of travelers.
As such, book your tickets well in advance – up to a month in advance – if you have to make the 10-hour journey in comfort. You can also walk into the station and book a ticket on the day of your travel, but you will have to board the general compartment, you will not get a seat, and it will be very crowded.
If you have time, you could also visit Diyaluma Falls, the second-highest waterfall in Sri Lanka and an hour away from Ella. Depending on whether you want to view the falls from the base or from the top, you will need to head to one of two villages as your destination. Yet another thing to do in Ella that you could consider is visiting a tea factory and learning about different types of tea and its journey from leaf to cup.
Treks and Trails in Ella
Ella is full of beautiful trails and among the most popular is Little Adam’s Peak. A visit to Little Adam’s Peak is said to take an hour (45 minutes of easy trekking and 15 mins of climbing). I’ve read that for a view as magnificent as you get, that of hills topped with mist and having cascading falls running down the sides, the effort pales in comparison.
I do not enjoy treks, so I guess I may never know. In case you’re wondering, Little Adam’s Peak is different from Adam’s Peak. While the former is a gentler walk through the countryside, the latter is a demanding 5500-step uphill trek which is usually done overnight and is said to be done for spiritual purposes.
Yet another trek you can embark on is the trek to Ella Rock, which is said to be tougher in comparison, but enjoyable for those who love adventure.
From Ella, we made our way to Galle, located in the South of Sri Lanka. Many tourists prefer to visit Nuwara Eliya or Udawalawe National Park, which are both close to Ella, however, I will save those for another trip. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more travel inspiration.