Sri Lanka is a very versatile country, in the sense that it offers the traveler a diverse range of sights, stays, tastes and activities, both in terms of nature, culture and local cuisine. It makes this island very suitable for a round trip and that is exactly what most visitors do here. We were no exception and I can honestly say that it simply is the best way to get the full (or at least the best possible) experience of this remarkable country. We started our visit in the area of Negombo, had our first (and best) wildlife experience during an unforgettable safari in Wilpattu and topped even that with a world-class cultural highlight: Anuradhapura’s ancient city, with its skyscraping stupa’s. We then moved on to Sigiriya, which basically has everything on offer a traveler could ever desire (culture, wildlife, landscapes, tranquility… You name it, it’s there.).
When you’re not a full-time traveler and you only have limited time and resources to go abroad, you’ll always end up making hard decisions and sacrifices. We had to cross Trincomalee (on the east coast) off our list/travel itinerary and also had to shorten our time in Sri Lanka’s mountainous centre. In the end, we crossed from Sigiriya to Yala in only 6 days. In those 6 days, we realised that we could have spent much more time here, but in hindsight we are still happy with the choices we made and cherish the memories we made. So here are a few impressions from the heart of Sri Lanka:
Kandy
I wouldn’t go so far to state that Kandy was a disappointment, but of all the places we visited, it felt like the least spectacular. I must admit that says more about those other places than it does about Kandy. Because yes, Kandy is still worth a (short) visit. We confined ourselves to the two obvious highlights here: the Royal Botanical Gardens, a huge, 200-year old garden with an impressive collection of plants (including the extremely rare Coco de Mer) and the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which (obviously) houses the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. It isn’t the most beautiful temple we saw in Sri Lanka, but it is stylistically different from the others and the fact that the tooth relic is kept here makes it very special indeed.
We stayed in the excellent Villa Shenandoah, situated in the hills outside of the (quite busy) city. We do recommend this hotel for its exquisite views, its infinity pool, its lovely food (also western if you like) and the extremely friendly and helpful owner, mr. Congreve. He helped us out when our hotel booking in Ella was cancelled and he also personally drove us to the train station of Nanu-Oya (since there were no tickets left to take the train in Kandy)!
The (THE!) train journey from Nuwara Eliya to Ella
Obviously a must-do and definitely something you should book as soon as possible. There are options online (some of which are really trustworthy), but you can also ask your hotel if they can arrange that for you. In both cases, a local person needs to go to Kandy train station exactly one month before departure and buy the tickets there. Since most tickets are bought in large amounts by travel agents, this isn’t easy. Our hotel manager did manage to buy tickets from Nanu-Oya (Nuwara Eliya) to Ella and, as I said, offered to take us to the Nanu-Oya train station with his car.
I must say that I would recommend this course of action. The train ride between Kandy and Nuwara Eliya isn’t the most spectacular in terms of beautiful landscapes and going by car has its benefits as well. We were able to make a short stopover in the Damro Labookellie Tea Factory. It is the oldest tea centre in Sri Lanka and a visit is absolutely free of charge if you buy some tea after the tour. And obviously, that is something you want to do, right? Buying tea in the oldest tea factory of one of the most renowned tea countries in the world! Of course you do! The tour is short, but shows you the different steps of the tea-making process. You can see the people at work and at the end of the tour, the differences between all the types of tea on offer are explained. Truly fascinating. We had some tea with tea cake and bought some of this exquisite local produce before heading back to the car and to Nuwara Eliya. By the way: if you want to see the first step of tea making firsthand, just go outside and closely watch the hillsides…
The train ride to Ella is one of the most beautiful in the world. Buy second class tickets so you have the perfect balance between comfort and freedom. The doors between the carriages stay open during the entire journey, but if you want to sit here, you’ll need to be either quick or patient, since these are very popular spots. No worries, however, you can always hang out of the window as well. The views from those windows/doorways are really beautiful, but we had expected a bit more from the most beautiful train ride in the world. Maybe we have been spoiled with extraordinary views during our travels through Sri Lanka, I don’t know…
Ella
By far the most Western city we encountered in Sri Lanka, and full of tourists. We didn’t mind too much though and enjoyed everything the hipster capital of this island had to offer. This mainly included delicious food and lovely drinks in Café Chill, but there’s much more to see and do here:
The view from our window
As already mentioned, our booking for The View Ella was cancelled the day before our arrival because the hotel switched owners. Thanks to mr. Congreve of Villa Shenandoah and Booking.com, we were able to find a room in another hotel. The Peak Ella wasn’t all that great (airco and wifi didn’t work, room was dirty, breakfast was horrible), but the view from our window was just amazing…
Little Adams Peak
An easy hike, suitable for everyone in at least some basic physical condition. Best views in town!
Watching the train at Nine Arch bridge
From Little Adams Peak, you can take a short walk to a viewpoint above Nine Arch Bridge (the start of the hiking trail is indicated on the road towards the peak). It’s a perfect spot to watch the train (from Kandy and/or Nuwara Eliya) arrive, stand still and leave again. Thinking about it, it’s maybe a bit weird to just watch a train go by, but it’s a thing here… The arrival of the train traditionally brings lots of tourists to this well-known, photogenic (Instagram-worthy) bridge, but if you want to avoid the crowds, you can just have a look from a distance as well. Walking along the tracks isn’t without danger, but the train is slow. We started walking over the tracks towards Ella (I read it should be possible), but eventually gave up on that because we deemed it too unsafe (there isn’t a lot of space next to the railroad, so we weren’t sure where to jump when the train would come).
Lipton’s Seat
Since we wanted to see a bit more of the area around Ella, we booked a tuk tuk tour for our second day here. It turned out to be a very good idea. Driving between the tea plantations and enjoying the views (again – Sri Lanka has some seriously nice vistas) was just what we needed after a day in busy Ella. We drove all up to Lipton’s Seat, a scenic viewpoint (what else?) in the mountains above Haputale. We could see the women working hard to earn some money, plucking tea leaves on the steep slopes of the estate. It’s a tricky profession: there are numerous snakebite incidents here, which are potentially lethal.
Diyaluma waterfall
The region around Ella is waterfall country. You can hike up the mountain yourself (yes, there is quite some hiking and climbing to be done here in the centre of Sri Lanka), but make sure you follow the signs. We only made it to the spot immediately above the waterfall’s drop, but by taking the wrong turn, it seemed we missed out on a few beautiful spots a bit higher up the hill. Nevertheless, submerging ourself in the cold water was just the relaxation we needed.
Ravana waterfall
Another waterfall we passed on our way back to Ella. Very touristy, very crowded and not as nice as Diyaluma…
If you have more time in Ella, you can definitely head out to find even more waterfalls, but it’s also possible to book a cooking workshop or massage here, if that’s your thing. A bit to the south of Nuwara Eliya, Horton Plains National Park is a popular tourist destination and a biodiveristy hotspot as well, with World’s End being the key attraction.
