Train ride Ella – Nuwara Eliya | Sri Lanka

When visiting Sri Lanka, the train ride from Ella – Nuwara Eliya – Kandy is a must do! It is said that this is the most beautiful train ride in the whole world. Of course, I arranged that this was in our Itinerary!

When you take the train in Ella to Kandy, you’ll pass Nanu Oya (Nuwara Eliya). This little town is worth a visit and we decided to only do the train ride from Ella to Nuwara Eliya. This is the place to visit some tea plantations and to visit Horton Plains. But first things first: important information! How do you buy tickets, which seats to take and several tips!

Read more about Nuwara Eliya in this special blog post!
» Nuwara Eliya | Sri Lanka

Read more about Ella in this special blog post!
» Ella | Sri Lanka

Buying a ticket: where?

Train tickets are almost always sold out in the high season. You can buy them online in advance, but the price is more expensive than the price you’ll pay at the station. Another solution is buying a reserved seat (1st, 2nd, and 3rd class). These seats can be bought 30 days in advance. The normal unreserved seats (2nd and 3rd class) can only be bought at the day of departure at the station.

Price: €8

Warning: Save your ticket! When leaving the train, you’ll have to show it to the guard.

Buying a ticket: 1st, 2nd or 3rd class?

When taking the train, you can decide to take a seat in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd class. Choose wisely!

1st class

The 1st class consists of reserved seats and is the only class that will have airconditioning. This brings a small disadvantage: doors and windows will not open.

2nd & 3rd class 

The 2nd and 3rd class have no air conditioning but the doors and windows can be opened. Both classes have unreserved and reserved compartments. The unreserved cars are busier and chances are that you won’t have a seat. Most compartments have a storage room above your head for your bags. We chose the 3rd class reserved tickets. )

Train Fact: The weekends and the holidays are busier than normal, so try to avoid this!

Train hours

The train in Ella leaves at 6.40 AM, 9.24 AM (I took this one), or 12.06 PM. If you’re going to Kandy, the train from 12.06 PM arrives in the evening in Kandy. The train ride from Ella to Nuwara Eliya takes about 2.5 hours.

Train ride Ella to Nuwara Eliya

So we arrived at the station early (1 hour in advance) just to be sure. We sat on a bench and we immediately saw that there were almost no people. Our driver told us that it is due to the offseason and the recent attacks. After a while, the train showed up and with the few tourists, we went to our reserved seats in the 3rd class. We shared the car with 2 other tourists and at the end of the train ride 6 locals. Note: a car has 24 seats, ours was filled by 11 people. Definitely offseason.

Train Fact: The best view on the train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya is on the right side! The best view from Nuwara Eliya to Kandy is on the left side! We were lucky and had seats on the right side!

The view

The first 30 minutes contains a view of local farmers and small tea plantations. After those 30 minutes, the view changes to an enormous view where you can see miles of tea plantations, mountains, rice fields, and forests. The train is very slowly, this allows locals to stop working and to start waving at us. During the train ride, I can’t stop taking photos because the views are just breathtaking! At one point we passed the highest point of Sri Lanka where the clouds were just sliding down the mountain and where we drove through. What an experience!

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The best shot

The train also stops to pick up travelers or to drop them off. This gave us the best opportunity to take a photo of us, hanging out the window. Lots of people take photos hanging out the doors of the train when it’s moving but I didn’t want to do that. I’ve read stories of people doing it, and taking a hit from a sign, a tunnel, a pole,… I don’t want to risk my life just for some likes on social media. It’s the experience that counts, not the number of likes on your social media accounts.

The end

At one point a local guy came to sell us some salted peanuts (with paprika) and boy those were so yummy! After that, I decided to put down my camera and to enjoy the view. After 2.5 hours, we arrived in Nuwara Eliya (I already guessed it because it became colder in our car and I had to put on my sweater). We met our driver again and we started our exploration of Nuwara Eliya.

This train ride was indeed one of the most beautiful train rides in the world! So glad to have done that!

Life of a Passion