Train to Ella Sri Lanka

 

That's some other people hanging out at the open door of the train, but it shows a good overview of a magical train ride. We kept hearing about taking a scenic segment of the train line to Ella. This was probably the best day of our trip to the mountain interior of Sri Lanka. It was a great way to start the first day of the new year. We're fortunate to live in this beautiful country.

 

The hotel has this fun diorama above the bar. I was wondering why a Barbie doll was stuck in the grass next to the Nine Arch Bridge, but I eventually figured out it was supposed to be a woman picking tea leaves. Anyway, on to the train trip, a little hike to see that Nine Arch Bridge, and a waterfall with some monkeys.

you can't open the windows in first class, so it's better to get second class on this train

forward view

backward view

We mostly stayed in our seats or another open seat and looked out the open windows. People gathered at the open doors to enjoy the view too and some hung out the doors which is a little risky in normal circumstances. It's very risky as tunnels suddenly appeared and there were quite a lot of short tunnels as the train hugged the side of the mountains.

There were more great open views on the left side but many of my pictures are from the right side with more of the mountainside. I was enjoying the open views instead of snapping pics so this is what you get. If you want more of a look then you'll just have to come to Sri Lanka and ride the train.

a tea salesman on the train

very close to the side of the mountain

yummy tea

we all opened the bottom of the windows to see well while seated

one of the many short tunnels

The end of the trip isn't so scenic so I didn't take pics as we got into the habited areas.

Our destination!

This was our New Year's Day.

most of the path wasn't this wide or level

what's that through the trees?

it's the Nine Arch Bridge

Lots of tourists were there to see it including us. I guess it's cool. Some people seemed to be more excited about the experience than I was.

it's a bridge

the bridge has arches and apparently there's nine of them

and tourists wandering around all over it which makes it less nice to see

people dangling their legs over the side of a tall bridge makes me nervous

move the camera to the right... that's better

oh look, a bridge!

different angle, different light

We had lunch in Ella and didn't hang around there very much. I can see coming back to this town to just hang out for weekend. We ate at the Chill Cafe which was self-described as inspired by Bali and it did give us some Ubud vibes from our recent trip to Bali. Everything is connected...

We then went on to Ravana Ella Waterfall (Bambaragala Falls). It was nice and there were monkeys running all over the place which is almost always fun.

there's various levels to the falls and even a side fall

monkey coming through!

a brave monkey chased away by a big stick

view from our hotel

Happy New Year 2026!