Ella The hill village at 1,041 m, the Gap, the bridge and the train

Where to stay in Ella

Things to do from Ella

• Adventure · a morning; the path leaves the Passara road about 20 minutes' walk from the villageThe walk up Little Adam's PeakLittle Adam's Peak is a pyramid-shaped hill of 1,141 m to the south-east of Ella, named after the far higher Adam's Peak. It is an easier walk than Ella Rock, crossing tea gardens before a short final climb to the ridge.
• Adventure · about 2 hours each wayThe hike to Ella RockElla Rock is the lookout on the ridge facing Little Adam's Peak across the valley, and a more demanding walk than its neighbour. The view from the top reaches across the surrounding hill country.
• Culture and heritage · about 45 minutes' walk each way from the villageA walk to the Nine Arches BridgeThe Nine Arches Bridge at Demodara, completed in 1919, carries the railway on a sharp curve between Ella and Demodara stations and is a landmark of colonial-era railway building. It was built by local labour under British supervision, and local folklore holds that it went up without steel, which had been diverted to the war.
• Nature and wildlife · a short outing; the falls are 6 km down the road through the Ella GapRavana Falls and the Ravana caveRavana Falls, about 25 m high and among the widest in the country, drops beside the road through the Ella Gap, 6 km from Ella; in the wet season it spreads over its rock face, and in the dry season the flow falls away sharply. It is part of the Ravana Ella Wildlife Sanctuary, and langur monkeys are often seen by the road.
• Water and coast · about 30 minutes' walk each way to the upper pools, plus time to swimSwimming in the pools above Diyaluma FallsDiyaluma, 220 m high and the second-highest waterfall in Sri Lanka, falls from the edge of the hills 6 km from Koslanda, on the road below Haputale. Above the main drop, its stream runs through a chain of rock pools where swimming is possible.
• Dining · about 2 hoursA Sri Lankan cooking lesson in EllaCooking lessons in the hills around Ella teach the island's everyday food: rice and curry, hoppers and string hoppers, and honey roti. Ingredients come fresh from the farm or garden where the lesson is held.
• Culture and heritage · about 1 hour; open on weekends and public and school holidays, 09:00 to 16:30Adisham, the planter's house near HaputaleAdisham is a country house of 1931 just outside Haputale, built in Tudor and Jacobean style for the planter Sir Thomas Villiers and modelled on Leeds Castle in Kent. Since the 1960s it has been a Benedictine monastery, and the house keeps its period fittings and furniture.
• Adventure · a single stage of about 9 to 21 km, 2 and a half to 6 hours on footA day's walk on the Pekoe TrailThe Pekoe Trail is a walking route of about 300 km through the tea country of the central highlands, laid out in 22 stages from Hanthana above Kandy to Pedro near Nuwara Eliya, by way of Hatton, Horton Plains, Haputale and Ella. It follows the old cart roads built in colonial times to carry tea, estate lanes and the footpaths the tea pluckers use.
• Adventure · a ride of 60 to 90 seconds, after a safety briefing; a short drive from Ella on the Passara roadA zip line over the tea at EllaLaunching from the slopes of Little Adam's Peak, a twin-wire zip line more than half a kilometre long runs out over tea estates towards the Ella Gap. Riders can go side by side, 2 at a time, at up to 80 km/h, with a wide view over the hills.
• Culture and heritage · a short visit on the Badulla road, about 10 minutes from Ella and 30 from HaputaleThe Dowa rock temple and its unfinished BuddhaDowa is a rock temple beside the Badulla road, about 7.5 km north of Bandarawela, believed to have been founded by King Valagamba in the 1st century BC while he sheltered in Uva from an invading army. It has been an archaeological protected monument since 1996.
• Nature and wildlife · a ridge path of 4.3 km from end to end; the start at Adisham is about 15 minutes from Haputale and 45 from EllaA walk through the Thangamale bird sanctuaryThangamale is a sanctuary of 131 ha of forest on the ridge west of Haputale, protected since 1938 at the request of the planter Sir Thomas Villiers, whose country house at Adisham stands beside it. Its name means golden hill in Tamil, and its birds include species found only in Sri Lanka, such as the yellow-eared bulbul and the Sri Lanka white-eye.
• Nature and wildlife · about 1 and a half to 3 hours, depending on the estate and the routeA guided walk on a working tea estate, arranged with your stayMany of the planters' bungalows and hotels in the tea country stand on working estates, and walks on the estate's own trails are among the things they arrange most often. A naturalist or a member of the estate staff leads the way through the tea to viewpoints and grassland above the valleys.