Ella and Sigiriya

Blue trains through tea-green hills.

Overview

“Take the slow train. The hills do the rest.”

Sri Lanka packs rainforest, tea country, ancient rock fortresses and warm beaches into an island you can cross in a day.

The slow blue trains through the hill country are half the reason to come.

Eat with your hands, travel by tuk-tuk and train, and leave room for tea.

Toward the centre: calm, culture, budget, near

When to go

Choose your season.

January

Ella and Sigiriya in January: weather ideal, crowds busy, prices high.

Darker means more of it. Estimates from each place's best months.

1 hour
Nine Arches Bridge
A stone viaduct through the jungle, with a blue train crossing.
1.5 hours
Little Adam's Peak
An easy climb above Ella's valley, best at sunrise.
3 hours
Sigiriya Rock
A fifth-century fortress on a rock rising from the jungle.
1.5 hours
Dambulla Cave Temples
Painted Buddhist caves carved into a great rock.
1.5 hours
Temple of the Tooth, Kandy
A sacred temple beside a lake in the hill capital.

Itinerary

1
Day 1
Dambulla caves
Visit the painted Buddhist cave temples of Dambulla, carved into a great rock.
- Dambulla Cave Temples
2
Day 2
Sigiriya at sunrise
Climb Sigiriya at sunrise, a fifth-century rock fortress rising from the jungle.
- Sigiriya Rock
3
Day 3
Kandy
Visit the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy and walk the lake at dusk.
- Temple of the Tooth, Kandy
Day 4
The hill-country train
Ride the slow train from Kandy to Ella through tea country and mist.
5
Day 5
Nine Arches
See the Nine Arches Bridge as a blue train crosses, the famous view of Ella.
- Nine Arches Bridge