Photo: Hendrik Cornelissen · Unsplash Sri Lanka's hill country by train, around the Kandy gap
Which part of the famous line is actually running after Cyclone Ditwah, how to get a seat without paying triple, and a six-day plan from Kandy to Ella that doesn't depend on the closed stretch.
The Kandy to Ella train is still the best thing you can do in Sri Lanka for the price of a sandwich, but in late 2026 you can’t do all of it. The Kandy to Nanu Oya stretch has been closed since Cyclone Ditwah tore up the line in November 2025, and the part that is running, Nanu Oya to Ella, happens to be the part worth the trip. Go to Kandy by road, join the train in the hills, and you lose almost nothing.
What’s running, and what isn’t
Cyclone Ditwah hit the island in late November 2025 and the hill line took the worst of it, with more than 150 landslides and washouts between Rambukkana and Badulla. Sri Lanka Railways reopened Nanu Oya to Ella and Badulla in June 2026 on a special timetable, and trains from Colombo reached Peradeniya and Gampola again on 2 Oct 2026. The piece in the middle, Kandy to Nanu Oya, is the last to come back. Railways has talked about late 2026, and the trade talks about early 2027.
Timetables on this line change at short notice while the repairs finish, and a derailment on 5 Oct 2026 closed the Colombo side again for a day. Before you book anything else around the train, look at railway.gov.lk and the reservation site, and ask your Ella guesthouse what left the station yesterday. They know before the website does.
If the Kandy stretch reopens before your trip, this plan still works. You’d just swap the car leg from Kandy for the morning train and keep everything else.
Ride Nanu Oya to Ella, not the whole line
People book the full seven hours from Kandy because that’s what the photos are of, then find the first three hours are forest and the last three are the ones they remember. Nanu Oya, the station for Nuwara Eliya, sits at the top of the climb. From there the line runs along the ridge through Haputale, drops past Idalgashinna’s tunnels and curves over the Nine Arches into Ella. That stretch is the famous one, and it takes under three hours.
Sit on the right-hand side heading to Ella for most of the long views, and don’t fight for the door. The open doorway shot is real, and so is the overhang that takes a shoulder off at the tunnels.
Second class reserved is the pick. First class is air-conditioned and sealed, which is the one thing you don’t want here. Third class is the social carriage and fine for an hour, less so for three with a bag.
Booking a seat without paying triple
Reserved seats open exactly 30 days before travel on seatreservation.railway.gov.lk, five seats per booking, and sales close two hours before departure. In the busy months, December to March and July to August, the good trains sell out the morning they open. Set an alarm for Sri Lanka time and book the day the window opens.
Station prices are low. A reserved second class seat on the hill section is a few hundred to a little over a thousand rupees, and the air-conditioned first class carriage is roughly LKR 2,500 to 3,000 depending on the train. Resellers like 12Go list the same seats at two or three times that, in dollars. They’re convenient if the official site won’t take your card, and that’s the whole trade.
If you tell me your dates, I’ll build the hill days so you’re in Nuwara Eliya the night before the morning train, with the Nanu Oya station run worked into the day. If the reserved seats are gone by the time you look, I’ll shape the day around an unreserved second class carriage instead, which means arriving at the platform early and travelling light.
Unreserved tickets can’t sell out. If you miss the window, turn up at Nanu Oya 45 minutes before the train, buy a second class ticket at the counter from about LKR 160, and get on first. Standing for the first stretch is normal and seats open up at Haputale.
Kandy first, by road
Kandy is still worth two nights. The Temple of the Tooth opens from 05:30 to 20:00, with pujas around 05:30, 09:30 and 18:30 when the relic chamber opens and the drummers play. The evening one is the atmospheric one. Foreigners pay about LKR 2,000 at the gate, shoulders and knees covered, shoes off. Go once at dusk and skip the morning.
Then hire a car to Nuwara Eliya. It’s about three hours up through Ramboda, and the road passes the waterfall and three or four tea estates with factory tours. Stop at one. The Blue Field or Damro estates near Ramboda take walk-ins, and you’ll understand the view from the train better once you’ve seen the withering troughs.
Nuwara Eliya itself is a cool, slightly odd hill town with a racecourse, a golf course and colonial hotels that serve high tea to coachloads. One night is right. Pack a jumper. It gets down to single digits in the evening between December and February, and nobody believes that until they’re there.
Haputale, the stop most people skip
Most travellers ride straight through Haputale on the way to Ella, which is why Lipton’s Seat is still worth it. It’s the viewpoint where Thomas Lipton used to look over his estates, and on a clear morning you see five provinces and, people say, the sea.
Get off the train at Haputale, stay one night, and arrange a tuk-tuk for 05:30. The run up through the Dambatenne tea factory to the top costs LKR 1,500 to 2,500 return, entry is about LKR 500 cash, and by 09:00 the cloud has usually closed the view. Walk back down through the plantation if your knees are up to it. It’s 7 km of tea and women plucking with baskets, and a tuk-tuk will take you the rest of the way if not.
The afternoon train from Haputale to Ella is about an hour and a quarter, and it includes the Nine Arches crossing. Take the one that gets you in before dark.
The best viewpoint on the line before the cloud, a slow walk down through the estate, and the famous bridge from a window seat.
Ella without the queue
Ella is a one-street town with a lot of visitors, and it’s lovely if you do the outdoor things early and let the street be the evening. Little Adam’s Peak is a 45-minute walk up from the Ella to Passara road, best at sunrise before the heat and the tour groups. Ella Rock is the harder one, three to four hours return along the railway line and up through the trees, and you want a guesthouse to draw you the turn-off because the path is unsigned on purpose.
The Nine Arches Bridge is a 30-minute walk or a short tuk-tuk from town. Trains cross it roughly six times a day, around 06:30, 09:30, 11:30, 15:30, 16:30 and 17:30, and the schedule shifts while the line repairs finish, so check with your guesthouse the night before. The 09:30 is the crowded one. The 06:30 has the light and nobody there.
The tourist train called the Ella Odyssey runs Colombo to Badulla on Thursdays and Saturdays and back on Fridays and Sundays, with viewing carriages and long photo stops. It’s a day on a train rather than a way to get somewhere, and it books out well ahead. If the regular reserved seats are gone, it’s the backup that still gets you over the bridge in a seat.
From Ella, the easy next moves are a car down to the south coast in about three hours, or the train on to Badulla and a car from there to Arugam Bay or the east.
Before you fly
Australians and nationals of 39 other countries get the 30-day tourist ETA free since 25 May 2026. You still have to apply before you fly, at eta.gov.lk, and the official application shows a zero total. The sites that rank above it on Google charge a service fee for the same form.
Bring more cash than feels sensible. Cards work in Kandy hotels and the bigger Ella restaurants, but the train counter, the tuk-tuk, the tea factory gate and the rice-and-curry place take rupees only. ATMs in Kandy and Nuwara Eliya are reliable. Ella has a couple and they run dry on weekends.
The mistakes people make
The first is booking the seats before checking the line. Right now a Kandy to Ella ticket bought from a reseller may be for a train that stops short, and the refund comes from the reseller, not the railway. Book from Nanu Oya and you’re on the part that’s running.
The second is giving Ella four nights and Haputale none. Ella’s walks are two mornings of work, and the viewpoint everyone wants a photo from is in Haputale.
The third is first class. It’s the sealed carriage. On this line, the open window is the ticket.
Trips others shared
Questions people ask
Is the Kandy to Ella train running in 2026?
Partly. Nanu Oya to Ella and Badulla reopened in June 2026, and Colombo to Peradeniya and Gampola came back on 2 Oct 2026. The stretch between Kandy and Nanu Oya is still closed after Cyclone Ditwah, with reopening expected around the turn of the year. Check railway.gov.lk the week before you travel.
How far ahead do I need to book the train?
Reserved seats open 30 days before travel on the official site and sell out quickly in peak months, so book the day they open. Unreserved second class tickets are sold at the station on the day and can’t run out.
Which side of the train has the best views?
The right-hand side heading towards Ella for most of the ridge and valley views. Both sides get the Nine Arches, since the line curves over it.
Is Lipton's Seat worth the early start?
Yes, and only with the early start. The view is usually clear from first light until about 09:00, then the cloud comes up the valley and stays.
Six days from Kandy to Ella, with the train on the part that's open.
Lez takes this guide, your dates and how you like to travel, and puts the early starts where the views are.
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