Train ride through Sri Lanka’s tea country

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wilder-beast migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
6
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
8
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling food market
6
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
7
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
8
Overall Score
The highest score of nature or culture, + fun factor, + avoid the crowds, + the highest score of world famous or unique. Then turned into a score out of 100. More details at the bottom of the page
72 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
continent
Asia
country
Sri Lanka
Length of time
1-2 days
Rough cost
Obviously people have different tastes, so this will depend on those tastes, but this is a rough idea of price of the whole experience based on 2 people able to split the accommodation costs and excluding travel there and back
$ 10
Time of year visited
December
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site
104th/372 This travel experience's ranking compared to all the other experiences on this site
Top 30% SUMMARY RATING: Superb

Summary

This is the highlight of Sri Lanka.  Sitting with the window open as you watch the old train slowly snake its way through hours and hours of beautiful tea plantations that sit within the most dramatic part of Sri Lanka’s Hill Country.   You’ll spend the first couple of hours gawping and what feels like endlessly taking photos, and then, after a while, just relaxing and soaking up the peaceful nature of the place, with its quiet towns and tea plantation workers slowly getting on with their day

 

A few tips to help you get the most out of the trip:

1.  What is the route?  There is only one train line that goes from Kandy to Badulla, via roughly 20 small/medium stations, but the main ones being Hatton (for Adam’s Peak), Nanuoya (for Nuwara Eliya aka “Little England), Haputale and Ella.  The whole route end to end takes 7.5 hours, with just about all of it beautiful except for the section within 1 hour of Kandy, so it doesn’t really matter which section you do – I went from Ella to Nuwara Eliya and then Nuwara Eliya to Kandy and both routes were fab.  For a really good breakdown of what to expect, try seat61’s Sri Lanka section (link – https://www.seat61.com/SriLanka.htm#colombo-to-kandy-hatton-nanuoya-badulla-by-train)

 

2. Make sure you stay in one of the hill towns along the route – its one thing taking the train through the plantations, its another being able to visit and learn about how they make the tea, which you can do in the various “factories” next to the towns.  Plus, the surrounding country side of the hillstowns is often beautiful (such as Ella – see a detailed review here – The Hill Country Village of Ella) or just really interesting (such as the “Little England” experience of Nuwara Eliya – see the detailed review here – Staying in Nuwara Eliya’s “Little England”)

 

3. Book ahead a reserved seat – you DO NOT want to be standing.  I’ve read in a few guide books that it doesn’t really matter if you stand – I think that’s ok for a hour or so, but for longer it really isn’t fun. It’s Sri Lanka – 2nd and 3rd class unreserved will have people crammed in to the point that you can’t sit on the floor and need to stand, and you’ll generally have less personal space than you’ll be used to, with locals having significantly better shoving skills than you to get any available seats.  Tickets become available 30 days in advance and are super cheap (US$7 for first class), so jump on the train website (really not as bad as people whinge about) or buy at the stations (only the large stations such as Colombo, Kandy and Nanuoya sell reserved seating tickets.  You’ll need your passport)

 

4. Open the window / stand next to an open door for a bit – it just adds so much more to the journey.  If next to a window and can open it great.  If not, the sections between the trains tend to have the door open so you can look from there.  The locals tend to be super accommodating, so if one is already stood at the door, they’ll tend to either welcoming you standing their with them, or move out the way for your 10mins or so

highlights

#1 Hanging out the window and watching the train snake its way through the beautiful tea plantations that sit within the most dramatic part of Sri Lanka's Hill Country

#2 Seeing the endless tea plantations that look straight out of a fairytale

#3 Staying overnight in the gorgeous hill village of Ella and having the day to explore the walking routes nearby, in particular Little Adam's Peak with its views through Ella Gap

#4 Staying overnight in Nuwara Eliya's "Little England" - one of the old colonial centres for the tea industry and, with the combo of old quaint buildings, race course, golf courses and, well bloody drizzly bleak weather, is affectionally known as “Little England”. As an Englishman I can confirm I felt right at home!

#5 Seeing the distant hills and mountains as you work our way through, including the 3 tallest mountains in Sri Lanka

Hanging out the door

The Route

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Score Detail

Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"?  That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others.  That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score

This overall experience score is calculated by:  take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10).  Then convert into a score out of 100

Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique".  Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides.  So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique".  But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience).  So, both of these scores are standalone