Friday 6th February
It was time for our 2nd train ride in Sri Lanka. We heard from friends that this train ride might be the best in whole Sri Lanka so it was an absolute must for us.
Trainride from Nuwara Eliya to Ella
Somehow it was not that easy to get the tickets for the journey and we ended up with 3rd class ticket that we bought just 15 minutes before the ride. The opening hours of the ticket office are quite strange. As we have mentioned here in our sum up for traveling in Sri Lanka.
Our plan was to do the journey in one day and then come back to Nuwara Eliya. But we didn’t realize that one way takes about 4-5 hours cause the distance to Ella is only 50-60km. We hopped on the train early morning 9:15 am but there were just 3rd Class tickets available, so no seats for us and we could mingle with the locals.
The good thing is that these tickets are really super cheap, I think we paid 60 rupees, which is about 0,50 €. Another positive aspect is that you can do the daredevil thing and hang out of the open door while driving, or sit on the entry steps and look out. As we could be with the locals we met a funny guy who collects foreign currencies and had the chance to buy a few times “fastfood” from the local sellers who hop on and off to sell their goods.
Here some impressions from the train ride 🙂
We arrived in Ella at about 01:45 pm and checked out when the trains back are going, and then saw our miscalculation in timing for the journey. The only train back was at 7 pm, and the ride takes 4 hours. So we had already paid our stay in Nuwara Eliya, so we wanted to go back for the night. So we had the problem that we could only stay for a few hours and don’t do much in Ella. The other thing was that the ticket office for tourists at the train station opens at 6:45 pm, which is also strange, cause until then you have no idea if you will have a decent 2nd class ticket on the train, or have to stand the whole journey again. It’s fun to do it once, but twice a day is a bit exhausting 🙂
As it was my birthday we checked out the more fancy chill cafe and had a fancier meal for about 7€ . But we couldn’t go to the waterfalls or do any other tour cause there was not enough time. So our tipp for Ella is, stay overnight if you come from Nuwara Eliya, or take a really early train at 6 am or something. Otherwise you do it just for the scenic trainride (which is also ok, cause it’s really cool).
Another incident from this ride back is that the train suddenly stopped halfway from home and everybody had to get out at Banderawella, because a mud slide had blocked the rails. Fortunately we found a nice guy who brought as home with his taxi for a decent fee. But be prepared for some strange incidents sometime if you travel with public transportation in Sri Lanka 🙂 It’s fun but sometimes a bit of an adventure.
Photo Gallery Train Ride Nuwara Eliya to Ella
