After finishing our hike in Sri Pada, we headed further into the hill region of Sri Lanka to see the areas of Ella and Haputale.

Day 4: Ella

After completing our hike of Sri Pada in the early hours of the day, we hopped on the train in Hatton to travel to the town of Ella.

This section of the train ride took around 4 hours and was very scenic. The track wound up and around the hills, through tunnels, and near many beautifully green tea plantations along the way. The train was full of tourists leaning out of the doors and windows to get photos of the beautiful scenery.

We arrived in Ella in the late afternoon and spent the rest of the day getting settled in our accommodation and then going for dinner. We were staying in a homestay located at the top of one of the big hills in the area, so the view out our windows and from our patio was amazing.

Ella was the first area in Sri Lanka that felt more catered to tourists, specifically the backpacking crowd. It had a lot of hippie-style coffee shops, cafes, and restaurants. Businesses here definitely adjusted their prices for tourists.

We enjoyed a nice dinner and drink in Ella before having an early night. We were running off only a few hours of sleep from the giant hike we had completed very early that morning!

Day 5: Ella

Our second day in Ella began with us waking up feeling extremely sore from our Sri Pada hike the day before. We also accidentally slept in very late, almost missing breakfast at our homestay. Luckily, I woke up just in time to realize that we needed to get going!

There are a few hikes you can do in the Ella are that are very popular with tourists, the main two being Little Adam’s Peak and Ella Rock. While we had originally planned to go on one of these hikes while in Ella, we were so exhausted from Sri Pada (or “big Adam’s Peak) that we decided to have a more relaxed day.

After walking down from our homestay up in the hills to town, we first stopped for lunch at one of the Sri Lankan restaurants in town. George had the best Kottu of the trip at this restaurant, while I had a very delicious banana roti, which reminded me of the banana pancakes that you are served for breakfast in Thailand and Vietnam.

After lunch, we went to one of the more touristy hotels for leg and foot massages to help us feel more like ourselves and less sore from Sri Pada. The massages were the best we probably have had in both of our lives and a bargain at around $20 Canadian per person.

After our massages, we decided we were ready to do a little exercise to loosen our muscles, so we started a walk along the train tracks to a waterfall that was a couple of kilometres from our accommodation. As we walked, we were surrounded by beautiful greenery and an amazing view of the valley below us. Everything was going well until it began to rain. We had to slightly backtrack on our route and seek shelter under an abandoned schoolhouse roof, where we began talking to other travellers who were also stranded by the rain.

About half an hour later, the rain subsided and we continued our walk to the waterfall. We got to a point just past a railway bridge when we began to have trouble trying to find the route that actually got us to where we could view the waterfall. As we stopped again to check our maps and instructions, it started raining again and we decided to start walking back instead.

As we walked as quickly as we could through the heavy rain on the train tracks back to our homestay, we happened upon a little garden café that was located beside the train tracks. We initially ducked in for shelter (and ordered some tea to be polite) but ended up staying for a few hours. I had masala chai and it was the most delicious drink I have ever tasted.

We loved being in this beautiful restaurant. The masala chai that I had was delicious, and for dinner, we decided to order a vegetable curry as well as a dish called lump rice. The lump rice was particularly special as it involved a series of vegetable curries with rice wrapped and cooked in a banana leaf, which we saw someone pick themselves off of the banana tree! The woman who ran the restaurant was the loveliest person, kindly explaining each dish to us before we enjoyed it. It was such a special dinner in our very own jungle oasis for the evening.

Day 6: Ella to Haputale

The next day, we caught a late morning train in Ella to slightly backtrack to the town of Haputale, which is located at a slightly higher elevation in the hills and is in the heart of tea country.

George found us an amazing homestay in Haputale, run by two brothers, and it had an amazing view of the surrounding valley from our room. We spent the majority of our first day exploring the town and getting organized for our planned activities the next day. After having lunch at a beautiful café on the hillside, we walked around town and took a look at the local shops.

One unique aspect of Haputale that we enjoyed was that it felt more authentic than Ella, without any touristy businesses. The locals were lovely and enjoyed chatting with us as we wandered around the streets and shops. One funny instance that happened was that while George was (quite desperately) drinking ice-cold water we had just bought, some school kids came by and started laughing at him as they couldn’t understand why someone would be drinking water in relatively “cooler” temperatures.

We heard and saw a lot of commotion around the train station and were excited to see the arrival of an antique steam train to commemorate 100 years of the Main Line train route from Colombo to Badulla. There were tons of locals around who were excited to see the train come through town, and it hadn’t visited for a number of years. We spent some time watching the train get replenished and it was fun to watch it leave the station with all the noises and steam that it produced.

Our final activity of the day was visiting the Haputale Monastery, which was a short walk from our accommodation. One of the highlights of the monastery was seeing the giant currency collection, which included coins and bills from all over the world.

Day 7: Haputale

This was a huge day of our trip and started with an early wake-up as we wanted to watch the sunrise from the Lipton’s Seat viewpoint, located about 45 minutes away from where we were staying. We woke up around 4 am and hopped into a tuk-tuk with a friend we had met at our homestay. Our tuk-tuk travelled on a quite rough and bumpy road, and after about 25 minutes of relatively flat road driving, began winding up the hills surrounded by tea plantations to the viewpoint.

The Lipton’s Seat viewpoint was said to be the favourite place of Thomas Lipton (of the Lipton tea company) and is now a very well-known spot in the region. It had an amazing view, especially as the sun was coming up and the sky was still clear from low-lying clouds.

After getting dropped off by our tuk-tuk, we spent some time at the viewpoint taking in the sunrise and the amazing scenery below. Then, we started to make our way down the hills, through and around the tea fields. It was a beautiful walk.

As we neared the town at the bottom of this series of hills, we started to cross paths with children who were on their way to school and some that were (sadly) on their way to work. They were all very friendly, and very excited to say hi to us.

Our end destination of our walk was the Dambatenne Tea Factory, where we attended a tour. We put on protective equipment, namely a face mask and coverings for our feet, and then our guide took us in and around the factory to see the various stages of the tea production process, from freshly picked tea leaves to loose leaf black tea ready to be packaged or put into bags.

Interestingly, we learned that tea only got to a mid-production stage at the factory. At that point, it is shipped off in big batches to Colombo, where it is auctioned off to various tea companies for “post-production” into different brands, flavours and commercial packaging. It was a very unique experience to be in the factory and see each stage of the tea-making process for ourselves.

We had a relaxing late morning and afternoon after travelling back to our homestay and having a huge breakfast. We kept things relaxed because we had some big plans beginning in the early evening: a Sri Lankan cooking class arranged by our homestay.

One of the reasons why we booked our specific homestay was because we had read about the amazing cooking class that you could book and take at the property. The homestay has a rotation of local women who live nearby and come to share their cooking skills with guests who sign up for the class that they organize. The class took place in a beautiful kitchen area located in a separate building to the property.

We were greeted first by an amazing spread of vegetables and spices and were given much choice in what vegetables we wanted to work with for our cooking. As we were taking the cooking class with our friend from the homestay, we each decided to choose one key ingredient, and then agreed as a group about the other curries. We decided to make an eggplant dish, curried okra, a garlic curry, green banana curry, and cabbage curry. We also made a salsa-style dish with tomato, onion, and lime, among other ingredients.

The best part of the class was, of course, eating the food we had prepared. We sat down for an amazing meal and enjoyed it with the cook as well as one of the brothers who ran the homestay. It was incredible to share this meal with them after spending quite a few hours learning and cooking it all together.

Our journey through Sri Lanka’s tea country in Ella and Haputale was an unforgettable few days filled with scenic train rides, enriching cultural experiences, and delightful culinary discoveries. Each day brought new wonders and deeper appreciation for this beautiful region.

Next, we headed to Udawalawe, which is one of the regions in Sri Lanka where wild elephants can be found. I am excited to share about our safari and further adventures in my next post. As always, thank you for reading!