During my trip to Sri Lanka I wholeheartedly believed that the south coast was going to be my favorite area of the whole trip because I’m a huge beach person. In reality it was the town of Ella and its surrounding areas that made my heart swoon. As a nature lover and someone who hikes often, Ella and the surrounding Hill Country of Sri Lanka was a dream come true. There’s a plethora of things to do in the outdoors from gorgeous peaks to hike, to towering waterfalls, to colonial-era railways, and endless views of lush green tea plantations. The climate is also a bit cooler in this area which made exploring the outdoors all the more enjoyable. Ella town in particular had such a relaxing and chill atmosphere and all the locals we encountered were super friendly. There are a lot of restaurants and cafes to choose from with all kinds of different foods and plenty of affordable accommodations in town. Ella is actually pretty touristy now but because we went during low season and also after the devastating terrorist attacks there really wasn’t very many people around. If you’re looking for smaller crowds I would definitely recommend going during the low season. It didn’t rain at all while we were there and the sun was always shining. That’s not to say it won’t rain, especially since it is the mountainous hill country but we definitely lucked out and really enjoyed the lack of crowds.
We rented a car while in Sri Lanka to get around since the island is actually pretty big and takes a few hours to get from town to town. You can learn more about car rentals in Sri Lanka in my first post in this Sri Lanka series. When we arrived in Ella and got checked into our accommodation we decided to park our car and rent a scooter after witnessing the winding roads in the Hill Country and also some of the rocky narrow dirt paths you had to take to some of the attractions and even just to our lodging. The staff arranged a scooter rental for us and it was all easy and straightforward. I definitely feel like renting a scooter was the right way to go in this area so keep this in mind when thinking about transportation.
Speaking of accommodations, I really want to highlight the place we made our home base while in Ella. We stayed at Ella Mount Relax Cottage and it was the perfect little slice of paradise. We had the most amazing views of the lush green Ella countryside from our private little cottage. We were the only ones staying there the whole time except for one night and they gave us the best spot there, completely private down some stairs tucked in a corner. The cottage itself had a pretty simple interior but it was clean and comfortable and I loved the glass walls so you can see the view from your bed too. There was also a little deck to enjoy your free breakfast on or just sip on some drinks while watching sunset and sunrise. The cottages have Wi-Fi and our particular cottage also had A/C. I don’t think all the cottages have A/C at the moment and some have fans instead but from the reviews I read the fans worked well and since it’s cooler in Ella it was all the guests really needed.
I like to be honest with my reviews of accommodations so a few cons I can think of is that the bed didn’t come with a blanket, just a sheet and an additional thin sheet and very small throw blanket in the cabinet. As mentioned before it is actually pretty cool in Ella and with the A/C on a normal sized blanket to share would have been nice. They also didn’t provide new towels and toilet paper rolls which would have been nice, especially since they only left us with 1 thin toilet paper roll during our stay and the 2 towels provided were pretty tiny! I’m not exaggerating either they barely dried me or wrapped around my body, let alone my tall husband. Staff also didn’t clean the room every day which is totally fine, we didn’t expect that, but having basic toiletries being replenished and garbage bins emptied would have been a plus. To be fair, the staff told us to ask if we needed anything but in my opinion when you are renting a place and staff is onsite almost all day that new towels and toilet paper rolls at the very least should be left in the room each day or every other day, as well as emptying the very small trash can provided. I just kept thinking if I run out of toilet paper in the middle of the night when staff is no longer onsite this is going to suck, ha! Other than those very small cons we had a really great time here. The cottages are also pretty affordable for its great location. We spent 3 nights there in June of 2019 and spent $210 USD (we also reserved well before the terrorist attacks so chances are prices may have gone down as Sri Lanka is trying to bump up tourism again). Below are some links for booking as well as some photos:
Ella Mount Relax Cottage Website
We spent 3 days in Ella and managed to fit in a decent amount of fun activities in town and the surrounding hill country. This is just a small fraction of the things you can do in this gorgeous area but here is our itinerary for our 3 days in Ella below. I would highly recommend each attraction we visited!
Day 1: Arrive in Ella/Nine Arch Bridge
We arrived in Ella after driving 4 hours from Sigiriya. We ended up arriving in the late afternoon so the first thing we did was get settled into our lodging, rented our scooter and drove around to get our bearings of the town and area, and then grabbed a very late lunch at Cafe Chill in town which the staff highly recommended. Cafe Chill was an awesome place and ended up being our go-to while in town. We ate there at least once every day! The food and drinks were delicious (order the passion mint iced tea!!), the staff was super friendly and great at customer service, and the vibe of the cafe was…well…CHILL! Definitely a place you should try at least once! From there we decided to check out the Nine Arch Bridge which is one of the most popular attractions in this area and I’m sure you’ve most likely seen images of this architectural wonder if you’ve been thinking about visiting Ella. The bridge is actually located in Demodara between the Ella and Demodara railway stations but easily accessible from Ella.
To be honest we got a little lost trying to find the bridge. We pulled up a couple different blogs and followed Google Maps as well as some of the blogs directions for 2 different paths. One of the paths was blocked off by a small tree that looked like it was intentionally put there so we turned around instead of trying to move it. Judging by the smirks on two guys we passed I definitely think it was intentional. The other path wanted payment but we knew based on these blogs that you can access without paying. Joe ended up pulling up Google Maps and finding another route on the map. I honestly have no idea which way we ended up going so I’m really sorry I can’t be more helpful but we ended up driving down a pretty rocky dirt road and a nice man stopped us before we hit a pretty gnarly break in the road. He showed us where we could park by the trees and then we followed him down to this little clearing in the trees where you could see the tracks. I believe we were on the northern side of the tracks (the side not closest to the tunnel). We followed some friendly locals along the track and got to the bridge pretty quickly. It definitely felt more like a local route as we did not see any other foreigners on the way there or on the way back. I read from other blogs that you can either walk the tracks from the Ella railway station (the longest route, approximately 30-45 minutes walk), you can ask a tuk tuk to take you to a marked sign for the bridge (they should know where) and can walk to the tunnel from there (about 10-15 minutes walk), you can take a tuk tuk or walk to 98 Acres Resort where you will see a path with a small colored temple (and likely a sign of the bridge) that you can follow to the bridge, and I also read there are a few jungle paths as well. We saw tourists coming from all different directions so I have no doubt you’ll be able to find it with a little Google Maps reading magic or asking a local for help.
Day 2: Diyaluma Falls day trip
On our second day we decided to spend the day at Diyaluma Falls which is the 2nd tallest waterfall in Sri Lanka. The falls are a little over an hour away from Ella. The drive was super fun on the scooter and we were spoiled with stunning hill country views throughout. You can rent a tuk tuk from Ella to the falls but I’d highly recommend renting a scooter if you can (it’s also cheaper too). We originally thought we would try to hike up to the top by ourselves without a guide and found a couple good blogs online with some directions and different paths, however we decided last minute to get a guide and I’m so glad we did as the trail was a bit overgrown when we went and I think we would have gotten lost or it would have taken much longer than it should have. Our guide actually came up to us as we were looking at the waterfall from down below and asked if we wanted to go up. He showed us pictures he took of other tourists while up there and seemed really nice in general. We decided at that moment to hire the guide so that we could get up there quickly without getting lost. We paid 1,500 Sri Lankan Rupees and that included a tuk tuk ride up a very rough road to a point where you hike the rest of the way up with him. Reading some of the recent TripAdvisor reports I saw some people were charged 2,000 or more Sri Lankan Rupees so I think we got a decent deal and I definitely felt safe with a local especially since we did end up walking past some private homes and even some cows!
The guide never once rushed us when we got to the waterfalls and he took some pretty good photos of us which was nice since we rarely get couple photos together! Once you reach the top you can check out the lower falls first which consists of 3 tiered small pools or you can go to the upper falls first which has the iconic views that Diyaluma Falls is known for. We were so hot from the hike we decided to check out the lower falls first which the guide recommended was better for swimming. We had the falls to ourselves for awhile until some other tourists who came up without a guide showed up. They seemed really tired though like they had been walking for awhile (maybe got lost?) so again I was grateful for a guide. After our little dip and watching the other tourists and our guide jump into the lower pools from the top we went over to the upper falls which was absolutely incredible. The views and the cool little pools there made the whole hike worth it. Looking down below from the edge is definitely a daunting experience. After we hiked back down we stopped inside the little cafe/store that our guides family owned and enjoyed some coconut water. We met his wife and their baby and it was just nice to see firsthand where your money goes. Families just trying to make a living.
If you do want to try to self-guide to the waterfalls, this is a great blog post I found on Walk My World:
Walk My World Diyaluma Falls Self-Guide Directions
These are the directions we would have used if we decided to go without a guide. As I mentioned before normally we would have done it on our own being adventurous avid hikers at home but we just went with our gut on this one and I’m glad we did. Do what makes you feel most comfortable!
Day 3: Little Adam’s Peak and Ravana Falls
On our last full day in Ella we decided to hike Little Adam’s Peak which is a short and easy hike in town with great pay-off. I loved this hike because you get to see the tea plantations and the views from the top were stunning, especially for such a short hike. I feel this hike was pretty doable for most fitness levels and family friendly as well. Based on my research there are two paths you can take for the hike. You can drive to the Ella Garden Flower Resort and park across the street. From there you’ll see where the trail meets the main road. This is the way we started on the trail and it was super easy to find and straight forward. You can also drive to the 98 Acres Resort and there is a trail marked by a White Buddha. After the hike we decided to drive around for awhile and then stopped by Ravana Falls on the way back to our lodging which is another popular attraction near Ella. We decided to just check out the waterfall from the viewing platform but we did see people going closer to the falls to swim. For our last dinner in town we went to Cafe UFO Ella which is very close to Cafe Chill. We sat upstairs which had a very cool and relaxing atmosphere with bean bags to sit on. We sat near the edge so we could look down at the street and people watch. The food was pretty good and they also had a pretty great happy hour deal of buy 2 drinks get 1 free (they make an awesome mojito FYI!).
Some other places I’d recommend and that I definitely would have visited if we had the time would be hiking Ella Rock, a day trip to Nuwara Eliya, visiting Lipton’s Seat in Haputale, and a day trip to Horton’s Plains. I also want to mention that there are a few ATM’s in town as well as a pharmacy and a supermarket called Ella Super. There are a few little shop vendors as well but the supermarket has most of what you will need and it’s where we stocked up on all our snacks and drinks.
Have you been to Ella or is it on your bucket list? Let me know in the comments below!
Until next time,
Kelsie