The line
Built by the British to move tea, the main line climbs from Kandy at 500 metres to Pattipola at 1,898 metres, the highest broad-gauge station in Sri Lanka, before dropping to Ella. The full Kandy to Ella run takes six to seven hours.
Which section to ride
The scenery earns its reputation between Nanu Oya (the station for Nuwara Eliya) and Ella: about three hours through tea terraces, tunnels, the Demodara loop and Nine Arch Bridge. The Kandy to Nanu Oya section is pleasant but slower and less dramatic. Unless you love trains, take the shorter leg and use the saved hours in the hills.
Classes explained
Observation class (first class) has reserved, forward-facing seats and a rear window, but sealed windows on some carriages. Second class reserved gives you an assigned seat and windows that open. Second and third class unreserved are first-come, standing room by Hatton, and where the open-doorway photographs come from. Our preference is second class reserved: a guaranteed seat and a window that opens.
Booking
Reservations open 30 days before departure and observation class sells out within hours in high season. We book the moment the window opens. If reserved seats are gone, your guide boards at an earlier station to hold window seats in unreserved.
Practicalities
Your driver takes your luggage by road and meets you at the destination station, so you travel with a day bag only. Bring a fleece, it is genuinely cold at Pattipola. Trains run late; an hour of delay is normal and does not affect the rest of the day if it is planned in.
A note on doorway photographs
People have died falling from carriage doorways on this line. Sit in the doorway if you want, but hold the bar, keep your body inside the frame and be aware of tunnel mouths and passing trains.
