Ella Rock Hike: the complete step-by-step guide

Starting in Ella town, take the road that leads up to Ella railway station. As you enter the station, head left and go to the end of the platform…and continue walking on down the railway track! Don't worry, everyone does this despite the ‘No Entry!' signs and no one will stop you.

Then continue walking on down that railway line for a few kilometres. It reminded me a lot of those railway line scenes from one of my all-time favourite movies – the 1986 classic, “Stand By Me” Remember when the boys were checking the train line to see if it's warm (see photo of Stefan trying to recreate this moment), then quickly running along it to dodge the train…?!

Continue walking along the railway track lines heading south, aiming to reach the Kithaella train station (see the photo of me sitting on the platform there). Along the way, you'll pass over a bridge before you reach Kithaella train station.

Along the way, you may see fake signs up – ignore these. We got distracted by a few of them. Also, a few less-friendly local men may try to insist you're heading the wrong way as a tactic to then show you the correct way for a small fee. Just keep on heading down that railway line till you reach Kithaella station! A few other helpful notes as you head to Kithaella:

Just before you reach Kithaella train station there is a left turning with some small Buddhist statues where you can turn off to cross the river and go to Ella Rock. We accidentally took this route because we read online that it's meant to cut your journey by 15 minutes, however, we advise against this. It's super complicated and easy to get lost. We ended up returning to the railway lines to continue heading south to Kithaella.

Moral of the story… just ignore it and keep walking towards Kithaella station!

Another little distraction on route to Kithaella train station to bear in mind is another left turning with a bench…ignore this one too! Stefan got impatient and decided to try turning left here as well, only to get us lost (again!)…

Continue walking on down to Kithaella and you'll be just fine.

Once you pass Kithaella train station, continue walking for around 10 minutes and take what should be the 2nd left turning. It should have “Ella Rock” with an arrow marked out in blue on a rock.

Continue straight along this pass and cross the footbridge over the river. After crossing the bridge there is a forked path. Here take the immediate left turning and continue walking down it.

Take the path going upwards (not right and not left yet). The path takes you into a tea plantation and then into a field of long grass. Just continue straight on up. You may see faint blue arrows pointing the right way. Follow these if you see them! Over time we've been told a lot of these blue signs have faded away.

Whatever you do, continue straight along this path, past the long grass, past the large bushy plants, don't worry it's the correct way! The path will eventually open up and will start to head to the right.

The path starts to ascend quite quickly, giving you some gorgeous views of the valley. Eventually, you'll reach a forest of Eucalyptus trees. From here, just head up – any path going up will take you to Ella Rock.

We loved this part of the hike. It was like we were lost in another world in amongst the Eucalyptus tree forest – so peaceful and serene, not too dissimilar from the Arashiyama bamboo forest of Kyoto in Japan.

Once you've reached the top, congrats, this is your reward! The views are stunning, one of the best places to get fun jumping photos and impressive landscape pics etc to fill up your Instagram feed. It certainly ranks as one of our highlights from our travels in Sri Lanka.

One thing we'd say is aim to come early in the day to avoid the midday heat. And remember to bring plenty of sunblock cream and water to drink!

The way back down is a lot easier than coming up. We found all paths going back down led to the same point and had no problems reaching Ella Town.

You may get unlucky and get rained on during your trek. For this reason, we strongly advise bringing a waterproof jacket and sturdy trekking boots. We read about leeches on the paths. Whilst we didn't encounter any on our trek, we recommend wearing light loose trousers and applying a DEET based insect repellent, particularly to exposed skin areas.

Little Adam's Peak is the other main trek to do in Ella town. The views from here are pretty impressive! Little Adam's Peak is named after the sacred mountain of Adam's Peak (“Sri Pada” in Sri Lankan), where the footprint of the Lord Buddha is preserved.

The trek is much shorter and easier than Ella Rock – around 2 hours round trip for us (inclusive of plenty of stoppage time for photos). As it's closer to Ella, it's a lot busier here than the Ella Rock trek. The trek starts in the tea plantations before climbing. At the top you get an impressive 360-degree view overlooking the valley, all the way to the Udawalawe National Park.

The Nine Arches Bridge is another must-see in Ella. It's so unique and pretty that it's often nicknamed “The Bridge in the Sky”! It's a picturesque train track viaduct bridge in Ella built by the British back in 1921 when the railway industry in Sri Lanka had reached its zenith.

The Bridge was considered remarkable when it opened – an engineering triumph – because it was made entirely out of brick, rock and cement, ie with absolutely no metal used at all. Our guesthouse host in Ella told us that the reason for this is because all the steel in Sri Lanka got sent to Europe during WW1, so they had to make do without it. If you want to combine the trek to Ella Rock with a visit to the Nine Arches Bridge, we recommend this tour.

Which is our favourite food from all our travels? Well, Sri Lankan certainly ranks up there as one of the best. If you like Indian food, then you're going to love Sri Lankan. Everything these guys make is divine! The best way to learn more about it is to do a cooking class. Most of the guesthouses in Ella will offer the chance to cook with the host, which is what we did.

We also joined this full-day cooking school which we recommend, where we cooked 5 different dishes and were able to take the recipe away with us to try back home. You can read more about our Sri Lankan culinary discovering in our guide to our favourite foods and drinks in Sri Lanka.

The Diyaluma Falls is famous in Sri Lanka because it's the second tallest in the country – 220 metres (720ft) high. We recommend grabbing your swimming shorts (as well as the insect repellent and sunblock cream!) and head to the infinity pool here for some pretty decent views around the valley.

To reach it you need to first take a 10 minute tuk-tuk ride to the nearby Poonagala village and then hike down for around 30-minutes hike until you reach the falls. It's well sign-posted and locals are super friendly, happy to point you in the right direction. However, avoid if there are heavy rains as there are no safety barriers and the water level can get dangerously high.

Sri Lanka is often thought of synonymously with tea, and it's no wonder with such a rich history of growing tea to export to the rest of the world. While you're in Ella you should definitely visit a tea plantation like the Halpewatte Tea Factory – the largest in the whole Uva region. Here you can learn all about tea production and taste some delicious favourites for yourself.

Another option we recommend is this tour to the Dambatenne tea factory which was built in 1890 by Sir Thomas Lipton – surely everyone's heard of Lipton tea right?! Not only does this tour include a tour of the factory and tea tasting, but you'll also get to visit Lipton Seat, one of the most impressive viewpoints in the country.