Taking the train is the most comfortable way to travel in my opinion. You can walk around whenever you want, go to the toilet, have some food, meet other travelers and locals, read, listen to music, relax and watch the landscape go by peacefully outside.
Train travel in Sri Lanka is both a beautiful and affordable way to see the country, and no trip is more scenic than the train from Ella to Kandy or the reverse train from Kandy to Ella!
We took the train on two transport stretches; Ella – Kandy and Polonnaruwa – Colombo. They were both pretty long journeys, around 7 hours each. The nicest was Ella to Kandy, due to the incredible scenery along the way!
Gorgeous scenery in the hills between Ella and Kandy
The Beautiful Train Trip From Ella To Kandy
Taking the train to or from Ella is the most famous stretch of train travel in Sri Lanka, and is nearly a tourist attraction in itself.
At each train station on the way, the train cabins were filled with sellers hustling treats like freshly cut pineapple and mango with cinnamon, corn with salty butter, freshly made rice and curry, chili fritters and crispy papadums. Yummy!!
The Sri Lankan Railway System
The Railway system in Sri Lanka was initially built by the British in 1864. The main reason was to transport tea and coffee from the Hill Country to Colombo for shipping internationally.
Today there are train tracks between some of the biggest cities in Sri Lanka.
Train information, timetables, and ticket prices can be found on the Sri Lanka Government Railway Information web side.
Most trains have different government-run classes/ carriages that you can choose from:
1st class sleeper carries sleeping-berths and is available on a few overnight trains.
1st class observation car is available on certain daytime trains, mostly on the Main Line, and is very popular among tourists. The observation car provides a wide view of the scenery and is usually at the rear of the train but occasionally behind the locomotive.
1st class air-conditioned seats are available on occasional inter-city express trains.
2nd class seats are provided on all inter-city trains and are available as either unreserved seats or reserved seats.
3rd class seats are available on most trains. This class can get very crowded and carries only basic facilities.
There are also two privately run services addition to the above government-run; Rajadhani Express and Expo Rail, which operate on the most famous stretches. Their carriages are part of the same train as the government-run ones. It is basically the same train just different carriages.
The privately run ExpoRail and Rajadhani carriages are temporarily suspended. Only the government carriages run at the moment.
We took the Expo Rail carriage between Ella and Kandy, because the government-run 1st class observation car was fully booked. We paid 1700 Srilankan rupees (78 Nkr, 13 us$) per person for luxury class, and bought the Expo Rail tickets at Ella train station a couple of days in advanced. This is very expensive by Sri Lankan standards, but it was the only tickets available.
You can also book a reservation on the Expo Rail carriage on their webpage.
On our trip from Polonnaruwa to Colombo, we traveled 2nd class in a government-run train car, and that was also perfectly fine, and incredibly cheap. There was no food or water included.
At least on this popular stretch, to and from Ella, it is recommended to buy the ticket in advance. Sri Lankan Railways don`t, unfortunately, offer online booking and you have to buy tickets at a train station in Sri Lanka. You can however buy tickets for Ella – Kandy in any train station in Sri Lanka, like for instance Colombo.
If you would like to pre-book tickets before you get to Sri Lanka, you have to go through an agency like this one.
There are three trains a day on the stretch Ella – Kandy. Check for departure times here.
The ExpoRail car was a VERY nice train cabin, with comfortable seats, air condition and flat screen TV showing movies. We also got dinner, water and tea/coffee included in the price. Great deal for only 13 us$! 🙂 We bought the ExpoRail train tickets at Ella train station a couple of days in advanced.
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