Ella to Kandy train

We got up early today to ride the famous blue train from Ella to Kandy, which is said to be one of the most scenic train rides in the world. We arrived at the train station around 30min before our train was due to arrive from Badulla. When we arrived at Ella train station, there was a long line of backpackers waiting to buy a last minute ticket for the unreserved carriages. We were extremely glad that we'd reserved seats in advance, as the line was massive, taking a long time to buy tickets, and as the unreserved carriages were packed to the brim of people, which would surely make for an uncomfortable 7hr journey.

Our train arrived right on time at 6.40am, and we hopped into our carriage and stared out the window, watching the scenery of waterfalls and tea plantations pass by. We sat with and got to know an English couple (Sam and Emma), and took turns hanging out the door and taking some fun photos at the front of the train with the conductor. The weather turned from cloudy to thick fog, to eventually rain, the closer we got to Nuwara Eliya. We spent the rest of the train ride watching the scenery change from tea plantations to rainforest and towns the closer we got to Kandy, listening to the locals play music and drums to Justin Bieber and sharing train snacks and travel stories with Sam and Emma.

We eventually arrived at Kandy around 1.10pm, only 20min later than the scheduled time, checked into our guesthouse and went for lunch at Secret Alley Cafe and a walk around Kandy Lake.Read more