Tag Archives: Nuwara Eliya

Train to Ella

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We got back into Nuwara Eliya around midday – and with our train scheduled to leave around 15:00, we had enough time for an early lunch, before making it to the train station.

The train did pull in a slight bit late. We had reserved seats in third class – and those were now our home for the next good three hours and until arrival in Ella. While third class may sound bad, it was actually quiet acceptable – certainly not worse than German second class on a regional train – plus the landscape rolling by catered for a welcome diversion. For the first part of the journey we made it through tea country, overlooking the tea gardens of the Ella region. The scenery changed gradually over time – away from the rolling hills of tea to a more mountainous setup with bigger differences in elevation, cliffs down and great valley views.

We got into Ella a bit later than expected, hence made it straight to the hotel. Though with Ella being more of a base for activities in the area around (i.e. mainly consisting of guesthouses, restaurants, bars and coffee shops – and no real attractions) we did not really miss out much.

Teatime in “little England” …

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We made it back to the hotel in the late morning, where (a rather late) breakfast was waiting for us. The tour continued after a quick chance to freshen up. We continued deeper into the main tea production area, heading for Nuwara Eliya (nick-named Little England). En-route we stopped at a tea factory for a quick tour through the production process; as today was a Sunday, there was not much happening here – so the focus of the tour was more on the tasting room and the (slightly over-prized) factory shop (assuming one made it through the hordes of Chinese tourists on a tea-buying mission).

After having gotten a glimpse of the production process, we made it to the Grand Hotel in Little England for the classic High Tea experience (and I still cannot believe, that my British / OZ travel companions really needed a German to actually bring that option up).

After tea there was – of course – an opportunity to check out town and get an understanding, where its nick name is coming from. For me – having been up since 1am – it was a short evening (after a long day) and I ended in bed fairly early.