Ella has gone from a sleepy hill village to Sri Lanka's backpacker capital in a generation, and it shows: the main street is now lined with cafes, bars, guesthouses and yoga studios, and on a busy evening it can feel more like Bali than the hill country. But step a few minutes outside the town, and the landscape is still glorious: steep hills covered in tea, waterfalls tumbling down rocky cliffs, and the famous Ella Gap, a deep notch in the mountains through which you can see all the way to the southern plains.
The town's most photographed sight is the Nine Arch Bridge, a stone railway viaduct that spans a deep valley just outside Ella, built during the British colonial era and surrounded by jungle and tea. When a train crosses, the scene is straight out of a postcard, and crowds gather to watch. The train ride from Kandy to Ella, through tea estates, tunnels and over bridges, is one of the great railway journeys of the world, and the stretch around Ella is the most spectacular. Other walks lead to Little Adam's Peak, a short climb with views over the gap, and Ella Rock, a longer and more demanding hike.
The area is also linked to the Ramayana. The Ravana Falls, just below the town on the road to Wellawaya, are said to be where the demon king hid Sita in a cave behind the waterfall, and the Ravana Cave nearby is part of the same legend. The falls are impressive in the rainy season, less so in the dry months, and they are a popular stop with tour buses.
For riders, the road from Ella down through the gap to Wellawaya drops like a stone: steep, winding and dramatic, dropping hundreds of metres in a series of hairpins and long bends, with views over the plains. It is narrow and busy with buses and trucks, so take care. The road north to Badulla, about thirteen kilometres away, is also scenic. Ella has fuel, mechanics, food of every kind and accommodation for every budget, and plenty of riders end up staying a day longer than planned. The weather is mild, cooler than the lowlands but not as cold as Nuwara Eliya.