Ella’s best views come in a particular order, and the timing matters. Little Adam’s Peak comes first, before the morning haze, while the Ella Gap is still clear all the way to the south coast – a 1,141-metre summit reached by an easy path through tea. Next is the Nine Arch Bridge, completed in 1919 between Ella and Demodara: 91 metres of stone, brick and cement with no steel girders, built, so the story goes, after wartime shortages sent the steel elsewhere. Your guide checks the day’s train times so you are on the hillside when one crosses. A short drive further reveals the Demodara Loop, where the line spirals around a hill and tunnels beneath its own track. The afternoon belongs to Ravana Falls, tied in local tradition to the Ramayana, and to Ella’s cafes.
