Scenic Train – Nanu Oya to Ella
The upcountry line was built to carry coffee, and later tea, down to Colombo’s port, and the Nanu Oya to Ella section is its most audacious piece of engineering. The railway reached Bandarawela in 1894 and Badulla only in 1924, after decades of cutting tunnels and ledges through some of the steepest terrain on the island. Your guide brings that history to life as it unfolds outside the window – the summit at Pattipola, 1,898 metres up, the estate factories whose output the line was built to move, and the planters’ towns along the ridge. In late 2025 Cyclone Ditwah brought landslides down across the tracks, and the section reopened in June 2026 after months of repair – a reminder of how hard-won this route has always been.