OK, so rather than one fail-safe tip here, I’m going to share my experience and leave you with some options. It’ll be a typical toss-up 🪙 between a genuine authentic experience and a guaranteed seat for 7 hours 🚞

The Experience

It was honestly one of the best trips I’ve ever done, it’s so incredibly beautiful!

I travelled from Kandy to Ella.

The stations are very old school, they still use a chalkboard and manual clocks to display train times. Trains NEVER run on time – just a fact so be prepared for delays. The journey takes between 6 and 7 hours, a full day. I caught the train around 8am.

The train comes into a single platform with doors either side. TIP: from Kandy, you want to be on the right side of the train for the best views so stand on that side (your right being if you’re looking out towards the train with the station hall behind you).

The platform, whilst some signposting exists it doesn’t seem to be correctly sectioned, so it is a freefall on where the carriages will be. I was stood near the 4th/5th carriage & second class was further up the platform but when I realised this there was no chance I was making it into that section I ran to the nearest door with space…I landed in 3rd class, in the food cart section, and what could have been the worst experience, was actually the best. Genuinely.

I had read 3rd class had slatted-type benches, it wasn’t true on this train, and they had fans too – but we didn’t get a seat until about 3-4 hours in, so we were stood up for a lot of the time in the doorway of the carriage…again not as bad as it sounds. They keep the doors open(!!), which would obviously never be allowed in the UK, but this is all part of the experience and, of course, are the images you see across Insta/TikTok. It’s such a breathtaking ride through the hill/tea country.

The food cart had lots of activity; street food vendors get on and off, taking their wares throughout the train, & all the locals spend time chatting away to each other. At one point, someone moved down from 2nd and said it was much better where we were as they were literally on top of one another in those carriages…so I think it all worked out for us in the end, and we eventually did get a seat, so it was all good.

Arriving in to Ella - make sure you have your ticket out to give to the guards. There are plenty of tuktuks or most hotels are a short walk away (just check for whether yours is up a hill or not as it could be difficult with bags etc).

Top Tips

• Biggest Call choose between a Guaranteed Seat vs Authentic Experience

  • Online: it’s possible to get tickets online but only with a limited number so if your plan to explore Sri Lanka is pretty open then you may miss availability via this route

  • Day before: ticket counter opens at 8am, I arrived at 8:30 and all tickets had gone, so you need to get there early

  • On the day: I ended up with this route, arriving at 7:45 ish to an already formed queue, and got a second-class unreserved ticket (letting the freefall commence)

  • Via your hotel/local contacts: apparently some hotels have contacts and can get you your tickets too, but mine couldn’t so I can’t say this was a tried and tested approach.

• Get an early morning for the best lighting & clearer views (obvs. weather dependent)

• Take small snacks & water (mmm slight confession I only drunk a teeny bit of water to avoid using the toilets so a) I can’t talk of the toilet experience, and b) I don’t recommend copying me, water is vital 🤣 )