South Coast Paradise

Before we even went travelling, as soon as we mentioned we were going to Sri Lanka, people would straight away tell us we have to take the train from Kandy to Ella. It is notorious for being one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world and it didn’t disappoint. We spent the majority of the trip either gawping out of the window or hanging our heads out from the doorway, looking out onto incredible landscapes painted from a palette of the most vivid shades of green. 

We had heard mixed things about Ella itself, with some travellers claiming it to be a highlight of Sri Lanka whilst others warned us about the tacky tourist feel it has come to occupy. Either way, it quickly became clear to us that ‘Ella’ is a fitting name for a such a pretty little place. We have found we enjoy visiting a mixture of places, including some that are heavily occupied by foreigners and some places that are more remote and off the beaten track. Sometimes it is quite refreshing to be able to access more Western ‘supermarkets’, have less of a struggle with language barriers, and find yourself blending into the crowd a bit more!! 

We wasted no time before setting off to explore, and we spent our first morning completing the short trek to Little Adam’s Peak. The route may not have been very challenging but the views were still rewarding as we looked out over rolling hills and countless tea plantations. From there we continued our walk to the Nine Arches Bridge, which is a railway known for it’s breathtaking backdrop. The trek here was a little more complex and once again we managed to time it perfectly so we were walking during the hottest part of the day….! The railway was stunning and had a dramatic feel to it - it was also very high up and made you feel teeny tiny as you looked down at the sharp drops below. 

The following day we cracked on with the big one - Ella Rock. We opted to go it alone, and luckily Butty had done a decent amount of research beforehand as touts did their best to steer us off the correct route in order to disorientate us. They would then be able to come and ‘rescue’ us, put us on the correct path, and then receive their payment for their good deed. So we kept on, making guesses at times, and managed to get ourselves to the top. The final push for the top was really quite steep, and where it had continued to rain throughout the day, quite slippery too. We didn’t have the best weather unfortunately, and the half way view point literally consisted of a blanket of thick, white fog. Things did clear up a little by the time we reached the peak, and we enjoyed some fresh juice and a coconut whilst feeling on top of the world. 

Our accommodation in Ella went to a new level of budget as we moved into a little tent for our final night. We probably could have slept anywhere after the amount of walking and climbing we had done over the previous two days, and we were both thrilled when we realised the owners had a little puppy called Pinkie! We also quickly realised they had a kitten called Julie who wasn’t the friendliest of things, and had some super sharp claws…. lets just say she really liked my french plaits and Butty’s legs!! 

From Ella we got a (horrendously windy) bus down to the coast. Our first stop was Tangalle, a quiet little beachside town which had been one of the worst affected areas by the tsunami in 2004. There was a strip just off from the beach lined with bars and restaurants for tourists but it was pretty much deserted as 1) we were there just shy of the season starting and 2) a lot of people have recently cancelled their plans to visit Sri Lanka due to political unrest. There wasn’t a whole lot of stuff to do or see here so we quickly moved onto the more popular destination of Dickwella, another beach just a few kilometres to the West. 

Dickwella had a really cool little beach full of people learning to surf. It was very pretty, and we quickly got ourselves a board ready to start improving our surf game. However, we quickly realised once we were out in the water that there were literally no waves!! Everyone was just sat out waiting, and it became quite frustrating as we would get one decent wave every twenty minutes or so. The beach made up for the lack of surf, though, and we still had a lovely, chilled day. 

We spent only one night here as the accommodation was considerably more expensive than anywhere else in Sri lanka we had been, and decided on our next stop. We had heard great things about Mirissa, so we set off with high expectations of what was to come! Find out about what we get up to on the rest of our south coast tour in the next update! :)