Ella
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When in Ella we stayed at a hotel called Ambiente. The view here was insane and looked as if it was taken directly out of a post card. The standards at the hotel was also very good, thus a really good and beautiful hotel that was situated in a quiet and peaceful area. I would say that staying at Ambiente was a part of the main attraction of being in Ella. I would definitely recommend booking a hotel that is located up in the mountains.
On our first day in Ella we went to a tea plantation that has good reviews on TripAdvisor called Hapewatte Tea Factory. However, I did not find this place as well as TripAdvisor state it would be. The guide we had was, you could say very “passionate” about the tea, and was rushing through all the steps of the tea production. Not really a good guide.. But we did buy a lot of tea in the end, because that was the main reason to why we went on the tour in the first place.
After the tea factory the tuktuk driver drove us to some cave temples where there were a 2500-year-old stone statute on Buddha carved into the mountain. This was a nice place, but since I have already been in Dambulla watching the cave temples there, this in comparison was not really a “wow” experience and I also think that there are better temples to visit, where you do not have to pay a fixed amount of donation fees and are more beautiful.
For dinner we went down to the town in Ella, where I got a chock. There were soo many tourists! But traveling the typical journey in Sri Lanka visiting the places that are highly recommended in Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor, then I guess that bumping in to other tourists is given. It is quite a busy small town with a lot of restaurants gathered along the main road, so while enjoying your dinner you have the traffic passing right beside you. The location of the restaurants in town does not really fall into my taste however we ate rice and curry at the reasturant above the Bank of Ceylon and the food there was fantastic ! .
Day 2 in Ella
The mission of the day was to climb Ella Rock and then at 14.00 our driver ,that would take us from Ella to Ahangama, would come and pick us up. It was a bit rainy but it did not stop us from walking all the way up to the top of Ella Rock.
The walk was beautiful with endless views. It was very different from the one at Horton Plains but both of them have their own particular charm. Horton Plains is more pure nature, almost untouched by humans while the hiking up on Ella Rock was more about receiving a glimpse of the farmers/village life in Ella and the nature that surrounds them in their everyday life. We walked through tea plantations, stepping into someone’s backyard, passed beans and tomatoes plantations and saw a lot of paddy fields shaping the hillsides like green stairways. A wonderful hiking.
Finally after about 1.5 hour walk we reached the top, all wet from either sweat or rain, who knows….
We decided to get a guide to show us the way up and I can say that without him we would never have found our way. We met some tourists without a guide that did in the end find their way, but it is easier to have a guide and you contribute to the local economy at the same time, a win-win situation for you and the guide that is probably a farmer near by.
Our guide was a local farmer that lived near by our hotel and he was great ! A very helpful and nice man. He recommended us to eat lunch on our way back at a small and charming family rice and curry restaurant. It is named Garden View with fantastic local rice and curry made by the women living beside the train tracks. If you decide to eat here on your way back from Ella Rock (which I HIGHLY recommend) then you should also try their fresh Wood Apple juice. Loved it!
Before our driver came to pick us up, we said goodbye to our stunning view with a cup of tea.
