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View all Ella toursAll-Inclusive Ella Day with a Tea Factory and the Hill Country Train
A private all-inclusive Ella day: the tea estates, a working factory, a leg on the hill railway, the Nine Arch Bridge and Little Adam's Peak, with everything arranged.
Highlights
- A working Uva tea factory from withering trough to grading table
- A leg on the hill railway rather than only a view of the bridge
- Little Adam's Peak at first light, before the summit fills
- The Nine Arch Bridge, built in stone without steel during the First World War
- Tickets and entrances arranged rather than paid at each stop
All-Inclusive Ella Day with a Tea Factory and the Hill Country Train: Key Facts
| Price | From $481 per person |
|---|---|
| Duration | 10 hours |
| Languages | English |
| Tour type | Guided Tour |
| Booking | Direct with the local operator — no OTA markup |
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From Riu Hotel: Ella Tea Factory Tour with Scenic Train Ride
Full description
Ella sits at just over a thousand metres in a gap between two ridges, surrounded on every side by tea, and this day is built to show you the tea as much as the sights.
Uva tea is genuinely distinct. A dry seasonal wind blows across these slopes from June to September and gives the leaf a character tasters can identify blind, which is why Uva estates sell at their own prices at the Colombo auction. A working factory visit follows the leaf from the withering troughs through rolling, oxidation and firing to the grading table in about forty-five minutes, and it is the clearest explanation anyone will give you of why one bush yields six graded products.
The train leg is the other half. The hill line between Demodara and Ella is the section everybody photographs, and taking it — rather than only looking at the bridge it crosses — is the difference between seeing the railway and riding it.
Around those two, Little Adam's Peak at first light and the Nine Arch Bridge mid-morning.
All-inclusive here means the tickets and entrances are arranged rather than paid at each gate, which on a day with four separate stops is worth more than it sounds.
Ella is a village at 1,040 metres in the southern hill country, reached by the train from Kandy that most people rate the finest railway journey in Asia, and its sights are all within a few kilometres: the Nine Arch Bridge, a brick viaduct of 1921 in a gorge of tea, which a train crosses several times a day; Little Adam's Peak, a 40-minute walk through tea to a ridge; Ella Rock, a harder three-hour climb; and Ravana Falls on the road down to Wellawaya. Mornings are clear and afternoons in the wet months bring cloud into the gap, so the walks are done early. Tuk-tuks are the transport, and every guesthouse can find one.
Tour Itinerary
The schedule below is a suggested plan and can be adjusted to suit your preferences.
Little Adam's Peak
Pickup and the walk up for sunrise.
Breakfast
Back in town.
Tea estates and factory
The slopes and the full process.
Demodara
The railway loop and the station.
Train leg
The scenic section back towards Ella.
Nine Arch Bridge
The viaduct below town.
Drop-off
Back at your hotel.
Detailed Itinerary
Hotel pickup
Early — the Gap view is clearer in the morning in every month.
The factory
Closed on poya days, when an estate walk substitutes.
The train
Services run 30-90 minutes late routinely, so the afternoon order can shift.
Ella
Drop-off at your hotel.
Includes
- Private vehicle with an English-speaking driver-guide, hotel pickup and drop-off in Ella, the tea factory visit, train tickets for the Demodara leg, entrance fees, all driving.
Excludes
- Meals and drinks, tea purchases, gratuities, personal expenses.
Important information
Meeting point
Hotel pickup in Ella; the exact address and time are confirmed after booking.
Know before you go
- Free cancellation available up to 24 hours before the activity starts