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View all Ella toursUdawalawe to Kandy Private Transfer via Ella, the Nine Arch Bridge and Nuwara Eliya
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The long climb from Udawalawe up through Ella and the tea country to Kandy, stopping at Ravana Falls, Little Adam's Peak, the Nine Arch bridge and the Seetha Amman temple on the way.
Highlights
- The whole southern plain to central hills crossing in one guided day
- Ravana Falls, a 25-metre cascade beside the road
- Little Adam's Peak — a 45-minute walk to the best view in Ella
- The Nine Arch bridge, built without steel during the First World War
- The Seetha Amman Ramayana temple and the tea country beyond it
Udawalawe to Kandy Private Transfer via Ella, the Nine Arch Bridge and Nuwara Eliya: Key Facts
| Price | From $96 per person |
|---|---|
| Duration | 12 hours |
| Languages | English |
| Tour type | Guided Tour |
| Booking | Direct with the local operator — no OTA markup |
Choose from 1 available option
Udawalawe to Kandy Transfer with Sightseeing Stops
Udawalawe to Kandy Transfer with Sightseeing Stops. Departure times and inclusions exactly as the operator offers them; ...
10 hours
English
Pickup
$191
Free cancellation
Full description
Udawalawe to Kandy crosses the island from the southern plain to the central hills, and the road goes through Ella — which means the two or three things everybody comes to Ella for are directly on your route.
Ravana Falls is the first, a broad 25-metre cascade right beside the road south of Ella, named for the demon king of the Ramayana who is said to have hidden Sita in the caves above it. Little Adam's Peak follows: a 45-minute walk up a stepped path to the best view in the area, out through the gap in the hills towards the south coast.
The Nine Arch bridge is twenty minutes' walk down through tea from the Ella road. It was built in stone and brick without steel during the First World War, when the steel earmarked for it went to the war effort, and trains cross it roughly every two hours.
The Seetha Amman temple near Nuwara Eliya is another Ramayana site, brightly painted and busy with Indian pilgrims. From there the road climbs to 1,900 metres and then descends the long way into Kandy, arriving in the evening.
Tour Itinerary
Itineraries are customisable as per your request
The schedule below is a suggested plan and can be adjusted to suit your preferences.
6:30 AM
Pickup at Udawalawe
Collection with luggage.
8:30 AM
Ravana Falls
The cascade beside the road below Ella.
9:30 AM
Little Adam's Peak
A 45-minute walk to the viewpoint.
11:30 AM
Nine Arch bridge
The stone viaduct below Ella.
2:00 PM
Seetha Amman temple
A Ramayana site near Nuwara Eliya.
3:30 PM
Tea country
The estates and the descent.
6:30 PM
Kandy
Drop-off at your hotel.
Detailed Itinerary
06:30
Hotel pickup
Twelve hours door to door with a lot of stops.
09:30
Little Adam's Peak
A stepped path, easy for most fitness levels. About 90 minutes return.
11:30
Nine Arch bridge
Twenty minutes' walk down through tea. The station in Ella will tell you when a train is due.
14:00
Seetha Amman
Shoes off, shoulders covered.
18:30
Kandy
Drop-off at your hotel.
Includes
- Private air-conditioned car with an English-speaking driver-guide, hotel pickup in the Udawalawe area, all stops on the route, drop-off at your Kandy hotel, luggage carried throughout.
Excludes
- Entrance fees where they apply, meals and drinks, gratuities, personal expenses.
Important information
Meeting point
Hotel pickup in the Udawalawe area; confirmed after booking.
Know before you go
- Free cancellation available up to 24 hours before the activity starts
About this activity
Free cancellation
Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
Secure payment
Complete your booking safely with Razorpay. Full refund if you cancel 24h prior. Read more
Duration 12 hours
Check availability to see starting times
Live tour guide
English
Wheelchair accessible
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Main Tour Price
Starting from $96
$96
Tour Type
TransferNature and SceneryPrivate Tour
Need a custom booking or have a larger group?Contact Support via WhatsApp
Free cancellation
Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
Secure payment
Complete your booking safely with Razorpay. Full refund if you cancel 24h prior. Read more
Frequently Asked Questions
It runs 12 hours.
Hotel pickup in the Udawalawe area; confirmed after booking.
Private air-conditioned car with an English-speaking driver-guide, hotel pickup in the Udawalawe area, all stops on the route, drop-off at your Kandy hotel, luggage carried throughout.
Entrance fees where they apply, meals and drinks, gratuities, personal expenses.
In Udawalawe and Minneriya, elephants are close to certain. Leopards in Yala or Wilpattu are not — the density is the highest in the world but the animals are in scrub, and plenty of visitors leave without one.
Private air-conditioned car with an English-speaking driver-guide, hotel pickup in the Udawalawe area, all stops on the route, drop-off at your Kandy hotel, luggage carried throughout.
The duration of the Udawalawe to Kandy Private Transfer via Ella, the Nine Arch Bridge and Nuwara Eliya is typically 12 hours. We recommend arriving 15 minutes before the scheduled start time for a smooth check-in. Your guide will meet you at the designated meeting point and ensure the experience runs on schedule while remaining flexible to your pace.
For most experiences, we highly recommend an early morning start. This allows you to avoid the midday heat, bypass the largest crowds, and capture the best lighting for photography. Your guide can advise on the optimal timing based on the season and specific attractions included.
Yes, once your booking is completed via our secure payment gateway, you will receive an instant confirmation email with your tour details, meeting point address, guide's name, and direct contact information. You can also view and manage your booking through your AsiaByLocals account dashboard.
Yes! All our private tours are fully customizable. Whether you want to add extra stops, skip certain locations, change the pace, or adjust the start time — simply let your guide know in advance or on the day. We aim to create a personalized experience tailored to your interests and energy level.
We offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before the scheduled start time for a full refund. Cancellations within 24 hours may be subject to a partial charge depending on the tour type. Weather-related cancellations for outdoor and boat tours are handled on a case-by-case basis, with full refunds or free rebooking offered when safety is a concern.
Most of our experiences are family-friendly and suitable for children of all ages. However, some tours involving extensive walking, water activities, or early morning starts may be better suited for children aged 5 and above. Please check the specific tour description for age recommendations, or contact us for personalized family itinerary advice.
After booking, you will receive detailed meeting point instructions via email. Most tours include complimentary hotel pickup within the central area. For tours without pickup, your confirmation email will include the exact address, Google Maps pin, and your guide's phone number for easy coordination. Guides typically arrive 10 minutes early and will message you on WhatsApp.
We accept all major credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), PayPal, Apple Pay, and Razorpay for Indian cards. All payments are processed through a PCI-compliant secure gateway with 256-bit encryption. You can also pay in multiple currencies — the price is automatically converted to your local currency at checkout.
Yes, all AsiaByLocals guides are licensed professionals who have been rigorously vetted through background checks, skill assessments, and customer reviews. Many hold government-issued tourism licenses, university degrees in history or cultural studies, and have years of experience leading tours for international travelers. Every guide maintains a minimum 4.5-star rating to remain active on our platform.
Be at the gate for the 6am opening, so leave Nuwara Eliya around 5am. World's End faces south and clouds over by nine or ten as warm air rises off the plain — arrive at eleven and you see a white wall. See our Horton Plains guide.
The town sits at about 1,900 m and drops to around 10°C at night, and few hotels have heating. Horton Plains at 2,300 m regularly sits near freezing before dawn, with ground frost from December to February. Bring a genuine warm layer — most visitors underestimate this.
No — they close on poya days, the monthly full moon and a public holiday in Sri Lanka. If your free day is a poya, take an estate walk with a plucker instead. Plucking happens in the morning; by afternoon the slopes are empty.
Mostly leaf size, not quality. OP is a long wiry whole leaf, BOP is smaller and broken, and fannings and dust go into teabags because the higher surface area brews fast. Bigger leaf is slower tea, not better tea. Explained in our Ceylon tea guide.
At a factory, not a tourist shop. Factory shops carry the higher grades that never reach a visitor shelf; the boxed tea on the main streets is usually fannings at visitor prices.
Nanu Oya, about 10 km and a 20-30 minute drive from the town. Nuwara Eliya has no station of its own, and tuk-tuk fares at Nanu Oya rise sharply the moment a train arrives.
A 20-25 minute walk downhill from Ella town through tea and jungle — uphill on the way back. A tuk-tuk to the Demodara side is quieter and saves the climb. It is free, with no ticket and no official viewing area. See our Nine Arch Bridge guide.
Roughly every two hours, but Sri Lanka Railways runs 30-90 minutes late routinely, so any blog quoting exact times is quoting a timetable rather than reality. Ask at Ella station on the morning — staff will tell you what is expected and how late it is running.
Little Adam's Peak for almost everyone — 45 minutes up a stepped path for arguably the better view, out through the Ella Gap. Ella Rock is three hours return, largely unsigned, and people get lost on it regularly; take a guide or an offline map. Compared in full here.
Reserved seats open 30 days ahead and sell out within hours from December to March. Unreserved 2nd/3rd class is sold on the day and always available — you will stand, which is where the open doorways are. Send your luggage ahead by road if you have a driver. See getting to Ella.
January to March for the clearest Ella Gap views. June to September is dry but hazy from the Uva wind; October to December is wet. The real risk is cloud, not rain — at 1,000 m the view can be inside a cloud on a dry day, and mornings are clearer than afternoons in every month. See best time to visit Ella.
Two nights, which gives you two dawns — Little Adam's Peak on one, Ella Rock or a tea morning on the other, with the bridge mid-morning on day one. Our Ella 2-day itinerary sets out the order.
Do everything before nine in the morning. The Gap view is clearer in the morning in every month, Little Adam's Peak has a queue by nine, and the Nine Arch Bridge has hundreds of people on it by ten.
Time it for a puja — 5.30am, 9.30am or 6.30pm. Those are the only windows when the upper relic chamber opens and the hevisi drummers play; outside them you are visiting a beautiful building rather than a ceremony. Take socks: shoes come off at the gate and the stone courtyard gets painfully hot. Full detail in our Temple of the Tooth guide.
February for the clearest weather, or July-August, which is drier here than most people expect and covers the Esala Perahera. Kandy sits between Sri Lanka's *two* monsoons and catches some of both, so it has no long dry season — but it also never has a season that is a write-off. See best time to visit Kandy.
Reserved seats open 30 days ahead and sell out within hours from December to March. Unreserved 2nd/3rd class is sold on the day and always available — you will stand, which is where the open doorways and the famous photographs are. Sit on the right-hand side going south. Note there is no Nuwara Eliya station; the stop is Nanu Oya, 10 km away. See our Kandy to Ella train guide.
July or August — but the dates move every year with the lunar calendar, so any guide naming a fixed week is guessing. It runs ten nights and ends on the Nikini poya. Book accommodation on the route six to twelve months ahead. Details in our Esala Perahera guide.
Sigiriya and Dambulla (2.5 hrs each way) is the best of them. Kitulgala rafting is 2 hrs, the Knuckles range and Pekoe Trail stages are day hikes from here. Ella, Galle and Yala are *too far* — 4-6 hours each way. See day trips from Kandy.
Two nights. One full day for the town — Bahirawakanda, Peradeniya gardens, the lake and the evening puja — and a second for a hike, a village day or the cultural triangle. Our Kandy 2-day itinerary lays it out hour by hour.
The centre and the lake circuit are walkable. For anything up a hill or out of town, take a tuk-tuk — roughly LKR 100-150/km on the meter, and ride-hailing apps price it automatically with no negotiation. See getting around Kandy.