Tuktuk Tour Around Ella

The morning was slow, deliberately so. Breakfast, the news, no particular hurry. Then I packed my bag and went looking for a tuktuk tour to cover the sights I had not yet reached.

First stop was the ATM on the main street to stock up on cash before the move to Udawalawe the next day. This turned out to be a more consequential errand than expected. Parked directly outside were two tuktuks, both drivers immediately available and professionally interested in my plans for the day.

I had prepared a list. Four sights, a rough sense of distances, and an opening offer of 5,000 LKR. The first driver negotiated seriously for a few minutes, then referred me to the second: an older man with a somewhat older tuktuk and a negotiating style that suggested he had done this before. We went back and forth. The final number was not what I had proposed, but it was not unreasonable either, and the list was agreed. We set off.

The Secret Waterfall

The first stop was the Secret Waterfall, which lives up to its name mainly in the sense that it requires some effort to reach. The path down is steep, rough, and clearly well used, though on this particular morning there were no other tourists at all. The falls themselves are small: a single drop into a quiet pool in dense forest, the kind of thing that would attract no attention if it were larger and easier to find. Because it requires the walk, and because it was entirely quiet, it was worth every step.

On the way to the second stop the driver pulled over at a roadside stall to buy vegetables for his lunch. A few kilometers further he stopped again at a garage to have air pumped into the tires. Neither stop was mentioned in the itinerary. Both were entirely fine. This is the texture of traveling by tuktuk with a local driver rather than on a bus with a schedule: the day has room in it for the driver’s lunch and his tires, and you get a more honest version of how things actually work.

Ravana Falls

Ravana Falls was the opposite experience in every respect. The falls sit directly beside the main road, served by a paved viewing platform and, when I arrived, a very large number of people. Monkeys worked the crowd from the rocks above, keeping a professional eye on unattended bags and open food. The tourists watched the falls. The monkeys watched the tourists. A reasonable arrangement for everyone except the tourists with unattended bags.

The falls are genuinely impressive: a wide curtain of water dropping around 25 meters into a pool below, framed by the rock face on both sides. According to local legend, Ravana, the demon king of the Ramayana, kept Sita captive in a cave behind this waterfall. The cave is said to still exist somewhere in the rock. The waterfall does not need the mythology to justify the stop, but the mythology is there if you want it.

A waterfall next to a road with a viewing platform will always draw a crowd. I took the photographs and moved on.

Rawana Stone Temple

The third stop was the Rawana Stone Temple, a Hindu temple partially carved directly into a large rock outcrop on the hillside. The centerpiece is a standing Buddha figure cut from the rock face itself, several meters high, visible from some distance.

The temple complex extends around and into the rock, with shrines and carvings worked into the natural contours of the stone. It is not a major site on the tourist circuit, which suits it. The combination of the carved figure and the setting in the rock gives it a particular quality that more visited places sometimes lack.

Tea plantation overlooks

The fourth stop was, in practice, several stops: a series of viewpoints above Ella looking out over the tea plantations that cover every hillside in every direction. The driver knew the good ones. At one of them I got out and walked a section of the plantation itself, along the narrow paths between the rows, the clipped bushes at waist height on both sides. The pickers had finished for the morning. The hills were quiet.

There is something about tea country around Ella that does not diminish with repeated exposure. I had been looking at these hills for several days. They still held the attention.

Back in Ella by early afternoon. A large lunch, then back to the hotel room and the view. Dinner later in the center of town, unhurried. The last evening in Ella before the move south to Udawalawe.

What to see in Ella, Sri Lanka: an attractions guide

  • Little Adam’s Peak (1,141 meters) is a 2-3 hour round trip, walkable directly from the center of Ella. The lower section has been heavily commercialized with ziplines, rope walks, and loud music. The summit is quiet, with a 360-degree view of Ella Gap, Ella Rock, and the surrounding tea country. Start before 9 AM.
  • Ella Rock is the harder hike. It involves around 500 meters of altitude gain through tea plantations and jungle on a trail that is less well-marked than Little Adam’s Peak. Allow 3-4 hours round trip. Entry is 930 LKR ($3), cash only. Steeper, less commercial, and considerably quieter.
  • Nine Arches Bridge is a colonial-era viaduct built 1919-1921, 91 meters long, nine arches each 24 meters high, constructed from brick, stone, and cement with no steel. Walk through the forest from Ella in about 30-40 minutes, or include it on the tuktuk tour. Check the train schedule if you want a train in the frame.
  • Ravana Falls is a 25-meter waterfall directly beside the main road. Easy access, consistently crowded, genuinely worth a stop. Keep an eye on your bags as monkeys work the viewing area.
  • The Secret Waterfall is a smaller drop in dense forest, reached by a steep rough path. The effort weeds out the crowds.
  • Rawana Stone Temple is a Hindu temple partially carved into a rock face, with a standing Buddha figure cut from the rock itself. Not on the main tourist circuit and considerably quieter for it.
  • A tuktuk covers Ravana Falls, the Secret Waterfall, Rawana Stone Temple, and the tea plantation viewpoints in a half-day. Nine Arches Bridge can be added if you prefer not to walk. Expect to pay roughly double what a comparable tour costs elsewhere in Sri Lanka. Agree a fixed price and full stop list before you leave.

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