Ella is a very popular hill-country village especially because it’s a place to cool down after your strenuous travels. There is a choice of some of the best guesthouses in the country together with some Ayurvedic massage treatment with medicinal oils to give you the absolute wind-down leisure at its best in every sense of the word.
Ella Gap A main attraction in Ella is the views through the Ella Gap which can be described as stunning because on clear nights you can view the glow of the Great Basses lighthouse deep down in the southern coast of Sri Lanka. You can also do your trekking through luscious tea plantations, visit the water falls, the temples and soak in the bountiful vistas of Mother Nature in its purest form. You can also enjoy some spicy home-cooked food in the various restaurants dishing out their specialties to satisfy any gourmet.
Little Adam's Peak is Ella's main tourist attraction, which has been named as such as it bears a similar shape to Adam’s Peak, Sri Lanka’s holy mountain. There is a clear path through the tea plantations with spectacular views and the climb to the top of the 1141m peak takes about half an hour.
Halpewatte Tea Factory is another must-see place because you will get the opportunity see for yourself how the world-famous Ceylon Tea goes through the process step by step to give you those special flavors of tea you always liked. You can even purchase fresh tea here and with every cup you taste, you will get the feel of the real meaning of Ceylon Tea.
Demodara Nine Arch Bridge is 2 km away from the Ella Town. This Bridge was built by the British at Gotuwala between the Ella and Demodara Stations and commissioned in 1921. It is 3100 feet above sea level and is 300 feet long and 25 ft wide. The Bridge was built with solid rock, bricks and cement with absolutely no steel. It is an engineering marvel of railway architecture. A popular story is that when the British engineers got stumped when they found a quagmire in a gap, a local named Appuhamy who was in fact a drummer undertook to take over the construction and he began work in 1913 and got the locals to topple rocks to the bottom of the gap to become the foundation on which he built brick columns which shocked the British Engineers though they doubted the integrity of the Bridge. But Appuhamy undertook to lie down under the bridge when the first train passed and the bridge has stood the test of time.
