Everyone books Kandy to Ella. Almost nobody is told that the good part is the second half, and that the first half is better spent on the road.
The hill-country line is genuinely one of the great train journeys, and the photographs are not exaggerating. What the photographs leave out is that the full Kandy to Ella run takes around seven hours, and that the scenery people come for begins at Nanu Oya, roughly four hours in.
What we do instead
Drive to Nanu Oya or Haputale and pick the train up there. You keep the tea terraces, the tunnels and the drop into Ella, and you lose four hours of suburban track and a numb back. The car meets you at the other end with your luggage already in it.
On reserved seats
First-class observation seats sell out weeks ahead and face backwards on half the route. Second-class reserved is the better ticket, and the doorways are where everyone ends up anyway. We book whichever class is genuinely available rather than promising a carriage we cannot guarantee.
When not to take it at all
In heavy cloud you will pay four hours for a view of grey. If the forecast is against you on your travel day, the drive through the same country is beautiful, and we would rather move the train to another day than have you sit through it for the sake of the itinerary.