Ella is the hill country village that everyone who visits Sri Lanka ends up talking about. It has exactly the right combination of a dramatic natural setting, walkable hiking trails, a relaxed cafe scene, and the photogenic Nine Arch Bridge nearby – where the colonial-era hill country train crosses a nine-span viaduct of brick and stone through a landscape of tea and jungle. Little Adam’s Peak is a genuinely short and genuinely rewarding hike. The light at Ella at dusk, when the mist rolls into the Ella Gap and the mountains across the valley start to glow, is the kind of thing that makes travellers add an extra night without thinking twice.