The World's Most Scenic Train Ride: Kandy to Ella

There's a reason this train ride shows up on nearly every list of the world's great rail journeys. For roughly seven hours, the line climbs from Kandy's warm lowlands into the cool highlands, threading through tea estates, tunnels, and cloud forest with a view that rarely stays the same for more than a few minutes.

Seats sell out fast in second and third class, especially in the observation carriages, so book a few days ahead if your dates are fixed. If you can't get a reserved seat, standing in the open doorway — carefully — is something of a rite of passage, and it's where most of the postcard photographs come from.

The most photographed stretch comes just before Ella, where the track crosses the Nine Arch Bridge. Locals will tell you the exact times the daily trains pass, and it's worth timing your own arrival at the bridge viewpoint to catch one rumbling through the mist.

Bring a light jacket. The temperature drops noticeably as the train climbs past Nanu Oya and Haputale, and the tea-country air can turn sharp even in the middle of the day.