Ella is a great place for walking. Most accommodation can give you a hand drawn map of local paths. Kick off with a stroll to what is locally dubbed Little Adam’s Peak. Go down the Passara road until you get to the plant shop on your right, just past the 1km post. Follow the track to the left of the garden shop; Little Adam’s Peak is the biggest hill on your right and is clearly signposted. Take the second path that turns off to your right and follow it to the top of the hill. Part of this path passes through a tea estate. The approximately 4.5km round trip takes about 45 minutes each way. The final 20 minutes or so is uphill, but otherwise it’s an easy walk. Get an early start from your guesthouse  around 7am  and you’ll meet Tamil families heading off to work in the tea plantations along the way. From atop Little Adam’s Peak, waterfalls and a couple of tea factories shimmer from out of the mist that’s often welded persistently to the surrounding hills.

Rawana Ella

The 19m-high Rawana Ella Falls are about 6km down Ella Gap towards Wellawaya. During rainy months the water comes leaping down the mountainside in what is claimed to be the ‘wildest looking’ fall in Sri Lanka, but during the dry season it may not flow at all. There are vendors selling food and trinkets, and the invariable array of ‘guides’ wanting to point out the waterfall that’s already blindingly obvious.