05 Jul 2025
The train trip from NanuOya to Ella is enjoyable, winding through so many amazing valleys and mountains. The scenery is spectacular. The train travels quite slow (35kmh max) so you can see a lot. As explained in many places, the train was 30 mins late, but does that matter?
Apparently tickets bought online are not distributed till the night of the trip? Accordingly, don’t expect to get what you paid for. We received no communication about this till 1am the morning we caught the train. We went to the trouble to buy 3 x A grade reserved tickets and ended up with 2 A grade seats separate to each other and one B grade ticket. All window seats admittedly. B grade seats are in a carriage with no AC but has small ceiling fans and windows open. In hindsight the seating in 2nd class, where you get airflow from the window is actually quite fun. Expect to breathe in some diesel exhaust fumes but the windows being opened allowed you to see out more. There seemed to be a fair amount of seat shuffling going on too, so you may be able to make your seating work better as the trip progresses.