How long to climb sri pada

That being said, some travelers prefer to hire a driver for their entire Sri Lankan tour. This costs quite a bit more money but it makes you more flexible and cuts down on travel time. We loved the public trains in Sri Lankan even though they are slower. So much beauty in this country! Most people take a train from Ella to Adams peak. The Express train takes about 4.

Adams peak is approximately halfway between Ella and Kandy. We must mention that the train ride from Ella to Hatton nearest station to Adams peak is beautiful and many people consider it a highlight of their Sri Lankan adventure.

The next step offers you some options. The cheapest and slowest way is to take the bus from Hatton to Dalhousie. You can also take a taxi or tuk-tuk, however we recommend spitting it with other hikers to save money and meet some friends! Taxi takes between minutes and the bus is a little longer. Mix of incline trekking and 5,, crumbling stone steps. Challenging but nothing like climbing Mr Rinjani in Indonesia.

Going up is ok, but going down is very hard on your knees and IT bands. No technical climbing necessary. Takes most people hours to summit based on fitness, crowds, and breaks. Bathrooms are found every 20 mins during the trek. They will be disgusting — what did you expect?

January — May. Avoid days near the full moon and the week of Sri Lankan New year mid April , and the weekend if possible. During these busy times the trek will be so crowded you may have to wait hours in a line to reach the peak. Unknowing to our fate… we started our trek on the Sri Lankan new year, and 2 days after the full moon.

The perfect storm. It was like climbing endless stairs in a crowded mall the day before Christmas. Sad to say we never officially reached the peak. Although, we still had a great time and saw an outstanding sunrise.

Most people stay for 2 nights which is enough to see the town, make the trek, and spend a day resting your legs. Dalhousie is in a beautiful area but there are much better places to stay in the central highlands Ella, Deniyaya, Nuwer Ellya, etc. Most probably yes! How long will it take? This definitely goes back to your fitness level. What route should I take? Share this: Twitter Facebook.

Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Archive August Navigation Home About Contact. Search for:. The stairs is reasonably wide at the bottom but towards the top it is almost single file so with huge crowds this really backs up.

The pilgrimage season lasts until around May. After this the lights are turned off and most tea-stations are not open but Sri Pada is still available to climb as normal. You just have to be a little more self sufficient. You can be unlucky with the weather and if it is raining the whole experience can be miserable so make sure to look this up before you make your final journey to Nallathanniya.

During the summer off season there can often be heavy rain in the evenings but this should stop before midnight. Great to read Ross, Just one question — is there a hand rail on the path you are climbing? But near the top where it gets narrow and steeper there are handrails the all the way. This echoes all our sentiments from this morning. We had a very similar experience, wish I came across this before because I ended up being spammed for RS and started the journey with a sour taste too.

Great blog with an accurate description of all the minute details! Your email address will not be published. Developed by WebBuddy. Travelling for Fun Giving tips and itineraries for places all over the world on and off the beaten path. No, I really dont want it! About Ross Travellingforfun I have ducked, dived, bungeed, burned, skydived, surfed, volunteered, volcanoed, crossed continents, conquered mountains, got robbed, got sick and got drunk and I hope this website will inspire you to do the same.

Posted November 15, at PM. When we reached the summit, the entire area was completely shrouded in a thick fog and it was rather chilly and windswept. Visibility was almost nil but a lone Buddhist monk dressed in a vibrantly coloured orange robe emerged from the mist and he greeted us as we walked up the final steps to the highest platform where the footprint is found.

If you were to reach the summit platform in fine weather, you would see something like this:. This temple you see here is literally built into and wrapped around the rocky summit of Adam's Peak. It features a shrine to Samanta the mountain deity and right next to it is the shrine over the sacred footprint. Different visitors throughout history have given widely differing descriptions of the dimensions of the footprint so we can't rely on any those accounts for accuracy.

Judging by the images on the web, the dimensions of 5' 7''x 2' 6'' sound about right. Walking around the temple building we noticed an interesting sign:. It would appear then that Lord Buddha left more than one footprint during the course of his travels.

Of course 'Samantakuta' here refers to Adam's peak, which was believed to be the abode of the local mountain deity Samanta before buddhism reached Sri Lanka. If you wander around the upper platform, you'll surely notice the belfry with the bell that pilgrims will traditionally ring with one knell for every time the pilgrim has climbed the mountain.

Some pilgrims ring the bell more than 20 times. Up here before dawn during the season, pilgrims gather on the east side awaiting the sunrise. When the sun emerges above the horizon, the pilgrims then all move to the west side to view the amazing triangular shadow of the mountain that slowly recedes into the foot of the mountain and then vanishes.

As for the views from the summit we can't give an opinion because the fog was impenetrable during our brief stay at the top. It didn't show any signs of lifting any time soon so we decided to leave and descend back down. Many people say that although Adam's peak is not that high in absolute terms, it gives an impression of exceptional loftiness due to it's steep sides and the many lower mountains that surround it.

The Irish-born British politician and traveller James Emerson Tennent has a wonderful description of the sweeping views from Adam's peak, that sums it all up:. Around it, to the north and east, the traveller looks down on the zone of lofty hills that encircle the Kandyan kingdom, whilst to the westward the eye is carried far over undulating plains, threaded by rivers like cords of silver, till in the purple distance the glitter of the sunbeams on the sea mark the line of the Indian Ocean".

The descent went a fair bit quicker for us than the ascent, although as every hiker knows, it's the descent that tends to wreak the most havoc with your knees. We didn't have any knee problems though thankfully and we half-walked, half-ran down the 5, steps, in our attempt to get back to the village before night fall.

It was just getting dark around 6 p. All-in-all, the hike took us about hours and we were pretty exhausted but feeling happy and accomplished. No doubt our legs would be sore in the morning. We covered Adam's Peak in our Kandy video. If you just want to see the section where we climb Adam's peak, skip to in the video.

If you found this guide useful please share it and leave us your feedback below. Have you ever climbed Adam's peak? If so, we'd love to hear about your experience. Stay in touch! Just enter your details below and hit the green button to join. Our names are Eoghan and Jili and we hail from Ireland and India respectively. We are two ardent shoestring budget adventure travellers and have been travelling throughout Asia continuously for the past few years.

Having accrued such a wealth of stories and knowledge from our extraordinary and transformative journey, our mission is now to share everything we've experienced and all of the lessons we've learned with our readers.

If you would like to learn more about our story, philosophy and mission, please visit our about page. Read This Guide First. Adam's Peak at sunset, as observed from the village of Nallathaniya at its foot. Adam's Peak facts. The location. Religious Significance of Adam's Peak. A brief history of Adam's Peak. An artist's impression of Adam's peak as viewed from the Indian ocean in ancient times. The mountain of many names. The six routes to the summit.

The Ratnapura-Palabaddala trail is the second most popular route and more adventurous travellers might attempt the climb starting from Palabaddala or even descend to Palabaddala after climbing from Nallathaniya like many of the pilgrims do. Getting to Nallathaniya trailhead for Adam's peak. Getting to Hatton: Hatton is on the main Colombo-Kandy-Nuwara Eliya railway line so you can get to Hatton by train from any of these major centres.