Mountains in Sri Lanka - Little Adams Peak: A Photo Journey

Ella, situated in the mountains in Sri Lanka, is an ideal base for some fantastic and not too challenging walks around the surrounding highlands. We like a good hike but we’re not hardcore climbers seeking to scale every highest peak we come across. One of Ella’s walking highlights is Little Adams Peak. At 1141 meters high, it’s one of the area’s hugely popular hikes and a must from our list of things to do in Ella.

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Choosing Little Adams Peak over Adams Peak

Little Adams Peak gets it’s name from it’s taller brother, Adams Peak. This is because of their similar shape. Little Adams Peak’s bigger sibling is probably the most famous of the mountains in Sri Lanka. And almost the highest. At 2243 meters high, about the altitude where some may start to feel the effects of altitude sickness, Adams Peak is a far more challenging climb.

One of Ella’s restaurants on Passara Road which sells proper moist cake!

Typical local store and tuk tuk

Local kids passing by

We did not get the opportunity to climb Adams Peak but we weren’t too sad about it. We heard the starting time for the climb is 2am! Like we said, we’re not hardcore climbers and we like our sleep too much! Adams Peak is also located few hours away from Ella so not a possible day trip from the town.

The start of the path with optional water and coconut refreshments!

Local lady working in the tea plantations

Walking through tea plantations

Hiking Little Adams Peak can be done at your own leisure. After a little lie in, a delicious Sri Lankan breakfast and a cup to Ceylon tea. That’s more like it! The only consideration we needed to think about was leaving with enough time to get to the top and back before the daily storm rolls into town around lunchtime. This is something to consider if you’re visiting the area in the rainy season as we did. But don’t let the rainy season put you off. Seeing a storm take over the mountains in Sri Lanka is a very adventurous and atmospheric sight.

Finding the Path to Little Adams Peak

The walk to the top and back from Ella’s centre can be done in around three hours. This includes enough time for plenty of photo stops and a rest at the top. So after filling our stomachs with string hoppers, omelettes, fruit and coconut pancakes, we began our walk to Little Adams Peak at 10am.

More tea plantation paths

The only sign to Small Adam’s Peak

Local lady carrying a sack of tea leaves

To get to the path from Ella Junction (the very centre of town), we walked up Passara Road and kept going until we reached Ella Flower Garden Resort. This shouldn’t take much longer than 20 minutes. To the left of the resort is the start of the path which you can easily follow all the way to the top of Little Adams Peak.

The Hike to the Top

We shouldn’t call it a hike. It’s not a hike. More of a leisurely walk but it does get more challenging as you get closer to the peak. Most of the path cuts through some spectacular looking tea plantations. Bright green tea leaves from the path edge to all the way in the mountainous distance.

Across tea plantations to Ella Rock

98 Acres Resort in it’s stunning location. Way too posh for us!

Oh another tea plantation path

There are opportunities to see locals working amongst the tea plantations but we unfortunately did not see any working tea leaf pickers. Only one woman hauling her sack of freshly picked leaves over her shoulder. She gave us a lovely welcoming smile which I gladly took a photo of.

Where the incline starts to increase and views widen

Almost there

Only the last 20 minutes or so were more of a challenge with some steep steps and rocky paths. Fore some of that, the support of hands and bums are needed to get up and down.

The Views from the Top

The best views are of course at the top of Little Adams Peak. You can see across the valley to Ella Rock which we climbed the next day, Ruwana Falls and further into Sri Lanka’s gorgeous jungle covered countryside. There were a number of viewpoints which meant fellow hikers were spread amongst the lookouts to prevent overcrowding.

Out of all the mountains in Sri Lanka, Little Adams Peak has to be one of the best hikes in terms of huge rewards for minimal effort.

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