Haputale Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

There are direct buses to Nuwara Eliya at 7am and 2pm (Rs 50, 3½ hours), but if you miss these buses you’ll have to go to Welimada (private bus Rs 30, two hours) and get an onward service. To/from Bandarawela there are frequent buses (Rs 18, one hour) that run into the early evening. There are also express buses to Colombo (Rs 265, six hours).

For the south coast you usually have to change at Wellawaya (Rs 40), 1½ hours down the hill from Haputale. The last bus from Haputale to Wellawaya leaves at about 5pm.

Train

Haputale is on the Colombo–Badulla line, so you can travel directly by train to and from Kandy or Nanu Oya (for Nuwara Eliya). It’s 8½ to nine hours to Colombo, 5½ hours to Kandy, 1½ hours to Nanu Oya (3rd/2nd class, Rs 22/40), 40 minutes to Ohiya, 30 minutes to Bandarawela (3rd/2nd class, Rs 6/11) and two hours to Badulla (3rd/2nd class, Rs 24/44).

The daily train departures in the Badulla direction are at 4.29am, 6.44am, 12.16am, 2.12pm (on Podi Menike) and 5.32pm (on Udarata Menike). In the Colombo direction the trains depart at 7.56am (Udarata Menike), 10.51am (Podi Menike), 8.09pm (on the night mail) and 9.30pm. The Udarata Menike doesn’t go via Kandy.

^ Back to top