Adam’s peak is a 5,500 step climb and most people aim to climb through the night to make it to the top for sunrise. It was tough but still manageable. There are lots of Sri Lankan’s climbing it barefoot and some of them are over 70 years old! If possible avoid climbing Adam’s peak on a full moon, this is an important religious day for Sri Lankan’s so there are lots of people climbing at this time. We had fortunately just missed the full moon but were told some people had started at 10pm and not managed to reach the top because there were too many people when they had attempted the climb on a Poya Day!

How to get to Adam’s Peak:

We were coming from Kandy so we took the train from Kandy to Hatton. We paid for second class unreserved tickets which cost 150LKR per person, which is 63 pence a ticket! From wherever you are you will probably need to firstly get to Hatton as it is the closest town with easy transport links. This train journey was absolutely stunning and although it was very full we were lucky enough to get a seat near the open door and therefore had incredible views for the whole 2 hour journey, which was probably one of our highlights of the trip. Although if you are not lucky enough to have a reserved ticket or space by a door the journey is far less enjoyable!

Once in Hatton you could take a local bus, the cheapest option, to the town of Dalhousie, where the start of Adam’s Peak is. However, we decided to take a tuk tuk instead as it wasn’t too expensive at 2,000LKR for about an hour long drive. We were in the tuk tuk for less than 2 minutes before being ushered into a car for some unknown reason but we were assured this was the same price as the tuk tuk so hopped in. 5 minutes later the driver of the car said that it would be 3,000LKR and not prepared to pay that amount when there were plenty of cheaper alternatives we asked him to take us back to the station where we could then take a tuk tuk or local bus instead. I think he thought we were just driving a very hard bargain and so in the end agreed to take us to Dalhousie for the ‘very special price’ of 2,000 mLKR.

It turned out to be a very strange journey as the taxi driver then proceeded to tell us lots of tales of how terrible our hotel was and how the owner of the hotel was stealing everyone’s money and also stealing his job. We think he had a bit of a grudge with the hotel owner but we experienced no problems at all with the hotel.

Where to stay:

Grand Adam’s Peak Hotel

Although the taxi driver tried his best to put us off this hotel we thought it was good for a one night stay. You’re not exactly spending a huge amount of time in your hotel so don’t really need anything fancy. The room was clean, there was a pool (where some rather aggressive toque monkeys liked to hang out), and the food was good too if a little pricey. One night cost $39.60 for a double room, although they tried their hardest to get us to upgrade to another room.

The climb:

Ascent

We left out hotel at 1:40am and walked through the centre of the town for about 10 minutes until we reached the starting point. The start is easy to find as everyone is going to the same place! There were a few others also setting off now but I think the majority start between 2 and 2:30am. As we weren’t sure what to expect we started a bit earlier although this was not really necessary (unless it’s a full moon) as we got to the top before sunrise and sat there shivering for an hour.

The first part is relatively straightforward, there are a couple of steps followed by flat ground, a few steps, more flat ground and it repeats like this for a while. You pass through lots of places selling snacks and tea so it’s easy to pick up water and food on the way.

Maybe at about half way the climb suddenly gets a lot more intense. There is no flat ground in between sets of steps anymore and the steepness of the steps gradually increases. As you get closer to the top the steps also become narrower as well as more steep so you end up in a bit of a queue, so it’s easy to see why when it’s busy people struggle to make it to the top for the sunrise.

The top

At the top there is a small temple which we bypassed as the queue to get in was very long. Also we didn’t really fancy removing our shoes at this point as it was absolutely freezing. There is a lot less space at the top than I was expecting so it’s quite tricky to get in a good position for the sunrise. We were there at about 4:30am and had stopped a couple of times so as long as it’s not too busy it doesn’t take longer than between 3-4 hours to reach the top.

Whilst you are climbing you don’t notice the cold but when you stop you realise that the wind is very very very cold. We were definitely not prepared for this. There were several smart people that had even bought sleeping bags with them! Bring layers. Lots of layers. And a hat.

Everyone is there for the sunrise so as soon as the sun starts peaking over the horizon there is a mad dash as everyone tries to get a spot to see it. I would definitely recommend climbing down a little bit at this point because you can actually get a good view of the sunrise rather than a view of heads/cameras and also you are then a bit ahead of the crowd that will all be trying to come down the steps at the same time.

Descent

Probably the hardest bit of all was going back down. Our legs were feeling like they were made from jelly and each stair jolted your leg. Definitely very easy to fall down some steps at this point.

Adam’s Peak is amazing! I would climb the 5,500 steps again a hundred times over to see the sunrise view despite the severely aching calves for the next week.