Horton Plains Quick Facts:

• There are three tourist attractions at Horton Plains : Little Worlds End, Worlds End and Bakers Falls
• It is a circular path
• Walk of approximately 9 km
• Small cafe before you start the walk which is good for refreshments. NO REFRESHMENTS ARE SOLD INSIDE.
• No plastics allowed. Paper bags were given at the entrance for food items.
• Time taken: 6 and a half hours for the whole track while walking at a leisurely pace and taking breaks for rest and pictures
• Take lots and lots of water
• Path is quite simple for all ages, just gets a bit complicated on the way between worlds end and bakers fall
• Important to reach World’s End before 10 if you want to see the view properly. After 10, all you will see is fog or clounds
• Any relatively fit person can do this
• There are no railings at Little Worlds End and at Worlds End, make sure kids are at a safe distance
• Cost of ticket

1. Local/Resident Adult:                                           LKR 60
2. Foreign Adult:                                                         USD 15
3. Local/Resident Child (6-12 yrs):                         LKR 30
4. Foreign Child(6-12 yrs) :                                       USD 8
5. Vehicle Fee – Jeep/Car/Van/Bus:                       LKR – 250/125/250/650
6. VAT:                                                                           15%

Our Experience

Heading to Horton Plains National Park

One of the highlights of our trip to Sri Lanka was doing the trek at Horton Plains National Park. We had heard a lot about ‘Worlds End’ and the amazing view it offered and were pleasantly surprised when we found out that that the trek is circular, with two more sites on the way, ‘Little Worlds End’ and ‘Bakers Falls’.

A plus point in going to Horton Plains was that this was a family trip, with Asad, my parents, my siblings and me.

We read online that this was a relatively simple trek and that we would be done in 3 hours. Boy, were we wrong!

We decided to head out early morning from Nuwara Eliya for the one and a half hour drive to Horton Plains.

The drive itself was beautiful as we drove on the winding roads going higher and higher, with an amazing view of the hill below. As it was early morning, we could see the sun rise over the hills, making for a very picturesque scene.

The first thing we discovered when we finally reached Horton Plains, was the open toilet, with a door on one side and beautiful greenery on the other to view while you did your business.

After having a hearty laugh at this, we bought the tickets at the entrance and got back in the car for a short drive in Horton Plains to the point that the trek starts. On the way, we saw many people who had stopped on the road with hopes to see wildlife in the park.

When we reached the car park, imagine our surprise at immediately finding a deer, peacefully standing behind the cars, watching a group of tourists desperate to take out pictures with it (and yes we were part of this group!).

Very close to the car park, there was a small restaurant, which offered all sorts of refreshments to the tourists, from lunch items to snacks.

We decided to stop there for a bit and have some tea before moving forward.

As you can imagine, it was quite late by the time we actually started walking, almost 9 AM. We walked for maybe 5 minutes until we were stopped at a checking point.

The females there checked all our bags and told us that no plastic items were allowed inside.

They did, however, give us small paper bags in which we could transfer our snacks and offered to keep the rest of the things in a locker, so we could pick them up at the exit.

After walking for around 15 more minutes, we reached a crossroads. Since the path is circular, we could decide which way we wanted to go.

Since it was getting very late and we had heard that it is best to reached Worlds End before 10 AM, we decided to go from Little Worlds End first, followed by Worlds End and finishing with Bakers Falls.

Little World’s End

We started walking on the trail, which was extremely simple in the beginning. To be honest, it was less of a walk and more of a stroll, as we enjoyed the experience of walking in what seemed like a forest.

If you keep it simple, it is quite an easy walk. After many stops to read the small informative boards on the sides and of course to take some pictures, we finally reached Little Worlds End.

Unfortunately, however, it was already past 10 AM so all we could see was fog and clouds in front of us. We sat at the edge for a bit and eventually the view cleared a bit so that we could see some beautiful scenery ahead with wisps of clouds as well.

World’s End

After we had enough of the view and were ready to move on, we started walking towards Worlds End. Again we had a long walk, punctures with breaks for food, water, and photographs.

When we finally reached World’s End, it was way past 10 AM and all we could see were clouds.

If were concentrated a lot, we could only just make out the shape of some hills below us.

Overall the view we got was not so great and we would advise anyone who is serious about getting the true view of Worlds End to reach there as early as possible.

We sat on the edge, (which was relatively safe as the fall was a few steps ahead of us) and after waiting for quite some time, hoping that the view would clear up a bit, we finally gave up and decided to move on.

Baker’s Falls

Now we knew we were over half way done and had only Bakers Fall left to go, so we started walking with enthusiasm.

Eventually, the outlook of the walk changed, we no longer felt like we were in the forest, but that we were walking on a hill (like something out of the movie The Sound Of Music) and we could see other hills in the background.

This part of the walk was truly breathtakingly beautiful, however, we noticed that many people around us were just walking and not taking in the amazing view, which was such a waste of such a wonderful and picturesque landscape!

Eventually, however, the path changed even more. It became much tougher as it was a steep climb, surrounded by trees. Often the path was not very well made, and there were tree trunks we had to jump over or go under.

This path was not very long, however, it took us quite some time to go past it but we enjoyed the challenge!

Eventually, we reached stairs, this time the stairs were very well made and they also had a railing next to them for support!

We went downstairs only to be greeted with a close-up view of the most beautiful waterfall I had ever seen. Bakers Fall is a gorgeous waterfall and we found an area right in front of it to sit and relax for a while.

After the long walk, just looking at the waterfall had a cooling effect and we felt re-energized.

For the more adventurous, there was a small rocky path to go down and stand right in front of the base of the waterfall. Of course, we were just that adventurous and we went down the path and marveled at the beauty in front of us.

Some people went even as far as to climb the waterfall and go on top of it.

On the way out

Finally, we just had the last leg of the walk left. We had to go back upstairs and again we had a tricky, but short, path to navigate until the path evened out and again the walk was simple.

For a while we enjoyed again, taking out pictures, talking and laughing.

However, soon came what was probably the toughest part of the walk, as we ran out of both snacks and water and we were all tired and thirsty. The path in front of us seemed never ending and it was past 2 PM.

One of us kept motivating the rest and eventually, we managed to reach back. The whole walk took around 6 and a half hours, not counting the drive up which was an hour and a half.

The first thing we did was to go to back to the restaurant and buy lots of water, which we chugged down like our life depended on it. After we had restored ourselves and had a cup of tea, we made our way back to the car.

As a parting surprise from Horton Plains, we saw 4 deer roaming around in the car park area.

To Summarize

For us, it was the journey that was worth so much more than the destination. During those 6 hours when we were all completely disconnected from the internet, with no distractions from any electronic devices, we managed to make memories that would last a lifetime.

Laughter, impromptu singing, motivational speeches and marveling the creation of God entertained us throughout the walk while we supported each other over the tough parts and made sure everyone was enjoying.

The view at Worlds End and Little Worlds End was quite disappointing, as we did not really get to see anything at either of these spots.

However, this was largely our own fault, as we should have reached earlier to make the most of the experience. Still that wouldn’t stop us vouching for the trek and the journey was definitely an awesome experience.

However, we thoroughly enjoyed Bakers Falls, as it was truly beautiful.

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