Ella to Badulla train tiny hop is it worth doing as a separate ride

Hidden gem hop. Ella to Badulla is the very last 30 km of the main hill-country line, about an hour, and many tourists get off at Ella thinking the line ends there. The Ella-Badulla section descends through a series of viaducts and tunnels (including the famous loop near Demodara where the track does a 360-degree spiral through a hillside to lose elevation), tea fields giving way to lowland paddies. It is genuinely scenic and far less crowded than the Kandy-Ella stretch. Badulla itself is a small administrative town, not a tourist destination, but it has the historic Muthiyangana Vihara temple (one of the 16 most-sacred Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka), an excellent local market, and a quieter, more authentic feel than Ella. Worth a half-day stop if you have time, plus the train ride for its own sake. Tickets cheap, unreserved class is fine for an hour.