Adam’s Peak- the famous mountain of Sri Lanka! First real hiking experience with my dad (Lots of images inside).

Hello dear community,

today I would like to share my first real hiking experience to the famous Adam’s Peak which is a beautiful mountain in the southern part of Sri Lanka.

On the 22nd of April 2016, my dad and I left the hotel at about 1 am to climb up that huge mountain. They told us to get up early because its full moon and the end of school holidays so people from all parts of Sri Lanka will get up on that day.

Indeed! The closer we get to the mountain the busier it gets. There were hundreds of busses full of locals coming up the streets.
The closer we got the more likely we thought we should have went up even earlier!

We decided to take some bottles of water with us from the shops at the bottom of the hill. And that’s not all! We took clothes for every kind of scenario with us because Adam’s Peak is about 2243m high and during the night and especially at the top it gets pretty cold.

At first you ‘only’ must climb up some stairs but they are not that hard because there is a lot of walking distance in between. It’s more likely you walk around beautiful scenery but in fact it’s in the middle of the night and there are only a few lamps. So, you won’t see that much 😉.

After a while it gets harder and harder.

My dad who is in the 50’s did a pretty good job and I am very proud of him that he joined me going up there with me. On your way up there are also a lot of shops where you can get water, tea and some other things but you can imagine the prices are also getting higher and higher the higher you get 😉.
After only 2-3 hours of constantly walking without taking long breaks we reached almost the top. But unfortunately, it was so busy that we had to wait for another 2 hours to get to this stunning view!

We were just standing there watching the sunrise and being proud of ourselves that >WE MADE IT<! I can’t describe the feeling you have after you did such an amazing thing! Freedom and peace are just some words!
After the sunrise, we made our way back down. Finally, you can enjoy the beautiful landscape.

In total, the journey took us about 5-6 hours for about 5000 stairs and a 2243m high mountain. In my opinion, some light clothes and good walking shoes are enough (locals are going up in thongs😉). You get very sweaty by walking up and at the top it’s very cold so best thing to do is take a jacket with you.

I also recommend booking your accommodation close by so you can just start walking at night. If you stay somewhere outside the town you need a driver to get you there.

If you have any further questions or notes please leave them in the comments below!
Have you ever climbed up Adam’s Peak before? What were your experiences?

Concluding I can say I would ALWAYS do it again! Everyone can do it! 😊

Xoxo
Viv