Things to do in Kandy

Kandy sits in a bowl of hills. Five hundred metres up, it is cooler and greener than the coast. The kingdom here was the last to fall to the British, in 1815.

The temple and the lake

Sri Dalada Maligawa holds a tooth of the Buddha, and the city exists around it. Puja is sung three times a day.

• Puja. Half past five in the morning, half past nine, half past six in the evening.
• Dress. Shoulders and knees covered, shoes and hats off. Sarongs are lent at the gate.
• Kandy Lake. Dug out of paddy fields in 1807 by Sri Wickrama Rajasinha, the last king.
• Esala Perahera. Ten nights of drummers, dancers and dressed tuskers in July or August.
• The sacred city. Temple, palace remains and lake were listed together as World Heritage in 1988.

Around the town

Kandy is small, and the good things sit just outside it.

• Peradeniya. The botanic gardens, five and a half kilometres west, sixty hectares laid out from 1821.
• Spice and tea. Gardens on the Matale road where cinnamon is peeled in front of you, and tea factories that follow the leaf to the grading table.
• Ambuluwawa. A spiral tower on a peak near Gampola, climbed by a staircase that narrows until people give up.
• Pinnawala. The elephant orphanage west of town, on the Colombo road. Read up before booking.

Where the hills begin

Kandy is the gate to the interior. Tea country, the cultural triangle and the high peaks all start here.

• Sigiriya and Dambulla. The rock citadel and the painted caves, two to three hours north. The climb is steel walkways bolted to the rock.
• Knuckles. Ridges east of the city, part of the Central Highlands listed in 2010. Waterfall walks and village treks.
• Nuwara Eliya. Tea estates just under nineteen hundred metres, cold enough at night for a fire.
• Adam's Peak. A night climb of five and a half thousand steps to 2,243 metres. The pilgrim season runs from the December full moon to May.

Practical

• Weather. Cooler than the coast and wetter. The heaviest rain falls from October to December, late in the day.
• The hill train. Kandy to Nanu Oya and Ella is one of the great rail rides. Reserved seats go weeks ahead, and unreserved means standing.
• Perahera. Rooms and grandstand seats go months in advance, and prices treble for those ten nights.
• Poya. The full-moon holidays pack the temple and close the bars.
• Roads. Colombo is three to four hours away for a hundred and fifteen kilometres. Build the day around that.
• Leeches. Wet-season walking in the Knuckles brings them out. Socks and salt, and check your ankles.