Kandy, Sri Lanka
Everything worth seeing in Kandy, with the opening hours, festival dates and transport you need to actually get there.
Featured
The relic, the lake, the gardens and the view that puts them all in one frame.
Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
Daily 05:30 - 20:00, thevava at 05:30, 09:30 and 18:30
Kiri Muhuda, the Sea of Milk
Open access, lakeside path lit until 22:00
147 acres of collections
Daily 07:30 - 17:00
The white Buddha above the city
Daily 07:00 - 20:00
What's on
Processions, ceremonies and fairs, in the order they happen. Scroll sideways for more.
Festival
Ten nights of processions culminating in the Randoli Perahera, with whip crackers, fire dancers, Kandyan dance troupes, drummers and caparisoned tuskers escorting the sacred casket through the city.
Tickets via organiser(opens in a new tab)
Culture
Three evenings of udarata natum from the region's leading troupes, closing with a combined performance of the ves natuma by more than eighty dancers and drummers.
Tickets via organiser(opens in a new tab)
Nature
The botanical gardens open their propagation houses for an annual show of orchids, anthuriums and heritage roses, with growers' talks each afternoon.
Tickets via organiser(opens in a new tab)
Community
Estates from Hantana, Gampola and the Knuckles foothills bring single-origin lots for public tasting, alongside plucking demonstrations and a cupping masterclass.
Tickets via organiser(opens in a new tab)
Community
Carvers, brassworkers, batik artists and mat weavers from across the district set up along the lakeside walk, with daily demonstrations of the liya vela motif.
Tickets via organiser(opens in a new tab)
Culture
Conservators open the working stone yard behind the palace precinct, showing current moonstone and balustrade conservation with guided tours every hour.
Tickets via organiser(opens in a new tab)Experiences
Eight ways to spend your time in Kandy, filtered by what you are in the mood for.
Culture
The ves natuma and the geta bera drum are the signature of the hill country. Evening performances at the cultural centre run through the full cycle of dances and end with a fire walk.
1 hour · Nightly at 17:00
Culture
Three times a day the inner chamber of the Sri Dalada Maligawa opens to the sound of drums and horanewa. Dress in white, cover shoulders and knees, and arrive twenty minutes early.
45 minutes · 05:30, 09:30 and 18:30 daily
Nature
Walk the plucking fields with an estate guide, follow the leaf through withering and rolling, then taste the day's grades side by side in the factory tasting room.
Half day · 06:30 - 11:00
Craft
The carving villages east of Kandy still cut the lotus, liya vela and mythical beast motifs that decorate temple timber. Workshops take two hours and you keep what you carve.
2 hours · Weekday mornings
Craft
Wax, dye, boil, repeat. Kandy's batik studios build up their patterns in as many as six passes, and most will let you take a small panel through the whole sequence.
3 hours · Tuesday to Saturday
Food
Start at the municipal market's spice balcony, learn to tell true cinnamon from cassia, then cook a rice and curry lunch with what you have bought.
4 hours · Morning, market closed Sundays
Nature
Leave in the dark, climb through tea, and reach the first ridge as the mist lifts off the valley. Clear mornings give a line of sight to the Knuckles range.
4 hours · 05:00 start, December to March
Heritage
A guided circuit of the lake taking in the walled parapet, the royal bathhouse, the old palace precinct and the colonial frontages along Dalada Veediya.
2 hours · 07:00 or 16:30
Newsroom
One feed for every body that runs the city, from the municipal council to the temple.
Tourism Department
Provincial figures show sustained growth in overnight stays, with the strongest increase in visitors staying three nights or longer to reach the surrounding hill country.
Kandy Municipal Council
Resurfacing of the northern promenade and repairs to the walled parapet are scheduled for completion before the Esala season, with night lighting upgraded along the full circuit.
Sri Dalada Maligawa
The Maligawa has published the nightly procession order for the ten-night festival, together with guidance on dress, photography and designated public viewing areas.
Department of Archaeology
Conservators have started stabilising four carved moonstones at the entrance to the old palace complex, using a reversible consolidant trialled at Polonnaruwa.
Plan your visit
Kandy sits three hours from Colombo by hill train. Once you arrive, almost everything in this guide is within a twenty minute walk of the lake.