Kandy or “Maha Nuwara” (the Great City) is the last capital of the Sinhala Monarchy. Due to its elevation (500 m ASL), Kandy has an average temperature of 26°C . It is 116 km from Colombo. Kandy City is an International religious centre and since 1988 it’s on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.
The city is encircled by mountain ranges and Sri Lankas’ longest river Mahaweli Ganga.Kandy enjoys the ancient lifestyle of Sri Lankans which combines with Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Dance and Music that are endemic to Sri Lanka.
Among the places of worship, the Sri Dalada Maligawa (The Temple of the Tooth Relic) takes pride of place. It is the paladium of the Theravada Buddhist faith and contains a genuine tooth of the Lord Gauthama Buddha inside seven golden caskets and is located on the north shore of the Kandy Lake. The four God houses (Natha Devale, Maha Vishnu Devale, Pattini Devale and Kataragame Devale) play an important role in annual Esala Perahera (July Full Moon Procession). It lasts for ten impressive nights when the Sacred Golden Casket is carried through the town proceeded by crowds of whip crackers, musicians, dancers, dignitaries and splendidly decorated elephants.
Just beside the bustling city center of Kandy is the Udawattekele Bird Sanctuary with towering forest giants and creepers that give shelter to birds, butterflies and some monkeys.Kandy city is also inherits a Botanical garden in Peradeniya.The Royal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya was first laid out by King Kirthi Sri Rajasinha (1747 – 1782) and it spans over 147 acres.Its main attractions are its numerous trees from all over the world, including a palm garden illustrating the variety of this particular species, flowerbeds, orchids and massive bamboos.Moreover avenues and sections of this garden provide a great variety of tropical flora.
Many temples are situated around Kandy City.Some of them are Gadaladeniya, Lankathilaka, Degaldoruwa and Galmaduwa. Well-known Embekka Devale is also situated near Kandy which has exquisite woodcarving artifacts . There are poorly preserved traces of paint and plaster probably date from 5C, indicating that the temples were already in use in the classical Sinhalese period.
Many craftsmen working with brass can be seen at walk along the path to the Lankatilaka Temple. The handicraft villages near Embekka Devale and the Galadadeniya Devale temples are famous for Kandyan arts and crafts. The Kandy Walawa is located in Teldeniya where one could gather first hand experience in dyeing and weaving of carpets, mats and garments. The National Museum is another important place in Kandy which has a wide collection of Kandyan arts and crafts, especially during the Kandyan period from 1700 to 1815.
On way to Kandy you can see the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, the only elephant orphanage in the world. There are more than 80 elephants. It is about 45 minute drive from Kandy, off the Kandy-Colombo Road. It is 13 km away from Kegalle town on the Kegalle-Rambukkana Road. At noon the mahouts (elephant keepers) scrub the baby elephants and a few fully grown animals in the river.
Kandy City welcomes you to get its’ experience in nature ,culture and adventure in your Sri Lanka travel.
