Kandy

About Kandy

Kandy sits in a bowl of green hills around an artificial lake, at about 500 metres — high enough that the air is noticeably cooler and fresher than Colombo. It was the seat of the last independent Sinhalese kingdom, holding out against the Portuguese and Dutch and only falling to the British in 1815, which is why so much of Sri Lankan royal culture survives here in a form it does not elsewhere.

The city's heart is the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which houses a tooth said to have been recovered from the Buddha's funeral pyre. Possession of the relic was historically tied to the right to rule the island, and the temple remains the most significant Buddhist site in Sri Lanka. Three times a day the inner chamber is opened for puja, accompanied by drummers and horn players, and the queue of white-clad pilgrims moves past the golden casket.

Beyond the temple, Kandy rewards slower exploration than most itineraries give it: the lakeside walk, the covered market, the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya just outside town, and the surrounding hills dotted with temples that see almost no visitors.

What to see in Kandy

Visiting the Temple of the Tooth

The temple is open through the day, but the experience is quite different during puja. There are three ceremonies daily — early morning, late morning and evening — when the doors of the inner chamber are opened, drummers and horn players perform, and pilgrims file past the casket holding the relic. The tooth itself is never displayed; what you see is the outermost of a series of nested gold caskets.

Dress code is strict and enforced: shoulders and knees covered, shoes removed and left at the counter outside, hats off. White clothing is customary for Sri Lankan devotees but not expected of visitors.

Go early if you want space. The evening puja is the most atmospheric and also the busiest. Security is thorough — the temple was bombed in 1998 — so expect bag checks and allow extra time.

The train from Kandy

Kandy is where most travellers join the hill country railway, one of the more genuinely spectacular train journeys anywhere. The line climbs through tea estates and cloud forest to Nanu Oya (for Nuwara Eliya) in about four hours, and on to Ella in about seven.

Reserved seats in second and third class sell out weeks ahead in high season. Unreserved carriages are always available and are where the open-door photographs come from, but they can be standing-room only. We book reserved seats where we can and run the vehicle alongside with your luggage, so you travel light and get picked up at the far end.