11 Top Tourist Places to Visit in Kandy

At a distance of 2 km from Kandy Railway Station, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is a Buddhist temple located to the north of Kandy Lake. It is considered as one of the most sacred Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka and among the most remarkable places to visit in Kandy as part of Sri Lanka Tour.

Sri Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is located in the royal palace complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy. This is the site of preservation of Lord Buddha's tooth, which is venerated by Buddhists around the world. The relic has played an important role in the local politics since ancient times as it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country, which caused the ancient kings to protect it with great effort. The temple was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

According to legend, the tooth relic was preserved in Kalinga after the parinirvana of Lord Buddha. It .....

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At a distance of 2 km from Kandy Railway Station, the National Museum of Kandy is a museum located next to the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Once a part of the Royal Palace of Kandy, it is one of the popular museums in Sri Lanka and among the prime places to visit as part of Kandy Tour Packages.

The National Museum of Kandy is housed in the Palle Vahala building. The Palle Vahala or Lower Palace was constructed during the Sri Wickrama Rajasingha era and was used as a palace where the Queens of the king lived. This building has been built according to the architectural features of the Kandyan period. Earlier, it was used as a depository for historical artifacts made by the Kandy Art Association and artisans of Matale. It was opened to the public as Kandy National Museum in the year 1942.

Maintained by the Department of National Museums, the museum houses over 5,000 artifacts depicting the history and culture of Kandy and of the British era Sri Lanka. The artifacts .....

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At a distance of 5 km from Kandy Railway Station, Royal Botanical Gardens is a landscaped garden situated at Peradeniya, Kandy. Also known as Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, this is the finest Botanical Gardens in Asia and among the prime places to visit in Kandy as part of Sri Lanka Packages.

Spanning over 147 acres, Peradeniya Botanical Gardens is the largest landscaped gardens in Sri Lanka and attracts approximately 2 million local and foreign visitors annually. The Royal Botanical Gardens were created in 1371 after King Wickramabahu III ascended the throne and kept court at Peradeniya, near the Mahaweli River. King Kirti Sri, King Rajasinghe and King Vimala Dharma followed the reign and built several structures that were all destroyed during the colonial rule in Kandy. The British laid the groundwork for a botanical garden under the supervision of Alexandar Moon in 1821 for the cultivation of coffee and cinnamon plants. The .....

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At a distance of 2 km from Kandy Railway Station, the Bahirawakanda Buddha Statue is located alongside the Sri Maha Bodhi Temple atop Bahirava Kanda (devil's) hill in Kandy. It is one of the tallest Buddha statues in Sri Lanka and among the must-visit places in Kandy while holidaying in Sri Lanka.

The Bahirawakanda Buddha Statue is standing at 88 feet high and can be seen from the entire city of Kandy. The construction of the statue began in the late 1980s by Ampitiye Dammarama Thero, a monk from the Amarapura Nikaya. It was finished in 1992 and officially inaugurated on 1st January 1993 by then President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

This beautifully sculpted white statue displays Buddha in Dhyana Mudra, the posture of meditation associated with his first enlightenment. There is a small gallery inside the statue that displays a collection of some magnificent pictures of Buddha's life from baby to manhood. The beauty of the statue doubles during the night when it is lit by lamps. The .....

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At a distance of 1.5 km from the Temple of Tooth Relic and 3.5 km from Kandy Railway Station, Udawatta Kele Sanctuary or the Royal Forest Park of Kandy is situated on the hillside behind the Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Tooth Relic. It is one of the popular places to visit in Kandy.

Lying in the heart of the busy city of Kandy, Udawattakele Forest Reserve extends about 257 acres and is considered to be a vital Bio reserve for the much-populated city of Kandy. During the days of the Kandyan kingdom, Udawattakele was known as 'Uda Wasala Watta' in Sinhalese meaning 'the garden above the royal palace', frequented by the royalty and was out of bound to the people. Since the downfall of the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815, this forest area started to deteriorate due to human activities and was designated as a forest reserve in 1856. Later it became a sanctuary under British rule in 1938, and numerous pathways were created leading through the forest and were given names such as Lady Horton .....

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At a distance of 2 km from Kandy Railway Station, Kandy Lake is an artificial lake located at the center of the hill town of Kandy in Sri Lanka. Situated next to the Temple of Tooth Relic, it is one of the popular places to visit in Kandy.

Also known as Kiri Muhuda or the Sea of Milk, Kandy Lake was built in 1807 by King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, the last ruler of the kingdom of Kandy. Later in 1810, the king built a dam across the paddy fields, for the purpose of reaching the opposite side of the lake. According to the folklore, several minor local chiefs protested this because their people objected to laboring on the project. In order to stop the protests, they were put to death on stakes in the lake bed.

The extent of Kandy Lake is 6,544 sq. m and the circumference is 3.21 km. There is a building located on a small island in the center of the lake, together with some ancient ruins, was known as Diyatilaka Mandapaya in the past. It is believed that the Kings used this pavilion .....

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At a distance of 2 km from Kandy Railway Station, the Royal Palace of Kandy is an ancient palace situated near the Temple of Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy. Also known as Mahawasala, it is one of the must-visit places in Kandy as part of your Sri Lanka Tour.

The Royal Palace of Kandy was the royal residence of the Sri Lankan monarchy of the Kingdom of Kandy in Sri Lanka. The last king to reside in this palace was King Sri Wickrama Rajasinha (1798-1815). The first palace was built by King Wickramabahu III in the 14th century CE. King Vimala Dharma Suriya I (1592-1603) also occupied this palace and made various improvements to the existing palace. During the reign of King Senarat (1603-1634), the Portuguese attacked the Kandyan Kingdom and destroyed the palace. Rajasinha II who ascended to the throne in 1634 rebuilt it and all the subsequent kings used this as their Royal Palace until 1815 when the British took over Kandy.

The King's Palace or Raja Wasala was once part of a large .....

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At a distance of 41 km from Kandy and 92 km from Colombo, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is an orphanage, nursery and captive breeding ground for wild Asian elephants located at Pinnawala village in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is one of the popular attractions to visit in Kandy as part of Sri Lanka Packages.

Pinnawala Orphanage was established in 1975 CE by the Sri Lanka Department of Wildlife Conservation in a 25-acre coconut property adjoining the Maha Oya River. It was originally founded for feeding and providing care to many orphaned baby elephants found in the jungles of Sri Lanka. The operations of this site began by rescuing and nurturing 5 abandoned baby elephants from the dense forests of Sri Lanka. The orphanage was taken over by the National Zoological Gardens from the Department of Wildlife in 1978 and a captive breeding program was launched in 1982. Since the inception of the program over 20 elephants have been bred here.

The addition of orphans continued .....

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At a distance of 5 km from Kandy Railway Station, the Commonwealth War Cemetery is a British military burial ground located in Deveni Rajasinghe Mawatha, Kandy. Also known as Kandy War Cemetery, it is one of the popular War Cemeteries in Sri Lanka and among the prime Kandy Tourist Places.

The Kandy War Cemetery was established for soldiers of the British Empire who were died during World War II as well as a soldier who died during World War I. This place was initially known as Pitakande Military Cemetery and was owned by the Military authorities until it was taken over by the War Commission. The Commonwealth War Cemetery is one of the most well maintained and visited war cemeteries of the world.

At this beautifully landscaped cemetery, one can see one Commonwealth burial from the World War I and a further 196 Commonwealth burials from the World War II. The cemetery also has four foreign national burials and two non-world war burials. Of the 203 dead, 151 were from the army, .....

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At a distance of 3 km from Kandy Railway Station, British Garrison Cemetery, also known as the Kandy Garrison Cemetery is a British cemetery located near the Temple of Sacred Tooth Relic. It is one of the best places to visit in Kandy.

The cemetery was established in 1817 CE just after the British captured the Kandy for the British nationals who died in Ceylon. It was closed in 1873 due to a ban on burials within the municipal limits, although special provision was given to allow the burial of relatives of those interred in the cemetery, with the last person buried there being Annie Fritz in 1951. The cemetery contains 195 graves of men, women, and children. The names and the living years of those who buried were engraved on the tombstones. The most common causes of death were tropical diseases such as malaria and cholera.

The cemetery was restored in 1998 using financial contributions from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is currently maintained by a group called .....

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At a distance of 39 km from Negambo, 116 km from Kandy, 126 km from Galle, 150 km from Mirissa, 161 km from Dambulla, 167 km from Nuwara Eliya, 202 km from Anuradhapura, 205 km from Ella, 230 km from Polonnaruwa and 395 km from Jaffna, Colombo is the commercial capital and the largest city of Sri Lanka by population. Located in the western province of the Island, it is one of the must-include places in Sri Lanka Tour Packages.

With rich colonial heritage and very scenic and popular attractions, Colombo is arguably the most popular tourist destination in Sri Lanka. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the legislative capital of the country, is within the urban area of the city, hence Colombo is often called the capital of Sri Lanka as well. It is also the administrative capital of the Western Province and the capital of Colombo district. The name 'Colombo', is believed to be derived from the classical Sinhala name Kolon Thota, meaning 'port .....

Distance (From Kandy): 116 Kms
Trip Duration (From Kandy - Including Travel): Full Day
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