Travel in Kandy

All six of our private Sri Lanka routes stop in Kandy. It sits at the entrance to the hill country, so most itineraries through the island pass through it anyway, and what it gives a trip is a cultural day between driving days. Every one of the six visits the Temple of the Tooth.

The temple stands by the lake with green hills behind it and holds a tooth of the Buddha. Kandy was the last stronghold of the Sinhalese kings, and the temple is what is left of that. Three of the six mention the custom of lighting an oil lamp or laying down flowers there for luck; one puts the visit in the evening, when the atmosphere is strongest.

A performance of traditional Kandyan dance and music follows the temple on five of the six. Culture & nature is the one that leaves it out — it spends its Kandy time on the botanical garden and an evening at the temple instead.

The Royal Botanic Garden at Peradeniya is on two routes, Between culture and jungle and Culture & nature, in both cases a morning walk before the temple, through plant collections gathered from around the world. The wonderful world of Sri Lanka spends its second Kandy day in the countryside instead: Lankatilaka, a brick Buddhist-Hindu temple set high on a rock with wall paintings inside, and Gadaladeniya Vihara, small and weathered, on a hill above the rice fields. That afternoon is then free. Forests, tea plantations & culture is the only route that stops at the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage on the drive up, where orphaned and injured elephants are cared for.

Four routes give Kandy two days; two give it one. Sri Lanka's glory fits the arrival, the temple and the dance show into a single day six, between Ella and the east-coast beach at Nilaveli. Breathtaking nature & culture does the same on day eight, before the tea factories at Nuwara Eliya. Those two are the short version. Culture & nature is the opposite case: it drives you to Kandy straight from Bandaranaike airport, so the town is the first thing you see in Sri Lanka.

None of the six includes a train. The Kandy to Ella line is the journey the country is known for, and it is not on any of our routes — you travel by road, in your own vehicle, with your own guide and driver. No itinerary is timed to the Esala Perahera either. And the lake appears only as the temple's setting; no boat trip or lakeside walk is scheduled.

Three of the six publish their hotels, and all three name the same one: the Ceyloni City, standard room, two nights. The other three do not list accommodation, so ask for it on your quote. All six include hotel accommodation, breakfast, a German-speaking guide, 24-hour availability and a bottle of water on arrival; international flights are not included. Rooms run standard and deluxe — there is no five-star tier. Every route is private and guided with no fixed departures, and prices run from EUR 750 for the 13-day trip to EUR 1,380.