Top Things to Do in the Kandy | Must-See Attractions & Experiences

Plan Your Travel To Kandy

Places To Visit In Kandy

Maduru Oya National Park

Maduru Oya National Park is home to diverse wildlife and fascinating Buddhist ruins. With a population numbering more than a hundred, Asian elephants are the best feature of this national park. The wildlife at the park includes leopards, pangolins, mugger crocodiles, and birds such as cormorants and storks. The endemic tree Vatica Obscura is a highlight of the park’s flora. The ruins of Buddhist structures—shrines, hermitages, statues, temples and dagobas—are also abundant here. Brahmi inscriptions from the 1st to 3rd century BC and a sluice gate whose origins lie in the 6th century BC are other ruins of historical significance. The Vedda folk reside in an area of the park, and visitors are often allowed to understand their culture and way of life. Explore all the facets of the park at your leisure by staying at a campsite or a bungalow run by the Department Of Wildlife Conservation. The park was established in 1983 and also sheltered some members of the indigenous Vedda tribe. Maduru Oya National Park is a serene location in the most real sense of the word—often, you might be the only tourists around, making it seem like a private tour of the country’s spectacular landscape and wildlife. Read More

Sri Lankan history and heritage, which has come a long way over the decades, is rightly preserved in the National Museum in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Formerly known as Palle Vahala, the museum earlier used to serve as accommodation for royal guests. Located just beside the famous Temple of the Tooth relic in Kandy, the National Museum, acclaimed its status in 1942. It is a must visit place for travellers and explorers who have a thirst to know the unknown and to understand the past. Over about 5,000 artifacts and ola leaf manuscripts are preserved in this National Museum of Kandy. Statues of eminent personalities like the former Governor of Ceylon, Sir Henry Ward are exhibited. The Kanadian era architecture of the museum is magnificent and the exhibition inside the museum provides a glance of mini Sri Lanka - its history, culture and the lineage of the kingdom, all at once. Read More

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was launched to provide shelter and nourishment to abandoned, injured and maimed elephants. The ideology behind this project revolves around the care of abandoned baby elephants, who cannot survive without their mothers. The local park allows tourists to ride on, pet and play with elephants. The animals are really friendly and if tourists jump into the water with them they spray them with water from the trunk. This also recycle elephant excreta to make paper and happens to be the only factory in the world that does this. Read More

The Ranweli Spice Garden located near Peradeniya Royal Botanical Garden also provides a pick-up service available from Kandy to the Ranweli Spice Garden. They organize guided tours for visitors where the English-speaking guide explains the essentials of flavor generation and its history.

Located in Hasalaka, Rathna Ella is the 14th highest waterfall (111 meters) in the country. A popular trekking destination, visitors would have to undertake a 3-km trek along the water channel bracketed by lush green forests to reach the falls.

Kandy’s legacy and heritage remains incomplete without getting a glimpse of the Royal Palace of Kandy, situated in the north to the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Before British Colonialism overtook the Kandyan Kingdom, this was the last royal structure built in the heart of Kandy city by Vikramabahu III in the 14th century. This monarchical building exhibiting Kandyan architectural excellence reveals clues and information regarding the royal life of the Sinhalese before the British invasion. The Palace area is humungous along with a Palace Park near the Kandy lake and the Archaeological Museum. While exploring Sri Lanka, visit this Royal Palace to get in touch with the country’s extensive history and to identify and admire historical artefacts that have become rare and antique in today’s modern times. Read More

You can explore the Royal Spice Garden in Matale to understand how the herbs and spices are grown and processed. Ayurvedic medicines for conditions such as diabetes are available at the Garden’s sales counter. Visitors must be cautious while purchasing using their debit/credit cards as card cloning fraud is a common worry in and around the place.

Located in Gomara village, 30 km from Kandy, Saree Ella Waterfall is approximately an hour-long journey to reach. Resembling the pallu of a saree, this waterfall provides mesmerising views.

The Sirilak Spice and Herbal Botanical Garden located in Matale houses various spice plants. In addition to witnessing these plants, visitors also learn more about their medicinal benefits through guided tours. There are shops inside the garden selling organic herbs and spices as well.

Known as the spice island, Sri Lanka has three famous spice gardens – Ranweli spice gardens in Kandy and Arunalu spice gardens in Matale and the New Ranweli Spice gardens in Kandy. The renowned spice gardens of Kandy and their exuberant quality lies in the fact that they are produced through organic farming and have received a fair trade certification. It cultivates 15 different spices, and a tour of the gardens will show you the process of cultivation, harvesting, cleaning and packaging apart from health benefits and uses of the herbs. It also brings to you a chance to buy beautiful, exotic and delicate organic spices and herbs, first-hand from the local vendors right after harvesting. All this has put its name on the global spice market. The way this spice garden in Kandy is structured is with pathways to differentiate the cultivation of each spice, pipes for irrigation and a strand of climbers and creepers along the aisles to aid tourists to walk along. Intricate planning, ideas and expertise following a lineage of several years is the reason for the success of the spice industry. The spice gardens enable you to taste some fantastic flavours and purchase customary cures and regular beautifying agents handmade by the local experts. There is also a greenhouse that serves as an information centre in addition to teaching you how to perceive the taste of different spices. Read More