Spend a full day in Kandy, Sri Lanka’s cultural capital, beginning at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic during the morning puja ceremony and continuing to the remarkable Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya. A walk through Kandy’s arts and crafts quarter rounds out one of the island’s richest cultural days.
Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
Attend the morning puja ceremony where drums and incense fill the outer courtyard with ceremonial atmosphere that has continued without interruption for centuries. Your guide explains the religious and royal significance of the relic and the ritual that surrounds it.
Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens
One of Asia’s finest tropical collections, 147 acres of riverside garden and specimen trees that reward a properly unhurried visit. The avenue of royal palms, the orchid house, and the collection of endemic Sri Lankan trees are highlights even within a remarkable whole.
Kandy Arts and Crafts Quarter
Explore the city’s living craft tradition of lacquer work, wood carving, and hand-woven textiles in working studios rather than souvenir shops. Meeting the craftspeople in their own environment gives a very different sense of Kandyan culture than the temple alone can offer.
