Kandy Today

Quiet and homely, residents cluster around the economic hub that buzzes a bazaar atmosphere. Life moves sedately, though not with inactivity. Away from tourist trappings, Kandy is filled with hidden thrills.

Passing the spice gardens, Pinnawela elephant orphanage,

Mahaweli river and the famous Peradeniya Gardens - Lord Mountbatten's WWII headquarters - you arrive in Kandy, home to the Royal Palace and the sacred Temple of the Tooth (known as the Dalada Maligawa).

The last King who transformed Kandy into a celestial city , designed the white stone parapet that runs on the north shore of the artificial Kandy Lake (called kiri muhuda, or milky sea). The cloud-like drift (called walakulu bemma) on the walls and wave-like swells (called diyareli bemma) thus appears to make Kandy, a city floating in the sky in the lake's reflection.