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NUWARA GIYA
Occupying the island’s southern heartlands, the sublime green heights of the hill country are a world away from the sweltering coastal lowlands – indeed nothing encapsulates Sri Lanka’s scenic diversity as neatly as the short journey by road or rail up from the humid urban melee of Colombo to the cool altitudes of Kandy or Nuwara Eliya. The landscape here is a beguiling mixture of nature and nurture. In places the mountainous green hills rise to surprisingly rugged and dramatic peaks; in others, the slopes are covered in carefully manicured tea gardens whose neatly trimmed lines of bushes add a toy-like quality to the landscape, while the mist and clouds which frequently blanket the hills add a further layer of magic.
The hill country has been shaped by two very different historical forces. The northern portion, around the historic city of Kandy, was home to Sri Lanka’s last independent kingdom, which survived two centuries of colonial incursions before finally falling to the British in 1815. The cultural legacy of this independent Sinhalese tradition lives on today in the city’s distinctive music, dance and architecture, encapsulated by the Temple of the Tooth, home to the island’s most revered Buddhist relic, and the exuberant Kandy Esala Perahera, one of Asia’s most spectacular festivals.
In contrast, the southern hill country is largely a product of the British colonial era, when tea was introduced to the island, an industry which continues to power the economy of the region today. At the heart of the tea-growing uplands, the time-warped town of Nuwara Eliya preserves many quaint traces of its British colonial heritage and also provides the best base for visiting the misty uplands of Horton Plains and World’s End. Southeast of here, in Uva Province, a string of small towns and villages – most notably Ella and Haputale – offer marvellous views and walks through the hills and tea plantations, while to the west the spectacular summit of Adam’s Peak remains an object of pilgrimage for devotees of all four of the island’s principal religions. Further south, the gem-mining town of Ratnapura is the jumping-off point for visits to the Sinharaja reserve, a rare and remarkable pocket of tangled tropical rainforest, and Uda Walawe National Park, home to one of the island’s largest elephant populations.
The 110km journey from Colombo to Kandy provides a neat snapshot of Sri Lanka’s dramatic scenic contrasts, taking you within just three hours from sweltering coastal lowlands to cool inland hills. Many visitors make the journey by train, a classic journey along one of south Asia’s most spectacularly engineered tracks, first opened in 1867, which weaves slowly upwards through long tunnels and along narrow ledges blasted by Victorian engineers out of solid rock, with vertiginous drops below (sit on the right-hand side en route to Kandy for the best views). Perhaps even more spectacular, however, is the journey by road (another legacy of British engineering skills, completed in 1825), as the main A1 highway rolls uphill and down before making the final, engine-busting climb up into Kandy, giving a much more immediate sense of the hills’ scale and altitude than the railway line’s carefully graded ascent.
The major caveat concerning the road is the traffic, which is now more or less permanently gridlocked in the environs of Kandy. The new Central Expressway, due to open in 2020 between Colombo and Kandy, will cut journey times between the two cities significantly, although it’s unlikely to match the existing highway’s levels of white-knuckle drama.
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SINHARAJA
Kandy Hidden away amid the beautiful central highlands, Sri Lanka’s second city and cultural capital is a vibrant showcase of traditional Sinhalese art, architecture and crafts.
Esala Perahera, Kandy The island’s most spectacular festival, with immense processions of drummers, dancers and richly caparisoned elephants.
Kandyan dancing Watch lavishly costumed dancers performing to an accompaniment of explosively energetic drumming.
Horton Plains and World’s End Hike across the uplands of Horton Plains to the vertiginous cliffs of World’s End, which plunge sheer for almost a kilometre to the plains below.
Adam’s Peak The classic Sri Lankan pilgrimage, climbing to the summit of one of the island’s most spectacular mountains.
Ella The island’s most beautifully situated village, with superb views and country walks.
Sinharaja This unique tract of undisturbed tropical rainforest is a botanical treasure trove of global significance.
HIGHLIGHTS ARE MARKED ON THE MAP
Heading inland from Colombo along the Kandy road, the urban sprawl continues for the best part of 25km until you pass the turn-off to the large town of Gampaha. Beyond here, a series of roadside settlements (shown on the map) exemplify the continuing tendency for Sri Lankan villages (especially in the Kandyan region) to specialize in a particular craft or crop. These include, in order, Belummahara (pineapples, stacked up in neat racks by the roadside) followed by Nittambuwa (rambutans, when in season); the latter is also home to a striking memorial to former prime ministers S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and his wife, Sirimavo (right next to the highway at the 39km marker). Next, and most famous, is Kadjugama (cashew nuts – the name means “Cashew Nut Village”), where a long line of colourfully dressed female kadju-sellers stand by the roadside attempting to flag down drivers and flog them cashews – the best place in Sri Lanka to experience what it’s really like to be driven nuts. A couple of miles further on, Radawaduna is known for its cane industry, with all sort of ingenious creations ranging from chairs and shelves through to beautiful lantern-style lampshades.
Some 10km beyond Radawaduna, around the town of Warakapola (roughly at the midway point between Colombo and Kandy), the appearance of steep-sided, forest-covered hills marks the gradual beginnings of the hill country. A further 10km beyond Warakapola, at Nelundeniya, a side road from the main highway heads 3km south through a verdant landscape of rubber trees, paddy fields and banana palms to the sleepy village of DEDIGAMA. The village was formerly the capital of the semi-autonomous southern kingdom of Dakkinadesa and served as one of the island’s capitals for a decade or so during the reigns of the brothers Bhuvanekabahu IV (r. 1341–51) and Parakramabahu V (r. 1344–59), who ruled simultaneously from Dedigama and Gampola, although sources disagree on which king reigned from which city. The place is better known, however, for its associations with Parakramabahu the Great, king of Polonnaruwa, who was born here and who later succeeded to the throne of Dakkinadesa – although he quickly hot-footed it off to Panduwas Nuwara, where he established a new capital before launching his bid for islandwide power.
Dedigama Museum Mon & Wed–Sun 8am–4pm • Free
Parakramabahu is popularly credited with having created Dedigama’s major sight, the huge but unfinished Suthighara Cetiya (also known as the “Kota Vihara”), whose impressive remains – comprising the huge base and lower portion of a dagoba on a high, three-tiered base – seem totally out of scale with the tiny modern-day village. On the far side of the stupa, a secondary mini-stupa built into the third tier (signed, but in Sinhalese only) is said to have been built by Parakramabahu’s parents in celebration of his birth, and to mark the exact site of the room in which he was born.
Next to the dagoba, the Dedigama Museum contains a cache of objects recovered from the dagoba’s relic chamber including a fine sequence of tiny gold-plated Buddhas and an unusual elephant-topped oil lamp (ath pahana). A simple bowl (labelled “A recede clay bowl” – whatever that means) on display is said to be the one used to wash Parakramabahu himself after his birth.
Some 20km north of Warakapola, the small town of DAMBADENIYA was once home to the first of the short-lived Sinhalese capitals established following the fall of Polonnaruwa in 1212. The new capital was founded by Vijayabahu III (r. 1232–36) and also served as the seat of his son, Parakramabahu II (r. 1236–70), whose long reign saw a brief renaissance in Sinhalese political power. Parakramabahu II succeeded in expelling the Indian invader Magha with Pandyan help, after which his forces reoccupied the shattered cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. This purely symbolic victory was followed by further turmoil, and his son, Vijayabahu IV (r. 1270–72), lasted only two years before being assassinated by Bhuvanekabahu, who then moved the capital to Yapahuwa.
Daily 24hr • Free
Around 1km south of the main road lie the remains of Dambadeniya’s old Royal Palace. There’s not much left of the palace itself, although the location is dramatic, perched on a huge granite outcrop, with a beautiful old stone-cut stairway running through pristine jungle up to the top. A stiff fifteen-minute climb will get you to the palace, where you can still make out the brick foundations of the council chamber. A further five-minute scramble through trees brings you the summit itself, from where there are stunning views, only slightly marred by the huge factory directly below.
A couple of minutes’ drive from the palace is the rambling Vijayasundara Vihara –“Beautiful Vijaya Temple”, named in honour of Vijayabahu III, who founded it. In the middle of the complex sits the temple’s rustic central shrine, a rough-and-ready structure supported by rudimentary stone columns; this formerly housed the island’s famous Tooth Relic, kept in a room in the (now vanished) third storey. The remains of Kandyan-era murals can be seen on the exterior, with the plaster peeling away in places to reveal even older (but badly eroded) pictures etched into the blackened walls beneath. There are also some fine Kandyan-era strip paintings inside the shrine’s upstairs room, although you’ll have to get the head monk to unlock it for you.
Next to the shrine stands an unusual roofed dagoba reminiscent of the one at Gadaladeniya. Fragments of ancient stone carvings (including some old guardstones), probably dating back to the thirteenth century, lie scattered around the temple, while the brick foundations of a monastery sit to one side.
The turn-off to Panavitiya is in the village of Metiyagane, 4.5km northeast of Dambadeniya; from here, turn north (left) along Danggolla Road for 1.7km, then go left at the black archeological department sign to Panavitiya for 1.5km to reach the ambalama, just past the main village temple (Mahamuni Vihara).
North of Dambadeniya, the village of PANAVITIYA is home to an interesting little ambalama (rest house), built to provide shelter for travellers along the road (this was the old highway to Anuradhapura). The tiny but intricately carved rosewood structure is richly decorated with assorted Kandyan-style carvings, similar to those found at the Embekke Devale and Padeniya Raja Mahavihara, including a mahout with elephant and stick, wrestlers, dancers and drummers, demons, coiled snakes, peacocks and many other human and animal figures.
East from Warakapola, the main highway from Colombo to Kandy climbs steeply to reach the bustling town of KEGALLE, crammed into a single hectic main street along the side of an elevated ridge – the top of the town’s cute yellow clocktower is said to be modelled on the hat of a British governor.
Saradiel: Sri Lanka’s Robin Hood
The spectacular rock-topped peak of Utuwankanda is famous in local legend as the hideout of the Sri Lankan folk hero, Deekirikevage Saradiel (or Sardiel), who terrorized traffic on the main Kandy to Colombo highway throughout the 1850s and early 1860s, and whose exploits in fleecing the rich while succouring the poor have provoked inevitable comparisons with Robin Hood, whose flowing locks and predilection for remote forest hideouts Saradiel shared.
Based in the impenetrable jungle around Utuwankanda, Saradiel’s gang waylaid carriages, regularly disrupting traffic on the Kandy Road and forcing the British authorities into a massive manhunt to track down the elusive bandit. Saradiel was eventually lured to Mawanella and captured by a detachment of the Ceylon Rifles following a shoot-out, during which his companion, Mammalay Marikkar, shot dead a certain Constable Shaban, the first Sri Lankan police officer to die in action – an event still commemorated annually by the island’s police. Saradiel and Marikkar were taken to Kandy, sentenced to death, and hanged on May 7, 1864. Thousands thronged the streets of the city to catch a glimpse of the notorious criminal, but were surprised to see a slim and pleasant-looking figure rather than the ferocious highwayman they had expected – a police statement described him as just 5ft 3in tall, with long hair and hazel eyes.
Just over 3km beyond Kegalle a turn-off heads north to the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage, Pinnewala Zoo, Millennium Elephant Foundation and Elephant Freedom Project, beyond which are immediate views of the dramatically steep and densely forested mountain of Utuwankanda (also known by its British name of Castle Rock), the former stronghold of the infamous robber Saradiel (see above). The road then climbs steeply again, giving increasingly grand views of craggy, densely wooded hills, including the prominent, flat-topped Bible Rock to the right, which acquired its pious name thanks to dutiful local Victorians on account of its alleged resemblance to a lectern.
Past Bible Rock the road enters Mawanella, beyond which it runs past assorted spice gardens before it hairpins upwards again, with increasingly spectacular views, to the famous viewpoint at Kadugannawa Pass, the most dramatic point along the highway, with spectacular views of Bible Rock and surrounding peaks – a panorama which brings home the ruggedness and scale of the hill-country terrain and makes you realize why the Kingdom of Kandy was able to hold out against European invaders for so long. The road up cuts through a short rock-hewn tunnel before reaching the top of the pass, where there’s an imposing monument to British engineer W.F. Dawson (d.1829), who oversaw the construction of the Kandy road.
Just past the monument, an incongruous array of antiquated railway carriages and steam engines lined up alongside the highway announce the presence of the National Railway Museum (daily 9am–4pm; Rs.500), housing an interesting collection of colonial-era rolling stock and other railway-related paraphernalia ranging from station furniture to safety equipment, including a striking fire-cart with a gleaming copper water tank. There’s also a short film about the history of trains in Sri Lanka, screened in a beautifully restored wooden carriage.
Further old mechanical relics can be found another 6km down the road at the Highway State Museum in the village of Kiribathkumbura, a rather grand name for a collection of five old colonial-era steamrollers, plus a replica of the Bogoda Bridge, laid out along the side of the road.
Just down the road is the large town of Peradeniya (now more or less fused with Kandy), home to Kandy’s university and famous botanical gardens, on the outskirts of Kandy proper.
Daily 8.30am–6pm • Rs.2500 (or Rs.3000 combined ticket with Pinnewala Zoo) • 
nationalzoo.gov.lk/elephantorphanage
Due west of Kandy, situated in the rolling hills around the Ma Oya river, the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage remains one of Sri Lanka’s most popular tourist attractions. Set up in 1975 to look after five orphaned baby elephants, Pinnewala now has around eighty, making it home to the world’s largest group of captive elephants. The animals include orphaned and abandoned elephants, as well as those injured in the wild (often in conflicts with farmers).
Sadly, despite its laudable original aims, ongoing concerns have been raised over the past decade about the treatment of Pinnewala’s elephants, including repeated allegations of systematic animal cruelty. Various malpractices have been described, culminating in 2011 when one of the orphanage’s male elephants died after apparently being stabbed 96 times with an elephant goad (ankus). Other concerns include the sheer number of visitors to the orphanage and the ways animals are hemmed in during bathing and feeding times.
Although still the target of innumerable negative comments online, it should be noted that the orphanage has made efforts to clean up its act in recent years. CCTV cameras have been installed to prevent clandestine cruelty to elephants, while births at the orphanage have also dried to a trickle (one argument against the place was that elephants were deliberately being bred here for a life in captivity, or for onward sale). In addition, fewer mahouts nowadays seem to be soliciting tips in return for a chance to touch or be photographed with one of the beasts, and no elephant rides are offered, either. For more on the rights and wrongs of Pinnewala see bit.ly/Pinnewala or bit.ly/Pinnewala2.
The herd are kept for most of the time in a 30-acre enclosure at the back of the complex, and are allowed to wander at will – visitors are kept at one end behind a fence. If you want to see the animals up close, you’ll have to time your visit to coincide with one of the regular feeding sessions, an entertaining sight as the older elephants stuff their faces with trunkloads of palm leaves, while youngsters guzzle enormous quantities of milk out of oversized baby bottles (general feeding sessions at 9am and 12.15pm; bottle feeding at 9am, 1.15pm & 5pm). Twice a day the elephants are driven across the road to the Ma Oya river for a leisurely bath (10am–noon & 2–4pm) – you can observe their antics from the riverbank or, in greater comfort and for the price of a drink, from the terraces of the Pinnalanda or Elephant Park Hotel restaurants above the river.
Animal rights and wrongs
The Pinnewala Orphanage – and indeed the holding of elephants in captivity generally – is a complex and emotive issue. Elephant welfare is of course paramount, although it shouldn’t be forgotten that there’s a very human dimension to the management of elephants in Sri Lanka, given that around a hundred villagers are killed annually by wild elephants.
The use of elephant chains is a frequent bone of contention. One problem concerns restraining practices applied to male elephants, who become extremely aggressive and dangerous when in heat (musth) and who have to be isolated and restrained – if you see a visibly distressed elephant chained up on its own at Pinnewala, this is probably the reason (not a great sight, admittedly, but better than a dead elephant – or dead people). Other elephants are sometimes lightly chained for various reasons, such as new arrivals being trained, or the matriarch elephant during bathing times to stop her wandering off and leading the herd with her. Used appropriately, elephant chains are no more cruel (perhaps less) than putting a lead on a dog, and are a lot more comfortable than rope or cord since they don’t – when used correctly – cut into the skin, and also allow it to breathe. Conversely, the incorrect use of elephant chains can lead to intense distress and deep flesh wounds as elephants struggle against their bonds. The same applies to the use of the ankus (elephant goad), which can in the wrong hands serve as a lethal weapon, but which, when correctly employed, provides a humane and painless way of controlling the animals.
Less ambiguity surrounds the issue of elephant rides, which have been rightly boycotted by tour operators worldwide over recent years. Putting a howdah (elephant seat) on the back of an elephant and loading it up with as many as four or five people is unquestionably cruel. Harnesses used to secure howdahs frequently result in deep flesh wounds, while the sheer weight of people which some elephants are obliged to carry is akin to torture – some Asian elephants have simply dropped dead beneath their loads after being systematically overworked. The only humane way to ride an elephant is for a single rider to sit bareback on its neck, as Asian mahouts traditionally do. Any other form of elephant riding should be completely avoided.
Some people also wonder why elephants like the ones at Pinnewala can’t simply be released back into the wild. Unfortunately, many would not survive, while others – being so habituated to humans, and accustomed to receiving food from them – would most likely descend on the nearest village, with potentially catastrophic results.
Daily 8.30am–6pm • Rs.1000 (or Rs.3000 combined ticket with the elephant orphanage) • nationalzoo.gov.lk
Some 500m south of the elephant orphanage, the recently opened Pinnewala Zoo was established to provide a more spacious and state-of-the-art alternative to the dated and impossibly cramped Dehiwala Zoo in Colombo. It’s still very much a work in progress and rather lacking in wildlife so far, and the leopard enclosure, despite the amount of land available, still feels depressingly cramped. Leopards apart there’s not a great deal to see bar a few impressive saltwater and mugger crocs in the central lake, and lots of local ungulates, including a few impossibly cute mouse deer.
Daily 8am–5pm • Rs.5000 (or Rs.6000 with lunch); advance booking by phone or via the website advised • 
076 900 8388, millenniumelephantfoundation.com
A few kilometres down the road from Pinnewala towards Kandy, the Millennium Elephant Foundation offers intimate and insightful elephant interactions. With the exception of the young Pooja, who was born at the foundation in 1986 (the only birth here to date), the nine elephants here are all former working animals rescued from logging, tourist elephant rides and temples. Visits (2–3hr; maximum 10 people per elephant) include guided 45min walks with chain-free elephants and the chance to feed and have a bath in the river with them, plus a tour of the foundation’s small museum and a visit to an elephant-paper factory. You can also sign up to do voluntary work here for any length of time from one day upwards. All ages are welcome, with prices starting from Rs.9000/day full board and falling the longer you stay.
Daily 9am–5pm (advance booking required) • Half-day visit Rs.5500, one-day visit Rs.10,500 (plus $25 full board to stay the night) • 077 212 1305, volunteersatwork.org/en
Further pachyderm possibilities can be found 1km south of the Millennium Foundation at the new Elephant Freedom Project, which provides a refuge to two elephants, Sita and Nilami, who were previously used for logging. Visitors get to spend an extended period in close contact with the animals, helping to feed, wash and accompany them during their regular walks (but no elephant rides), and with a maximum of ten visitors per elephant. The project also has some neat and cosy rooms in a comfortable, modern house ($18 per person half board) if you fancy staying overnight.
Pinnewala is on a side road a few kilometres north of the Colombo to Kandy highway, just east of Kegalle. With your own vehicle the journey from Kandy should take around an hour, or perhaps slightly less depending on traffic. The orphanage can also be visited from Colombo by train or bus. From Negombo, a day-trip to the orphanage by taxi will cost around $55–60.
By taxi or tuktuk The return trip by taxi from Kandy costs around $25–30. It’s also possible to get a tuktuk from Kandy (around $20), though it’s a smelly and uncomfortable ride, and not really worth the small saving.
By bus Take a service from the Goods Shed terminal in Kandy towards Kegalle (every 30min; 1hr–1hr 30min) and get off at Karandupana, a few kilometres before Kegalle. From here, catch a bus for Rambukkana and get off at Pinnewala (every 20min; 10min) or catch a tuktuk (around Rs.300). From Colombo, catch any bus to Kandy and get off at Karandupana.
By train Rambukkana, 3km from the orphanage, is served by slow trains from Kandy to Colombo – there are approximately 5 trains daily from each city, which will get you to Rambukkana during opening hours (1hr 30min from Kandy, 1hr 50min–2hr 10min from Colombo). From Rambukkana you can either hop on a bus or take a tuktuk.
You won’t visit many tourist shops in Sri Lanka without finding at least a few examples of the local elephant paper: paper made from elephant dung. As well as their many remarkable abilities, elephants are also a kind of paper factory on legs. During feeding, they ingest huge amounts of fibre (roughly 180kg per day) which is then pulped in the stomach and delivered (around sixteen times daily) in fresh dollops of dung, ready prepared for the manufacture of paper. Dung is dried in the sun to kill bacteria, then washed and boiled with margosa leaves, and the resultant pulp is used to make high-quality stationery. The texture and colour vary according to the elephants’ diet, while other ingredients including tea, flowers, paddy husks and onion peel are also added according to the required finish. More than just a novelty stationery item, pachyderm paper could prove an important source of income to locals – and thus a significant help in conservation measures.
A number of places along the elephant bathing road in Pinnewala specialize in elephant paper stationery, most notably Maximus (ecomaximus.com), one of the pioneers of the process and winners of numerous international awards. Staff demonstrate how the entire process works in a room at the back, equipped with assorted paper presses, drying racks and vats of the gloopy-looking liquid made as the dung is mixed with water to create the precious paper pulp.
Elephant Park Elephant Bath Rd, right next to the elephant bathing spot 035 226 6171, hotelelephantpark.com. The nicest option in the village, in an unbeatable riverside location. Rooms (all a/c and with hot water) are comfortable and modern, and some also have balconies with beautiful river views right above the elephant bathing spot for a roughly $20 surcharge. $50
Greenland Guest House Elephant Bath Rd 035 226 5668, greenlandguesthouse.blogspot.co.uk. The cheapest place in the village, tucked away on the side road leading to the elephant bathing spot, with a range of neat and nicely furnished wood-panelled rooms. Rs.3500, a/c Rs.4000
Numerous handicraft shops are found around the village (especially along the road leading from the orphanage to the river), with a wide range of stock, including leather goods and elephant paper (see above). There are also heaps of spice gardens en route to Pinnewala.
Hidden away amid precipitous green hills at the heart of the island, KANDY is Sri Lanka’s second city and undisputed cultural capital of the island, home to the Temple of the Tooth, the country’s most important religious shrine, and the Esala Perahera, its most exuberant festival. The last independent bastion of the Sinhalese, the Kingdom of Kandy clung onto its freedom long after the rest of the island had fallen to the Portuguese and Dutch, preserving its own customs and culture which live on today in the city’s unique music, dance and architecture, while the city as a whole maintains a somewhat aristocratic air, with its graceful old Kandyan and colonial buildings, scenic highland setting and pleasantly temperate climate. The only real downside is the city’s hideous traffic, with far too many cars crammed into not nearly enough road space – major roads in and out of town are frequently gridlocked, with all the noise and pollution that entails.
Kandy owes its existence to its remote and easily defensible location amid the steep, jungle-swathed hills at the centre of the island. The origins of the city date back to the early thirteenth century, during the period following the collapse of Polonnaruwa, when the Sinhalese people drifted gradually southwards. During this migration, a short-lived capital was established at Gampola, just south of Kandy, before the ruling dynasty moved on to Kotte, near present-day Colombo.
Kandy’s ten-day Esala Perahera is the most spectacular of Sri Lanka’s festivals, and one of the most colourful religious pageants in Asia. Its origins date back to the arrival of the Tooth Relic in Sri Lanka in the fourth century AD, during the reign of Kirti Siri Meghawanna, who decreed that the relic be carried in procession through the city once a year. This quickly developed into a major religious event – the famous Chinese Buddhist Fa-Hsien, visiting Anuradhapura in 399 AD, described what had already become a splendid festival, with processions of jewel-encrusted elephants.
These celebrations continued in some form throughout the thousand years of upheaval which followed the collapse of Anuradhapura and the Tooth Relic’s peripatetic journey around the island. Esala processions continued into the Kandyan era in the seventeenth century, though the Tooth Relic lost its place in the procession, which evolved into a series of lavish parades in honour of the city’s four principal deities: Vishnu, Kataragama, Natha and Pattini, each of whom had (and still has) a temple in the city.
The festival took shape in 1775, during the reign of Kirti Sri Rajasinha, when a group of visiting Thai clerics expressed their displeasure at the lack of reverence accorded to the Buddha during the parades. To propitiate them, the king ordered the Tooth Relic to be carried through the city at the head of the four temple processions: a pattern that endures to this day. The Tooth Relic itself was last carried in procession in 1848, since when it’s been considered unpropitious for it to leave the temple sanctuary – its place is now taken by a replica.
The ten days of the festival begin with the Kap Tree Planting Ceremony, during which cuttings from a tree – traditionally an Esala tree, though nowadays a Jak or Rukkattana are more usually employed – are planted in the four devales, representing a vow (kap) that the festival will be held. The procession (perahera) through the streets of Kandy is held nightly throughout the festival: the first five nights, the so-called Kumbal Perahera, are relatively low-key; during the final five nights, the Randoli Perahera, things become progressively more spectacular, building up to the last night, the Maha Perahera, or “Great Parade”, featuring a massive cast of participants including as many as a hundred brilliantly caparisoned elephants and thousands of drummers, dancers and acrobats walking on stilts, cracking whips, swinging fire pots and carrying banners, while the replica casket of the Tooth Relic itself is carried on the back of the Maligawa Tusker elephant.
Following the last perahera, the water-cutting ceremony is held before the dawn of the next day at a venue near Kandy, during which a priest wades out into the Mahaweli Ganga and “cuts” the waters with a sword. This ceremony symbolically releases a supply of water for the coming year (the Tooth Relic is traditionally believed to protect against drought) and divides the pure from the impure – it might also relate to the exploits of the early Sri Lankan king, Gajabahu (reigned 114–136 AD), who is credited with the Moses-like feat of dividing the waters between Sri Lanka and India in order to march his army across during his campaign against the Cholas.
After the water-cutting ceremony, at 3pm on the same day, there’s a final “day” perahera (Dawal Perahera), a slightly scaled-down version of the full perahera. It’s not as spectacular as the real thing, though it does offer excellent photo opportunities.
The perahera is a carefully orchestrated, quasi-theatrical event – there is no spectator participation here, although the astonishing number of performers during later nights give the impression that most of Kandy’s citizens are involved. The perahera actually comprises five separate processions, which follow one another around the city streets: one from the Temple of the Tooth, and one from each of the four devales – a kind of giant religious conga, with elephants. The exact route changes from day to day, although the procession from the Temple of the Tooth always leads the way, followed (in unchanging order) by the processions from the Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama and Pattini devales (Natha, as a Buddha-to-be, takes precedence over the other divinities). As its centrepiece, each procession has an elephant carrying the insignia of the relevant temple – or, in the case of the Temple of the Tooth, the replica Tooth Relic. Each is accompanied by other elephants, various dignitaries dressed in traditional Kandyan costume and myriad dancers and drummers, who fill the streets with an extraordinary barrage of noise. The processions each follow a broadly similar pattern, although there are slight differences. The Kataragama procession – as befits that rather unruly god – tends to be the wildest and most free-form, with jazzy trumpet playing and dozens of whirling dancers carrying kavadis, the hooped wooden contrivances, studded with peacock feathers, which are one of that god’s symbols. The Pattini procession, the only one devoted to a female deity, attracts mainly female dancers. The beginning and end of each perahera is signalled by a deafening cannon shot.
The perahera is traditionally held over the last nine days of the lunar month of Esala, finishing on Nikini Poya day – this usually falls during late July and early August, though exact dates vary according to the vagaries of the lunar calendar. Dates can be checked on sridaladamaligawa.lk and daladamaligawa.org. Accommodation during the Esala Perahera can get booked up months in advance, and prices in most places double or even triple – be sure to reserve as far in advance as possible.
The perahera itself begins between 8pm and 9pm. You can see the parade for free by grabbing a spot on the pavement next to the route. During the early days of the perahera it’s relatively easy to find pavement space; during the last few nights, however, you’ll have to arrive four or five hours in advance and then sit in your place without budging – even if you leave for just a minute to go to the toilet, you probably won’t get your spot back. Not surprisingly, most foreigners opt to pay to reserve one of the thousands of seats which are set out in the windows and balconies of buildings all along the route of the perahera. There are a number of websites selling tickets online for the best seats around the Queens Hotel (usually $75–125), although you should be able to find much cheaper seats either through your guesthouse/hotel or simply by asking around in town – although many of these are crammed into the upper floors of streetside buildings and may have restricted views (and beware unscrupulous touts who might simply disappear with your money – If possible, ask to see exactly where you’ll be seated before handing over any cash). Count on around $20–40 depending on the night, although much depends on luck and your own persistence and bargaining skills.
A few nobles left behind in Gampola soon asserted their independence, and subsequently moved their base to the still more remote and easily defensible town of Senkadagala during the reign of Wickramabahu III of Gampola (r. 1357–74). Senkadagala subsequently became known by the sweet-sounding name of Kandy, after Kanda Uda Pasrata, the Sinhalese name for the mountainous district in which it lay (although from the eighteenth century, the Sinhalese often referred to the city as Maha Nuwara, the “Great City”, a name by which it’s still often known today).
By the time the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505, Kandy had established itself as the capital of one of the island’s three main kingdoms (along with Kotte and Jaffna) under the rule of Sena Sammatha Wickramabahu (r. 1473–1511), a member of the Kotte royal family who ruled Kandy as a semi-independent state. The Portuguese swiftly turned their attentions to Kandy, though their first expedition against the city ended in failure when the puppet ruler they placed on the throne was ousted by the formidable Vimala Dharma Suriya, the first of many Kandyan rulers who tenaciously resisted the European invaders. As the remainder of the island fell to the Portuguese (and subsequently the Dutch), the Kandyan kingdom clung stubbornly to its independence, remaining a secretive and inward-looking place, protected by its own inaccessibility – Kandyan kings repeatedly issued orders prohibiting the construction of bridges or the widening of footpaths into the city, fearing that they would become conduits for foreign attack. The city was repeatedly besieged and captured by the Portuguese (in 1594, 1611, 1629 and 1638) and the Dutch (in 1765), but each time the Kandyans foiled their attackers by burning the city to the ground and retreating into the surrounding forests, from where they continued to harry the invaders until they were forced to withdraw to the coast. Despite its isolation, the kingdom’s prestige as the final bastion of Sinhalese independence was further enhanced during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by the presence of the Tooth Relic, the traditional symbol of Sinhalese sovereignty, while an imposing temple, the Temple of the Tooth, was constructed to house the relic.
The last Sinhalese king of Kandy, Narendrasinha, died in 1739 without an heir, after which the crown passed to his Indian wife’s brother, Sri Viyjaya Rajasinha (r. 1739–47), so ending the Kandyan dynasty established by Vimala Dharma Suriya and ushering in a new Indian Nayakkar dynasty. The Nayakkar embraced Buddhism and cleverly played on the rivalries of the local Sinhalese nobles who, despite their dislike of the foreign rulers, failed to unite behind a single local leader. In a characteristically Kandyan paradox, it was under the foreign Nayakkar that the city enjoyed its great Buddhist revival. Kirti Sri Rajasinha came to the throne in 1747 and began to devote himself – whether for political or spiritual reasons – to his adopted religion, reviving religious education, restoring and building temples and overseeing the reinvention of the Esala Perahera as a Buddhist rather than a Hindu festival. These years saw the development of a distinctively Kandyan style of architecture and dance, a unique synthesis of local Sinhalese traditions and southern Indian styles.
Having gained control of the island in 1798, the British quickly attempted to rid themselves of this final remnant of Sinhalese independence, although their first expedition against the kingdom, in 1803, resulted in a humiliating defeat. Despite this initial reverse, the kingdom survived little more than a decade, though it eventually fell not through military conquest but thanks to internal opposition to the excesses and cruelties of the last king of Kandy, Sri Wickrama Rajasinha (r. 1798–1815). As internal opposition to Sri Wickrama grew, the remarkable Sir John D’Oyly, a British government servant with a talent for languages and intrigue, succeeded in uniting the various factions opposed to the king. In 1815, the British were able to despatch another army which, thanks to D’Oyly’s machinations, was able to march on Kandy unopposed. Sri Wickrama fled, and when the British arrived, the king’s long-suffering subjects simply stood to one side and let them in. On March 2, 1815, a convention of Kandyan chiefs signed a document handing over sovereignty of the kingdom to the British, who in return promised to preserve its laws, customs and institutions.
Within two years, however, the Kandyans had decided they had had enough of their new rulers and rebelled. The uprising soon spread across the entire hill country and the British were obliged to call up troops from India in order to put down the rebellion. Fears of resurgent Kandyan nationalism continued to haunt the British during the following decades – it was partly the desire to be able to move troops quickly to Kandy which prompted the construction of the first road to the city in the 1820s, one of the marvels of Victorian engineering in Sri Lanka. Despite the uncertain political climate, Kandy soon developed into an important centre of British rule and trade, with the usual hotels, courthouses and churches servicing a burgeoning community of planters and traders. In 1867, the railway from Colombo was completed, finally transforming the once perilous trek from the coast into a comfortable four-hour journey, and so linking Kandy once and for all with the outside world.
Post-colonial Kandy has continued to expand, preserving its status as the island’s second city despite remaining a modest little place compared to Colombo. It has also managed largely to avoid the civil war conflicts which traumatized the capital, suffering only one major LTTE attack, in 1998, when a truck bomb was detonated outside the front of the Temple of the Tooth, killing more than twenty people and reducing the front of the building to rubble.
Joy Motor Boat Service, at the western end of the lake, offers fifteen-minute spins around it (daily 8.30am–6.30pm; Rs.2500/boat seating up to ten people)
Kandy’s centrepiece is its large artificial lake, created in 1807 by Sri Wickrama Rajasinha in an area of the town previously occupied by paddy fields. Although it is nowadays considered one of Kandy’s defining landmarks, at the time of its construction the lake was regarded by the city’s put-upon inhabitants as a huge white elephant and conclusive proof of their king’s unbridled delusions of grandeur – a number of his subjects who objected to labouring on this apparently useless project were impaled on stakes on the bed of the lake. Rajasinha named the lake the Kiri Muhuda, or Milk Sea, and established a royal pleasure house on the island in the centre. The more practically minded British subsequently converted this into an ammunition store, but also added the attractive walkway and parapet (the walakulu bemma, or “cloud wall”) that encircles the lake. The walk around the lake is still (despite the manic traffic) the most enjoyable in the city, particularly along the south side, with the long white lakeside parapet framing perfect reflections of the Temple of the Tooth and old colonial buildings around the Queen’s Hotel.
The south side of the lake is dotted with assorted religious buildings. These include the Malwatta Monastery, with its distinctive octagonal tower, built in imitation of the Pittirippuva at the Temple of the Tooth on the opposite side of the lake. The temple is reached from the lakeside through an impressive stone arch decorated with creatures both real (lions, geese, birds) and imaginary (makana toranas, centaurs). A tiny circular monks’ bathing house stands right by the lakeside pavement, close to the gate.
A hundred metres along the lakeside road back towards town (go up the broad steps to the building signed Sri Sangharaja Maha Pirivena) is another cluster of monastic buildings belonging to the Poya Malu Vihara, including an interesting square colonnaded image house, with a colourfully painted upper storey and a finely carved stone doorway very similar to one in the Temple of the Tooth’s main shrine.
Daily 8am–5pm • Rs.100
From the southwestern corner of the lake, steps ascend to the entrance to Rajapihilla Mawatha and the entrance to the modest Royal Palace Park, also known as Wace Park, another of Sri Wickrama Rajasinha’s creations. The small ornamental gardens at the top of the park provide an unlikely setting for a Japanese howitzer, captured in Myanmar (Burma) during World War II and presented to the city by Lord Mountbatten (who had his wartime headquarters here in the Hotel Suisse). Beyond the ornamental gardens, a series of terraced footpaths wind down a bluff above the lake, offering fine views of the water and Temple of the Tooth – usually chock-full of snogging couples hiding in every available corner.
There are better views over the lake and into the green ridges of hills beyond from Rajapihilla Mawatha, the road above the park – the classic viewpoint is from the junction of Rajapahilla Mawatha and Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe Mawatha – popularly known as “Arthur’s Seat” in honour of the famous Edinburgh viewpoint – from where one can look down over the entire town below, laid out at one’s feet as neatly as a map.
Daily 5.30am–8pm • Rs.1500 (plus Rs.100 to leave your shoes) • sridaladamaligawa.lk and daladamaligawa.org
Posed artistically against the steep wooded hills of the Udawattakele Sanctuary, Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist shrine, the Temple of the Tooth, or Dalada Maligawa, sits on the lakeshore just east of the city centre. The temple houses the legendary Buddha’s Tooth, which arrived here in the sixteenth century after various peregrinations around India and Sri Lanka, although nothing remains of the original temple, built around 1600. The main shrine of the current temple was originally constructed during the reign of Vimala Dharma II (r. 1687–1707) and was rebuilt and modified at various times afterwards, principally during the reign of Kirti Sri Rajasinha (r. 1747–81). It was further embellished during the reign of Sri Wickrama Rajasinha, who added the moat, gateway and Pittirippuva; the eye-catching golden roof over the relic chamber was donated by President Premadasa in 1987.
The temple was badly damaged in 1998 when the LTTE detonated a massive truck bomb outside the entrance, killing more than twenty people and reducing the facade to rubble. Restoration work was swift and thorough, however, and no visible evidence left of the attack, although crash barriers now prevent vehicular access to the temple.
Be sure to dress respectfully, with shoulders and legs covered, or you won’t be allowed in. Guides of varying standards hang around at the entrance; count on around Rs.1000 for a thirty-minute tour. Some are very informative, but check how good their English is first and always agree a price before starting. Pujas (lasting around 1hr) are held at 5.30am, 9.30am and 6.30pm, although the temple can get absolutely swamped with tourists during the 9.30am and 6.30pm pujas. The main attraction of the three pujas is the noisy drumming which precedes and accompanies the ceremony. Most of the actual ceremony is performed behind closed doors, although at the end of each puja the upstairs room housing the Tooth Relic is opened to the public gaze. You’re not actually allowed into the Tooth Relic chamber, but you are permitted to file past the entrance and look inside for a cursory glance at the big gold casket containing the relic.
The temple’s exterior is classically plain: a rather austere collection of unadorned white buildings whose hipped roofs rise in tiers against the luxuriant green backcloth of the Udawattakele Sanctuary. The most eye-catching exterior feature is the octagonal tower, the Pittirippuva, projecting into the moat that surrounds the temple. Sri Wickrama Rajasinha used the upper part as a platform from which to address his people, and it’s now where all new Sri Lankan heads of state give their first speech to the nation.
Access to the temple is through the Maha Vahalkada (Great Gate), which was formerly the main entrance to the royal palace as well as the temple. Beyond the gateway, further steps covered by a canopy painted with lotuses and pictures of the perahera lead up to the entrance to the temple proper, via a gorgeously carved stone door adorned with moonstone, guardstones and topped by a makara torana archway.
The interior of the temple is relatively modest in size, and something of an architectural hotchpotch. In front of you lies the drummers’ courtyard (Hewisi Mandapaya), into which is squeezed the two-storey main shrine itself. The exterior of the shrine has a strangely ad hoc appearance: some portions have been lavishly embellished (the three doors, for instance), but many of the painted roundels on the walls have been left unfinished, giving the whole thing the effect in places of a job only half done – although the overall effect is still undeniably impressive.
Legend has it that when the Buddha was cremated in 543 BC at Kushinagar in North India, various parts of his remains were rescued from the fire, including one of his teeth. In the fourth century AD, as Buddhism was declining in India in the face of a Hindu revival, the Tooth was smuggled into Sri Lanka, hidden (according to legend) in the hair of an Orissan princess. It was first taken to Anuradhapura, then to Polonnaruwa, Dambadeniya and Yapahuwa. In 1284, an invading Pandyan army from South India captured the Tooth and took it briefly back to India, until it was reclaimed by Parakramabahu III some four years later.
During these turbulent years the Tooth came to assume increasing political importance, being regarded not only as a unique religious relic but also as a symbol of Sri Lankan sovereignty – it was always housed by the Sinhalese kings in their capital of the moment, which explains its rather peripatetic existence. After being reclaimed by Parakramabahu III, it subsequently travelled to Kurunegala, Gampola and Kotte. In the early sixteenth century, the Portuguese captured what they claimed was the Tooth, taking it back to Goa, where it was pounded to dust, then burnt and cast into the sea (Buddhists claim either that this destroyed Tooth was simply a replica, or that the ashes of the Tooth magically reassembled themselves and flew back to Sri Lanka). The Tooth finally arrived in Kandy in 1592 and was installed in a specially constructed temple next to the palace, later becoming the focus for the mammoth Esala Perahera.
The exact nature and authenticity of the Tooth remains unclear. Bella Sidney Woolf, writing in 1914 when the Tooth was still regularly displayed to the public, described it as “a tooth of discoloured ivory at least three inches long – unlike any human tooth ever known”, unconsciously echoing the sentiments of an earlier Portuguese visitor, a certain de Quezroy, who in 1597 claimed that the Tooth had actually come from a buffalo. Whatever the truth, the Tooth remains an object of supreme devotion for many Sri Lankans. Security concerns mean that it is no longer taken out on parade during the Esala Perahera, though it is put on display in the Temple of the Tooth for a couple of weeks once or twice every decade.
Three doors lead into the ground floor of the shrine: the main doors are flanked by elephant tusks and made out of gorgeously decorated silver (though they’re usually hidden behind a curtain except during pujas), with two intricately carved stone doors on either side. The walls are decorated with a tangled confusion of lotuses, vines and lions, and dotted with painted medallions of the sun and moon, a symbol of the kings of Kandy – the image of the twinned heavenly orbs representing the light-giving and the eternal nature of their rule. A quirky touch is supplied by numerous paintings of hares curled up inside some of the moons, while the overhanging eaves are also embellished with a fine sequence of paintings. What’s perhaps strangest about all this decoration, however, is its largely royal and secular content: Buddha images, in this holiest of Sri Lankan temples, are notable largely by their absence.
A set of stairs to the left (as you face the main shrine) from the drummers’ courtyard leads to the upper level; halfway up you’ll pass the casket in which a replica of the Tooth Relic is paraded during the Esala Perahera, along with golden “flags” and umbrellas which are also used during the procession. At the top of the steps is the Pirit Mandapa (Recitation Hall), a rather plain space whose unusual latticed wooden walls lend it a faintly Japanese air. This leads to the entrance of the Tooth Relic Chamber itself, on the upper level of the main shrine. You can’t actually go into the relic chamber, and the entrance is railed off (except during pujas), although you can make out some of the details of the fantastically ornate brass doorway into the shrine, framed in silver and decorated in a riot of embossed ornament, with auspicious symbols including dwarfs, some holding urns of plenty, plus entwined geese, peacocks, suns, moons and dagobas. Paintings to either side of the door show guardstone figures bearing bowls of lotuses, surmounted by makara toranas.
The paintings of hares in the moon shown on the exterior of the Tooth Relic shrine refer to one of the most famous of the Jataka stories, describing the previous lives of the Buddha before his final incarnation and enlightenment. According to the Jataka story of the Hare in the Moon, the future Buddha was once born as a hare. One day the hare was greeted by an emaciated holy man, who begged him – along with a fox and a monkey, who also happened to be passing – for food. The fox brought a fish, the monkey some fruit, but the hare was unable to find anything for the holy man to eat apart from grass. Having no other way of assuaging the ascetic’s hunger, the hare asked him to light a fire and then leapt into the flames, offering his own body as food. At this moment the holy man revealed himself as the god Indra, placing an image of the hare in the moon to commemorate its self-sacrifice, where it remains to this day.
The Jataka fable may itself be simply a local version of a still more ancient Hindu or Vedic myth – traditions referring to a hare in the moon can be found as far away as China, Central Asia and even Europe, while the story also appears, in slightly modified form, in one of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.
The interior of the Tooth Relic chamber is divided by golden arches into three sections, though the chamber is kept shut except during pujas, and even then you’ll only be able to get a brief glimpse as you’re hurried past the door amid the throngs of visitors. The Tooth Relic is kept in the furthest section, the Vedahitina Maligawa (Shrine of Abode), concealed from the public gaze in a dagoba-shaped gold casket that is said to contain a series of six further caskets, the smallest of which contains the Tooth itself.
At the back of the Drummers’ Courtyard, the Alut Maligawa (New Shrine Room) is a large and undistinguished building completed in 1956 to celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the Buddha’s death. The interior, as if to compensate for the lack of Buddhist imagery in the main section of the temple, is filled with a glut of Buddha statues, many donated by foreign countries, which offer an opportunity to compare different Asian versions of traditional Buddhist iconography, with images from Thailand (in the middle), China, Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Set in a pair of miniature dagobas at either side of the central Thai image are two holographic Buddha faces from France, which appear to turn their heads to follow you as you move around the room.
A sequence of 21 paintings hung around the chamber’s upper walls depict the story of the Tooth Relic from the Buddha’s death to the present day. The Buddhas below were a gift from Thailand to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence.
Entrance included in main temple ticket
On the first and second floors of the Alut Maligawa building, the Sri Dalada Museum (reached via the rear exit from the ground-floor shrine room) contains a medley of objects connected with the Tooth Relic and temple. The first floor is dominated by a sequence of large and solemn busts of all the diyawardene nilambe (temple chiefs) from 1814 to 1985. Other exhibits include photos of the damage caused by the 1998 bombing, along with assorted precious artefacts from the temple collections including ancient palm-leaf manuscripts, items used in religious rituals and a selection of the enormous ceremonial handkerchiefs designed for the kings of Kandy.
The second floor is largely occupied by the bewildering assortment of objects offered to the Tooth Relic at various times, including several donated by former Sri Lankan presidents. The highlight is the gorgeous silk Buddha footprint which is said to have been offered to the temple in the reign of Kirti Sri Rajasinha by a visiting Thai monk on behalf of the king of Siam.
Exiting the Sri Dalada Museum you may want to detour first to the Museum of World Buddhism, just a few steps away – not actually part of the temple, but included in the entrance ticket.
The Temple of the Tooth originally lay at the heart of the sprawling Royal Palace, a self-contained complex of buildings immediately surrounding the temple and housing various royal residences, audience chambers and associated structures. Significant sections of the original palace complex survive, although it’s difficult to get a very clear sense of how it would originally have looked, thanks to the many additions and alterations made to the area since 1815.
Immediately north of the temple (and reached via a side exit from it, or from the exit from the Sri Dalada Museum) lies the imposing Audience Hall, an impressively complete Kandyan pavilion set on a raised stone plinth, open on all sides and sporting characteristic wooden pillars, corbels and roof, all intricately carved. The hall originally dated from 1784, though it was set on fire by the Kandyans during the British attack of 1803 – the conservation-minded British invaders obligingly put out the fire and subsequently restored the building. It was here that the Kandyan chiefs signed the treaty that handed over power to the British on March 2, 1815.
Daily 8am–5pm • Entrance with Temple of the Tooth ticket
Just north of the Audience Hall stands the Raja Tusker Museum, devoted to the memory of Sri Lanka’s most famous elephant, Raja. The main attraction is the stuffed remains of Raja himself, now standing proudly in state in a glass cabinet. Raja died in 1988 after fifty years’ loyal service as Kandy’s Maligawa Tusker – the elephant that carries the Tooth Relic casket during the Esala Perahera. Such was the veneration in which he was held that his death prompted the government to order a day of national mourning, while the animal’s remains are now an object of devotion to many Sinhalese, who come to pray at Raja’s glass case. The museum also has photos of Raja in various peraheras, plus sad snaps of him surrounded by anxious vets during his final illness.
Maligawa Tuskers
No single elephant has yet proved itself able to fill Raja’s considerable boots, and at present the role of Maligawa Tusker is shared between various elephants. All Maligawa Tuskers must fulfil certain physical requirements. Only male elephants are permitted to carry the relic and, most importantly, they must be Sathdantha elephants, meaning that all seven parts of their body – the four legs, trunk, penis and tail – must touch the ground when they stand upright. In addition, the tusks must be formed in the curved shape of a traditional winnow, and the elephant must have a flat back and reach a height of around twelve feet. It has proved increasingly difficult to find such “high-caste” elephants locally, although the temple already owns several suitable beasts, including ones donated by notables, among them various prime ministers of Sri Lanka and India, as well as the king of Thailand.
Daily 8am–5pm • Entrance with Temple of the Tooth ticket
Immediately north of the Raja Tusker Museum in the former palace of King Vimala Dharma Suriya (r. 1591–1604), Kandy’s dusty Archeological Museum comprises a modest collection of assorted pots, bits of masonry, fragments of carved stones and old wooden pillars. It’s all fairly humdrum, although the former palace building is impressive: a long, low, barn-like structure sporting an ornate gateway and doors decorated with the sun and moon symbol of the kings of Kandy, along with other auspicious symbols.
Daily 8am–7pm • Entrance free with Temple of the Tooth ticket, otherwise Rs.500
Directly behind the Temple of the Tooth (and just north of the National Museum – see below) is the imposing British-era Neoclassical building which formerly housed the city’s High Court. This now provides a grand setting for the entertainingly strange Museum of World Buddhism, one of Sri Lanka’s most enjoyable museums, showcasing Buddhist beliefs and artefacts from across Asia. The museum’s ground floor features an excellent sequence of galleries with assorted displays on Sri Lankan Buddhism, a colourful recreation of a Bhutanese shrine, displays on Gandharan-era Buddhism from Pakistan, Indian statues and murals, plus further rooms devoted to Nepal and Bangladesh, all intelligently presented and explained.
Things really fire into life in the upstairs galleries, however, which are stuffed full of a weird, occasionally wonderful and unquestionably random selection of displays and artefacts focusing on the Buddhist heritage of countries from Indonesia to Japan. Many of the displays appear to have been donated as PR exercises by the various countries involved, and the general impression is not so much of a curated museum as an international travel fair, with assorted promotional videos looping endlessly in the background. It’s not without a certain bizarre appeal, and some of the exhibits are undeniably impressive, including a room full of shiny gilded Buddhas from Myanmar (Burma) and a fine array of Chinese, Tibetan and Thai artefacts. Elsewhere, things become decidedly haphazard, such as the photos of Mahinda Rajapakse in the Japan gallery (including one in which he appears to be receiving treatment for lice) and the entire Vietnamese room, which bears an uncanny resemblance to a Hong Kong seafood restaurant.
Tues–Sat 9am–5pm • Rs.600
Immediately behind the Temple of the Tooth, though not directly accessible from it lies the Kandy branch of the National Museum, set in a low white building set around a flagstoned courtyard which was formerly the Queen’s Palace (or “King’s Harem”, as it’s also described). The well-presented collection showcases a treasure-trove of Kandyan traditional artefacts, with exhibits attesting to the high levels of skill achieved by local craftsmen – jewellery, fabrics, musical instruments, lacquerware and so on, plus a fine display of minutely detailed ivory objects (look for the cute figurines of various Kandyan bigwigs).
Next door to the National Museum is the modest Queen’s Chamber, a discreet low white structure with tiny balustraded windows and stone pool inside. Close by, just southwest of the museum on the edge of the lake, sits the Queen’s Bath (Ulpenge), a grand but rather dilapidated structure, looking a bit like a boathouse; the upper storey was added by the British.
Garrison Cemetery Rd (signposted from beside the National Museum) • Mon–Sat 8am–6pm • Donation
The evocative Kandy Garrison Cemetery was established in 1817, shortly after the British seized control of Kandy, to provide a final resting place for expired British colonists. Having fallen into complete dereliction, the cemetery has been painstakingly restored and now offers a moving memorial to Ceylon’s former colonial master. Shockingly few of the people buried here made it to the age of 30, and even those who avoided the usual hazards of tropical diseases and hostile natives found unusual ways to meet their maker, such as John Spottiswood Robertson (d. 1856), trampled to death by a wild elephant; David Findlay (d. 1861), killed when his house collapsed on top of him; and William Watson Mackwood (d. 1867), who somehow managed to impale himself on a stake while dismounting from his horse.
The most notable burial, however, is Sir John D’Oyly, the remarkable colonial official who brokered the surrender of the city to the British in 1815. D’Oyly was one of the most fascinating figures in the history of colonial Ceylon – at once a supreme diplomat who manipulated the Kandyan nobility with almost Machiavellian genius, and also a kind of proto-hippy who became a strict vegetarian, avoided European society and devoted himself to the study of Sinhala and Buddhism. As an observer remarked in 1810: “He lives on plantain, invites nobody to his house, and does not dine abroad above once a year. When I saw him… I was struck with the change of a Cambridge boy into a Cingalese hermit.” Despite his brilliant orchestration of the bloodless coup at Kandy, D’Oyly’s subsequent attempts to protect the Kandyans from British interference and Christian missionaries were little appreciated, and by the time of his death from cholera in 1824, he had become a lonely and marginalized figure – not that you’d realize it, judging by the size of his memorial, the largest in the cemetery, topped by a broken Greek pillar. It’s on your left as you come in, quite close to the entrance.
Kandy traditionally lies under the protection of four gods, each of whom is honoured with a temple (devale) in the city. Three of these temples, the Pattini, Natha and Vishnu devales, sit next to one another just in front of the Temple of the Tooth – a fascinating and picturesque jumble of shrines, dagobas and bo trees. The fourth devale, dedicated to Kataragama, lies a couple of blocks west in the city itself. Besides their obvious artistic merits, the devales offer a fascinating lesson in the way in which Hindu and Buddhist beliefs shaded into one another in Kandy, as throughout Sri Lankan history: two of the four devales are dedicated to adopted Hindu gods, while the principal shrine of the Natha devale is housed in a building that wouldn’t look out of place in South India.
The Pattini Devale is the simplest of the four temples. The cult of the goddess Pattini was introduced from South India in the second century AD by King Gajabahu (r. 114–136 AD); she remains a popular deity among poorer Sri Lankans, thanks to her lowly origins. Her golden ankle bracelet, brought back from India by Gajabahu, is said to be kept here (though you can’t see it). Entering from Deva Vidiya, you’re confronted by the Wel-Bodhiya, a huge bo tree, perched on an enormous, three-tiered platform; it’s believed to have been planted by Narendrasinha, the last Sinhalese king of Kandy, in the early eighteenth century.
The actual shrine to Pattini is off to the right, set in a modest little enclosure entered through gorgeous embossed brass doors decorated with the usual sun and moon symbols, makara toranas and guardstone figures. The shrine itself is set in a small but beautiful Kandyan wooden pavilion, and is usually the most popular of all the devales among visiting worshippers. To either side stand subsidiary shrines to the Hindu deities Kali and Mariamman – the latter, like Pattini, is a female deity of humble South Indian origins who is believed to protect against disease. You may be approached by a temple flunkey at this point asking for a donation; he’ll most likely show you a book in which previous donations are listed, many of which appear to have been wildly inflated by the addition of surplus zeros.
Pattini (originally named Kannaki) was a humble Indian girl from the city of Madurai who married a certain Kovalan, an errant spouse with a weakness for dancing girls. Despite Pattini’s considerable charms, the feckless Kovalan abandoned his wife and bankrupted himself in pursuit of one particular amour until, ashamed and penniless, he returned to Pattini to beg forgiveness. The pliable Pattini welcomed him back without even a word of reproach and handed over her last possession, a golden ankle bracelet, for him to sell. The unfortunate Kovalan did so, but was promptly accused of stealing the bracelet by the king’s goldsmith and executed. The distraught Pattini, legend states, descended upon the royal palace, tore off one of her breasts, caused the king to drop dead and then reduced his palace to ashes before being taken up into the heavens as a goddess.
Pattini’s cult was originally introduced to Sri Lanka by King Gajabahu in the second century BC, but enjoyed its heyday during the Kandyan era, when the kingdom’s Hindu rulers revived her cult and built her Kandy temple. Pattini is now revered as the ideal of the chaste and devoted wife: pregnant women come here to pray for a safe delivery (rather inexplicably, since Pattini was childless), while she is also thought to protect against infectious diseases such as chickenpox, smallpox and measles.
A gate leads from the Pattini Devale directly through to the Natha Devale. Natha is the most purely Buddhist of the gods of the four devales, and thus the most important in the city, being considered a form of the Mahayana Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, who is still widely worshipped in Nepal, Tibet, China and Japan. Natha was thought to have influence over political events in the kingdom – new kings of Kandy were obliged to present themselves at the shrine on attaining the throne – although the god’s exalted status means that his shrine is rather less popular with the hoi polloi than that of humble Pattini next door.
Away to your right at the end of the enclosure is the Natha Shrine itself, built by Vikramabahu III in the fourteenth century, and thus the oldest building in Kandy. This low gedige (stone shrine), topped with a small shikhara dome, is very reminiscent in style of similar Indian-style temples at Polonnaruwa (the fact that the city’s most Buddhist deity sits in its most Hindu-looking temple seems pretty much par for the course given Kandy’s pick-’n’-mix attitude towards foreign gods). Inside, the walls of the shrine are covered with beautifully embossed brass sheets, while in front stands a much later pavilion sporting beautifully carved wooden pillars.
Close by, a Buddha shrine sits in the centre of the enclosure, with two elaborately railed bo trees to the rear. Exit the temple through the archway to the north, its exterior wall richly carved and painted with makara torana and guardstone figures.
From the back of the Natha Devale, steps lead up through a wooden pavilion into the third of the devales, the Vishnu Devale (also known as the Maha Devale, or “Great Temple”). The first building you come to is an open-sided digge pavilion, in which drummers and dancers would once have performed in honour of the deity – you can still occasionally see trainee dancers being put through their paces here. Past the digge, further steps lead up to the main Vishnu shrine. The Vishnu image here is thought to come from Dondra on the south coast, though it’s usually hidden behind a curtain; ceremonial objects used in Esala Perahera line the sides of the shrine. Behind and to the left of the Vishnu shrine stands a subsidiary shrine to Dedimunda (a local god of obscure origins), his image framed by a gorgeously embossed gilded arch featuring the ubiquitous sun and moon motif.
Immediately north of the Pattini Devale, the quaint neo-Gothic St Paul’s Church (1843) offers a homesick and thoroughly incongruous memento of rustic English nostalgia amid the Buddhist monuments – indeed, the irreverent insertion of such a large Christian building into such a sacred Buddhist precinct says much about British religious sympathies, or lack of. The interior is a piece of pure English Victoriana (although sadly it’s usually kept locked), with beautiful wooden pews, floor tiles decorated with floral and fleur de lys patterns, wooden rood-screen and choir stalls, naff stained glass, brass eagle lectern and a grand piano, all tenderly preserved. The various monuments date back to the 1840s, recording deaths in parts of the empire as far flung as Bombay, Port Said, Wei-Hai-Wei and South Africa.
Opposite the church, the walls of the buildings along Deva Vidiya are all but buried underneath a surfeit of signs in English and Sinhala advertising the services of local lawyers, whose offices stand along the street, occupying a former Victorian-era army stables and barracks.
Away from the Temple of the Tooth, Royal Palace and devales, most of Kandy has a largely modern appearance, although a fair number of crusty old colonial-era buildings survive. The centre of the modern city spreads out around Dalada Vidiya, confined, thanks to the hilliness of the surrounding terrain, into a compact grid of low-rise streets lined with small shops and retaining a engagingly small-town atmosphere given that it’s at the heart of the nation’s second-biggest city. The most interesting area is along the eastern end of Bennet Soysa Vidiya (generally known by its old name of Colombo Street), where fruit and veg sellers ply their wares from the narrow and congested pavements.
Robert Knox and seventeenth-century Kandy
In 1660, a party of English sailors who had gone ashore near the mouth of the Mahaweli Ganga were taken prisoner by soldiers of the king of Kandy, Rajasinha II. Among them was a 19-year-old Londoner named Robert Knox. Knox’s subsequent account of his nineteen years as a hostage of the king was eventually published as An Historical Relation of Ceylon, a unique record which offers a fascinating snapshot of everyday life in the seventeenth-century Kingdom of Kandy. The book later served as one of the major sources of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, and something of Knox’s own industrious (if rather dour) character may have crept into Defoe’s self-sufficient hero.
Upon arriving in Kandy, Knox was surprised to discover that he and his shipmates were not the only European “guests” being detained at Rajasinha’s pleasure – also in Kandy were prisoners of war, shipwrecked sailors, army deserters and assorted diplomats. Knox seems to have admired many of the qualities of his hosts, though he did object (as have so many subsequent Western travellers to Asia) that “They make no account nor conscience of lying, neither is it any shame or disgrace to them, if they be catched in telling lies; it is so customary.” He also recorded (with puritan disapproval) the kingdom’s liberal attitude to sex: “Both women and men do commonly wed four or five times before they can settle themselves.” Married women appeared free to have affairs with whoever took their fancy, so long as they were of an equal social rank, sometimes even leaving their husbands at home to look after the children. When important visitors called, husbands would offer them the services of their wives and daughters “to bear them company in their chamber”. Men were allowed to have affairs with lower-caste women, but not to sit or eat with them. Polyandry, in which a wife was shared between two or more brothers, or in which one man married two or more sisters, was also accepted, while incest was reputedly common among beggars. If nothing else, the kingdom’s sex drive was impressive. As Knox observed of the Kandyan women: “when their Husbands are dead, all their care is where to get others, which they cannot long be without.”
In terms of material possessions, the life which Knox recorded was simple. Most Kandyans contented themselves with the bare necessities, encouraged in their indolence by the fact that the moment they acquired anything it was taken away by the king’s mob of tax collectors. Justice was meted out by a court of local chiefs, but appeared to favour whoever was able to present the largest bribe – those convicted of capital offences were trampled to death by an elephant.
At the far end of Dalada Vidiya stands Kandy’s unusually ornate clocktower, complete with golden elephant friezes and a cute, hat-like top. Just south of here is the Kandy Central Market, set around a pair of grassy courtyards ringed with small shops stuffed with dried fish, cheap spices, all sorts of seasonal fruits, and bananas of every conceivable size shape and colour, while there are also a number of touristy souvenir shops – including the excellent Jayamali Batiks – on the upper level.
The fourth of the city’s principal devales, the Kataragama Devale, sits buried away in the city centre, somewhat separate from the other devales, entered through a lurid blue gateway on Kotugodelle Vidiya (though it’s surprisingly easy to miss amid the packed shopfronts). This is the most Hindu-influenced of Kandy’s temples, right down to the pair of resident Brahmin priests. The attractive central Kataragama shrine is topped by a broad wooden roof and protected by two intricately gilded doors, with a pair of Buddha shrines behind and to the left. The right-hand side of the enclosure has a very Indian flavour, with a line of shrines housing images of Durga, Krishna, Radha, Ganesh and Vishnu – those at the back have ornate gold doors with tiny bells on them which devotees ring to attract the gods’ attention.
Daily 6am–8pm • Rs.200
West of the city centre, the immense white Bahiravakanda Buddha stares impassively over central Kandy from its hilltop perch. The statue was constructed at the behest of the religiously minded President Premadasa, who also contributed the striking golden roof of the principal shrine of the Temple of the Tooth, as well as various other religious edifices around the island – though these many pious acts didn’t save him from being blown to smithereens by an LTTE suicide bomber in 1993.
You can walk up to the statue – a stiff 15–20-minute hike – although in truth it’s hardly worth the effort and the views, although extensive, aren’t as attractive as those from Rajapahila Mawatha, which is much less of a climb, and also free.
The entrance to the park is a steep hike from town: go up past the post office along Kandy Vidiya and then Wewelpitiya Road; the easy-to-miss entrance is next to the Sri Dalada Thapowanaya temple • Daily 7am–5.30pm • Rs.660
On the opposite (north) side of the lake, providing a dense green backdrop to the Temple of the Tooth, is Udawattakele Sanctuary, formerly a royal reserve, subsequently preserved and protected by the British. The sanctuary sprawls over two square kilometres of densely forested hillside, with imposing trees, plenty of birdlife, snakes, and a few mammals including monkeys, porcupines and pigs – as well as lots of leeches if it’s been raining. Two main paths, Lady Horton’s Drive and Lady Gordon’s Road (both named after the wives of British governors) wind through the reserve, with a few smaller paths and nature trails branching off them.
Thanks to its position roughly in the centre of the island, Kandy is within fairly easy striking distance of pretty much everywhere in the country (and will be even more so when the Central Expressway – – opens), although if you’re heading to the south coast, it’s normally easiest to go back to Colombo and start from there. Heading into the hill country, the train connects Kandy with most places you’re likely to want to go, while to the north, all the sites of the Cultural Triangle are no more than two to three hours away by road. For Katunayake Airport, note that all buses to Negombo pass the turn-off to the airport, about 2km from the terminal itself; alternatively, take a (non-intercity) Colombo train to Veyangoda, then catch a bus or tuktuk for the thirty-minute trip to the airport.
By air Cinnamon Air operate flights from Kandy’s Polgolla Reservoir (about 5km northeast of the centre) to Colombo and other destinations. Travelling to Colombo it probably works out almost as quick to take the train, although the bird’s-eye views of the hills are spectacular. Fares range between $175 and $230 one-way.
Destinations: Colombo (1 daily; 30min); Dickwella (1 daily via Hambantota; 1hr); Hambantota (1 daily; 30min); Koggala (1 daily via Hambantota and Dickwella; 1hr 30min).
By bus Most long-distance bus services depart from Kandy’s main bus station, the truly horrible Goods Shed Bus Terminal opposite the train station (the Clocktower Bus Stand, south of the clocktower at the west end of the city centre, is used for local departures only). If you can’t find the bus you’re looking for, ask at one of the various wire-mesh information kiosks along the central aisle. For Ella, you’ll probably have to travel via Bandarawela, and for Haputale via Nuwara Eliya and/or Bandarawela; in both instances it’s easier (if not necessarily quicker) to take the train. All buses to Polonnaruwa travel via Habarana and Giritale. Most buses to Jaffna travel overnight, although there are a couple of early morning services too.
Destinations Anuradhapura (every 30min; 3hr 30min); Badulla (every 45min; 3hr); Bandarawela (8 daily; 4hr); Colombo (express services every 30min; 3hr 30min; these leave from the roadside on Station Rd about halfway between the Goods Shed terminal and the clocktower); Dambulla (every 20min; 2hr); Jaffna (8–10 daily; 10hr); Kegalle (for Pinnewala; every 30min; 1hr–1hr 30min); Kurunegala (every 30min; 1hr 30min); Negombo (hourly; 3hr; or catch a bus to Kurunegala and change there); Nuwara Eliya (every 30min; 2hr 30min); Polonnaruwa (every 45min; 3hr 30min); Ratnapura (hourly; 3hr 30min); Sigiriya (1 daily at 7.30am; 2hr 30min; otherwise change at Dambulla); Trincomalee (hourly in the morning; 6hr).
By train Kandy’s train station sits close to Goods Shed bus station on the southwest edge of the city centre; various services run on this line. The ride through the hills up to Nanu Oya (for Nuwara Eliya), Haputale, Ella and Badulla is slow but unforgettable – travelling to Colombo, sit on the south side of the train (the left-hand side, as you face the front) for the best views.
Destinations Badulla (3 daily; 7hr 30min); Colombo (7 daily; 2hr 30min–3hr 30min); Ella (3 daily; 6hr 30min); Haputale (5 daily; 5hr 30min); Hatton (3 daily; 2hr 30min); Nanu Oya (for Nuwara Eliya; 3 daily; 4hr).
Although greater Kandy sprawls for miles over the surrounding hills, the centre is extremely compact, and easily covered on foot. Places around the lake and Udawattakele Sanctuary are all within walking distance of the centre, although if you’re staying further afield (in Ampitiya, for example) you’ll need to catch a tuktuk – although be aware that the city’s tuktuk drivers are possibly the most rapacious in Sri Lanka, so be prepared to haggle hard.
There’s a huge selection of accommodation in all price ranges in and around Kandy, although budget accommodation is increasingly hard to find. Note that the temperature in Kandy is markedly cooler than along the coast – you probably won’t need air-conditioning, but you probably will want hot water (all the following places have this unless stated otherwise). In general, the better the view, the further from town – and the more taxing the walk from the centre. If you’re staying on Rajapihilla Mw note that there’s a useful shortcut up to the road from the top of Saranankara Rd: go up the steps on the left side of the Highest View guesthouse.
Olde Empire 21 Temple St 081 222 4284; map. Bang in the centre, this is one of Kandy’s oldest places to stay, and still one of the best cheapies in town, with a charmingly antiquated wood-panelled interior, a picturesque streetside veranda and restaurant, and nineteen basic white rooms (some with shared bathroom; cold water only) – no particular frills, but clean and well-maintained. No wi-fi. Shared bathrooms Rs.1500, en suites Rs.3300
Queen’s Hotel 45 Dalada Vidiya 081 223 3026, queenshotel.lk; map. Dating back to the 1860s, this venerable hotel is one of central Kandy’s most famous landmarks, and still has a certain old-world style. The spacious a/c rooms have plenty of colonial character, although most overlook busy roads and so are rather noisy – the inward-facing pool rooms are quieter, although the views aren’t as interesting. Facilities include a rather antiquated pool plus an endearingly old-fashioned bar and restaurant (although with uninspiring food). $150
Blinkbonnie Tourist Inn 69 Rajapihilla Mw 081 222 2007; map. Reliable guesthouse in a fine position high above town. Good range of comfortable modern rooms (all with optional a/c); those downstairs come with superb views through big French windows. Free pick-up from bus/train station and has scooters/motorbikes for rent (Rs.1500/2500 per day). Rs.4400, a/c Rs.4950
The main taxi stand (minivans and cars) is opposite the Clocktower Bus Stand at the west end of the centre. Sample prices are around Rs.4000 to Pinnewala, Rs.3000 for the three-temples circuit; and around Rs.6000 for the two combined. Almost all the city’s guesthouses can arrange tours; count on $40–50 per day for the hire of a car and driver. Alternatively, contact the reliable Blue Haven Tours and Travels (081 222 9617, 077 737 2066, bluehaventours.com), who can arrange inexpensive local and islandwide tours.
The vastly experienced Sumane Bandara Illangantilake (c/o Expeditor guesthouse, Saranankara Rd 077 260 6069, 071 720 4722, trekkingexpeditor.com) and his team of ten highly trained guides offer island-wide tours, plus all sorts of trips and hikes around Kandy including an unusual full-day off-road version of the three-temples walk for ($50 per person); all walks can be customized to suit different levels of physical fitness. Sumane is also the island’s leading guide to the Knuckles Range, with a range of 1- to 3-day treks around the region; an authority on the Veddhas; and can arrange visits to pretty much anywhere you might fancy going, including more off-the-beaten-track national parks like Wasgomuwa and Gal Oya, plus “camping on water” stays (featuring tents on rafts) at Sorabora Lake. For tours, count on around $65–75 per person per day (in a group of 2–4), excluding entrance fees; a proportion of profits is returned to local communities.
Ravi Desappriya (071 499 7666, srilankatrekking.com) is another good local guide, organizing a similar range of tours including dedicated birding trips (see srilankabirdwatching.com), Knuckles expeditions (see knucklesrange.com), Wasgamuwa excursions and visits to the dramatic Alagalla range 20km west of Kandy, plus night safaris and wilderness camping.
Expeditor 41 Saranankara Rd 081 223 8316, expeditorkandy.com; map. Smart modern guesthouse, owned by Kandy’s leading tour guide and with a wide range of rooms, from a couple of downstairs cheapies with shared bathroom to upstairs en-suite rooms with high wooden ceilings and fine lake views – all nicely furnished, extremely comfortable and very competitively priced. Shared bathrooms Rs.2000, en suites Rs.2500, a/c Rs.6000
Freedom Lodge 30 Saranankara Rd 081 222 3506, 
freedomomega@gmail.com; map. Excellent and very professionally run family guesthouse offering a very friendly welcome and accommodation in ten smart and comfortable modern rooms (including family accommodation), plus good home-cooking, a roof terrace and kitchen for guests’ use. B&B Rs.5500
Helga’s Folly Off Mahamaya Mw 081 223 4571, helgasfolly.com; map. Utterly maverick and magical place, set high above Kandy in a rambling old house whose former house guests have included Gandhi, Nehru and Laurence Olivier – not to mention Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones, who penned a song (“Madame Helga”) in honour of the place. The extraordinary interior is a riot of colourful invention, from the eye-popping yellow lounge, with petrified dripping candles, deer heads, Indonesian puppets and colonial photos, to the individual bedrooms (all a/c), each with its own unique design featuring any combination of wacky murals, colonial furniture and unusual objets d’art. Facilities include a small cinema and a (very shallow) pool. $100
Lake Front Homestay 26 Cyril Jayasundara Ave (Lake Round) 081 222 7135, info@lakefrontkandy.com; map. Not actually on the lake front, but still a good choice, in a very quiet side road with six simple but spacious rooms and efficient service – although the manager might try to sell you a tour. Breakfast is served in the sunny dining room, with nice views to accompany. Rs.3000
Mcleod Inn 65A Rajapihilla Mw 081 222 2832 or 071 682 0914, mcleodinnkandy.com; map. Kandy’s best bargain, perched in a peerless location high above town and with very friendly and super-efficient service from the husband-and-wife owners. The ten rooms are clean, modern and attractively furnished. All come with satelite TV, while two (Rs.1000 extra) have views to dream of through enormous French windows, as does the dining room. Also offers a handy laundry service. Excellent value. Rs.4000
Sharon Inn 59 Saranankara Rd 081 222 2416, sharon@sltnet.lk; map. Ever-expanding edifice at the very top of Saranankara Rd with attractively furnished rooms (including interconnecting family rooms for Rs.12,000) with a/c and satellite TV – all bright, white, scrupulously clean and with marvellous bird’s-eye views over town from private balconies. Also cooks up the best rice and curry in town, served nightly in the rooftop restaurant. B&B Rs.6500
Hotel Suisse Sangaraja Mw 081 223 3024, hotelsuisse.lk; map. This gracious old hotel served as Mountbatten’s Southeast Asian headquarters during World War II and retains much of its time-warped colonial charm. Rooms (some lake-facing for $40 extra; all with a/c, satellite TV and minibar) are spacious and neatly furnished, and the attractive public areas include a cosy bar, a billiards room and a pool. $158
The Best Hostel 11, 1st Lane, Dharmaraja Mw 081 223 2223, thebesthostel.kandy@gmail.com; map. One of the best hostels in Kandy (we’ll say that for it), in a quite central but very quiet location with accommodation in a mix of female, male and mixed four- and eight-bed dorms, plus a couple of basic doubles. It’s a bit bare and lacking in facilities (although it does have a kitchen and lounge), but you can hardly complain given the absolutely rock-bottom price. B&B: dorms $6pp, doubles $15
Green Woods 34A Sangamitta Mw 081 223 2970, greenwoodsinfo@gmail.com; map. Tucked away in a surprisingly rural setting not far from the centre, with simple but comfortable fan rooms in a beautifully secluded location overlooking Udawattakele Sanctuary, whose birdlife can be ogled for free from the veranda or attractive communal lounge. B&B Rs.3500
Hipsters Hideout 117/3 Angarika Dharmapala Mw 081 222 9222, facebook.com/thehostelkandy; map. Lively, central hostel. There’s a great, and often kicking, little restaurant and bar in the courtyard, plus daily yoga classes. Dorms (one 8-bed mixed, one 14-bed female) and rooms are pretty basic and a bit grubby, but also very cheap. B&B: dorms $7pp, doubles $15
Nature Walk 9 Sangamitta Mw 077 771 7482, naturewalkhr.net; map. Attractive small hotel with spacious and nicely decorated modern a/c rooms, plus a few non a/c budget rooms. A couple of standard rooms at the front (no surcharge) come with balcony and hill views through big French windows, and there’s also a surprisingly stylish open-sided restaurant on the top floor. B&B: budget $30, standard $55
Villa 49 49 Louis Peiris Mw 081 224 1142, villa49.weebly.com; map. Attractive little boutique guesthouse, with six very comfortably furnished and well-equipped rooms with a/c, TV, fridge, safe, kettle and balcony – or spend an extra $10 to get one of the slightly larger and fancier deluxe rooms, decorated with colourful Indian fabrics. B&B $80
Blue Haven 30/2 Poorna Lane, Asigiriya 081 222 9617, bluehavtravels@gmail.com; map. In a pleasantly semi-rural setting on the edge of the centre, with bright tiled rooms, an attractive upstairs veranda, a terrace restaurant looking out over the tree tops, and a pool. Choose between top-floor “deluxe” rooms with a/c and hot water and cheaper fan rooms downstairs (optional a/c $5). There’s free pick-up from town. Good value at current rates, and Rough Guides readers are promised a ten-percent discount on room prices. B&B: $23, a/c $35
Clock Inn 11 Kande Vihara (Hill St) 081 223 5311, clockinn.lk; map. In a quaint colonial verandahed building right in the heart of the city, this is Kandy’s most upmarket hostel, with crisp, six-bed a/c dorms (each bed with its own light and socket), plus neat and cosy double rooms. B&B: dorms $13pp, doubles $50
The Elephant Stables 46 Nittawela Rd 081 742 3201, elephantstables.com; map. Very stylish new boutique hotel, set in a beautifully updated colonial villa with fine views towards the Knuckles Range. There are just six gorgeous and very comfortable colour-coded rooms (plus cottage and luxury tent) in a kind of contemporary country-house style, with vibrant decor, heaps of comfy furniture and a real home-from-home feel. Facilities include an attractive decked pool in the neat garden, a cosy bar and lounge, plus cute little library, with city tours in the hotel’s classic cars available on request. B&B $350
Lady Gordons Homestay 116/4 Lady Gordon’s Drive 081 220 1354, ladygordonshomestay@gmail.com; map. A real home-from-home, hidden away in the pleasantly quiet and leafy streets below Udawatakele, with a very welcoming owner and five simple but comfortable rooms in an enjoyably old-fashioned villa – and at a very affordable price. Rs.3000
The Secret Kandy 25 Lady Gordon’s Drive 081 220 4280, thesecrethotels.com/kandy; map. Lovely little boutique guesthouse in a stylishly updated 125-year-old bungalow, combining colonial character and contemporary comforts. All five rooms come with a/c, TV, minibar and bathtub and facilities include a small courtyard pool and suave little courtyard café. B&B $170
Ginza Rest 92E Ampitiya Rd 081 565 6667 or 077 268 4702; map. This slightly ramshackle family house has just a handful of huge, bare rooms, each sleeping four or five. Absolutely no frills, and not much furniture either, although the owner is a delight and rates are among the lowest in town. B&B Rs.2000
Kandy City Hostel 76 Ampitiya Rd (on the right, just past the 2km post) 077 444 9182, hostelslanka.com; map. Cheap lodgings in three well-equipped six- to eight-bed dorms (plus one six-bed female dorm for $10pp and one double for $35) – all beds come with individual fans, nets and lockers with plugs in, and there’s also a kitchen, washing machines and rooftop movie screenings some nights (but no restaurant). A tuktuk from the bus/train station should cost Rs.300. B&B $8pp
Bougainvillea Retreat Rajawella 077 029 1896, bv-retreat.com; map. One of several upmarket places to stay around the Victoria Golf Club, this boutique-retreat offers wonderful views over the surrounding hills and waters of the nearby Victoria Reservoir, and very peaceful and comfortable accommodation in nine rooms dotted around spacious gardens and a big pool. B&B $220
Cinnamon Citadel 2km west of Kandy 081 223 4365, cinnamonhotels.com; map. Occupying an attractive perch above the Mahaweli Ganga, this low-rise four-star is one of the best looking (and often best value) of the big hotels around Kandy, with spacious and stylish rooms (all with minibar, safe, satellite TV and balcony) and a large pool. $120
Jungle Tide Metiyagolla, Uduwela (around 45min drive from Kandy) 077 981 0631, jungletide.com; map. Modern guesthouse built in the style of a traditional plantation bungalow in a remote location up in the Hantana hills south of Kandy, with lovely gardens, a good-sized pool, spotless and very comfortable rooms, and stunning views towards the Knuckles Range. B&B $100
The Kandy House Gunnepana, 5km east of Kandy 081 492 1394, thekandyhouse.com; map. Magical boutique guesthouse, set in a wonderfully atmospheric old traditional Kandyan walauwa (manor house). Rooms are sumptuously equipped with antique-style furniture, four-poster beds, Victorian bathtubs and colourful fabrics; outside, gorgeous landscaped gardens run down to a beautiful little infinity swimming pool. Minimum two-night stay. $290
Kandy Samadhi Centre Kukul Oya Rd, 23km east of the city 081 447 0925, thekandysamadhicentre.com; map. Beautiful and serene retreat, a 40min drive east of the city in an unspoilt area of mountainous jungle. The emphasis is on simplicity and tranquillity, offering holistic balm to both body and soul, with organic, home-grown food and a range of Ayurveda and yoga packages available. Accommodation is in a variety of elegantly rustic rooms, pavilions, a quaint rock house and a pair of “mud houses” (much nicer than the name suggests) scattered around the idyllic grounds. B&B $110
Richmond House Heerassagala, 5km from Kandy 081 221 8495, therichmondhousekandy.com; map. Nestled amid the hills between Kandy and Peradeniya, this attractive guesthouse offers bright and well-equipped modern tiled rooms (all with bathtub, a/c, satellite TV and minibar) with a hint of slightly chintzy old-world charm, including colonial repro furniture, four-poster beds and a Hollywood staircase. B&B $65
Theva Residency Hantana Rd, 3km from Kandy 081 738 8296, theva.lk; map. Perched in a fine position high above town, this striking modern hotel sports stylish – if very minimalist – arctic-white rooms (more expensive deluxe rooms with fine views). There’s also a small pool (if it’s warm enough to swim), and an attractive dining room. B&B $189
Villa Rosa Asigiriya, 2km west of Kandy 081 221 5556, villarosa-kandy.com; map. Gorgeous boutique hotel in a stunning location high above the Mahaweli Ganga, with spacious and stylish rooms (some, from $235, with wonderful river views). The attractively soothing orangey-pink decor complements the very serene atmosphere, while yoga and meditation teaching can also be arranged and massages and shirodhara are available in the rustic wellness centre, while guests get free use of the pool at the nearby Cinnamon Citadel. There’s also free tuktuk transport to town, plus a VW Beetle for short joyrides. Minimum two-night stay. B&B $140
Meditation
Kandy is the best place in Sri Lanka to study meditation, with numerous centres dotted around the countryside nearby (though none right in the city itself). The Buddhist Publications Society has a list of all the various centres in the area.
Dhamma Kuta Vippassana Meditation Centre Hindagala, 7km from Peradeniya 081 238 5774, dhamma.org/en/schedules/schkuta or info@kuta.dhamma.org. Caters to experienced meditators only, with intensive ten-day courses (no talking). Free, but donations welcome. Book well in advance.
International Buddhist Meditation Centre Hondiyadeniya, Wegirikanda, 10km from Kandy on the road to Nuwara Eliya 081 380 1871, rockhillsrilanka.com. Runs challenging courses in Vipassana meditation during which students are required to adopt the ascetic lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
Nilambe Meditation Centre Near Galaha, around 22km from Kandy nilambe.net. This long-running centre is the place most popular among foreign visitors, set in a beautifully tranquil spot in the hills. Potential visitors are advised to contact the centre at least two weeks in advance. Courses last 6–11 days and cost Rs.1500/day, including basic vegetarian food and lodging. All levels are welcome, from novices to experienced meditators. To reach the centre, take the Deltota or Galaha bus from Kandy’s Goods Shed bus station and ask the conductor to put you off at Nilambe Office Junction, from where it’s a 45min walk (or catch a tuktuk). Bring a torch (there’s no electricity), umbrella, alarm clock and warm clothing.
Kandy has a disappointingly limited number of good places to eat given its size, and don’t necessarily expect to enjoy a glass of wine or a beer with your meal – none of the following serve alcohol except The Pub, Sharon Inn and Slightly Chilled.
Café Aroma Inn 98 Sir Benet de Soyza St (Colombo St) 081 222 9950; map. Bright white modern bakery-cum-restaurant serving up cakes and good coffee alongside a wide and well-prepared selection of international food including light meals (pasta, stir-fries and so on) for around Rs.800, and more substantial meat mains (Rs.1400). Good breakfast selection too. Daily 6am–10pm.
Devon Restaurant 11 Dalada Vidiya 081 222 4537; map. No-frills modern local restaurant constantly packed with locals thanks to its good selection of Sri Lankan staples, including hoppers, string hoppers, burianis, lamprais and devilled dishes (mains Rs.400–500), plus Western and Sri Lankan breakfasts. Portions are large, though the food can be hot. Daily 7.30am–8pm.
Empire Café 21 Temple St 081 563 8006, facebook.com/EmpireCafeKandy; map. Colourful little café on the ground-floor of the Olde Empire hotel serving up a wide range of international dishes – rice and curry, salads, mac and cheese, and assorted burgers, plus good juices and smoothies. Food is above-average and attractively presented, though portion sizes are a bit minimalist. Mains Rs.500–825. Daily 8.30am–9pm.
Jasmine Song 169 Kotugodelle Vidiya 081 223 2888, jasminesong.com; map. Quiet Sri Lankan-style Chinese restaurant, serving up a big and reasonably well-prepared menu of Cantonese meat, fish and veg classics (mains Rs.600–950). Daily 11.30am–10.30pm.
Kandyan Muslim Hotel Dalada Vidiya 081 222 9129; map. This classic slice of Kandyan café culture is somewhere you either love or hate – famous for its old-school hygiene standards (or, rather, lack of) and service which ranges from brilliant to disastrous. Served in a rather gloomy upstairs dining room, food features a big range of meat-heavy Muslim-style Sri Lankan cuisine including rice and curry, burianis and kottu. Prices aren’t exactly dirt cheap (that’s mainly on the floor), but reasonable for what you get. Daily 6am–9pm.
Mihiri Foods Colombo St; map. Great selection of reviving juices (a bargain Rs.80) including pineapple, papaya, lime, wood apple, soursop and passion fruit, plus lipsmackin’ faluda and shakes (Rs.100). Daily 8.30am–8pm.
Natural Coffee 5 Temple St 081 220 5734, naturalcoffee.lk; map. Cosy little café with seating upstairs and down serving up good pure Arabica coffee from Kotmale, plus a bizarrely eclectic selection of snacks and sweet items (around Rs.400). Daily 7.30am–7pm.
The Pub 36 Dalada Vidiya (above the Bake House; the entrance is easily missed) 081 223 4341; map. Touristy place serving up an eclectic selection of reasonably prepared if slightly pricey continental standards including pastas, fish, pork chops and steak (though hardly any vegetarian options). Also a good spot for a drink. Most mains Rs.1200–1500. Daily 11am–11pm.
Sharon Inn 59 Saranankara Rd 081 222 2416; map. The best rice and curry in town (Rs.1300) – indeed one of the best in the island – served buffet-style daily at 7.30pm and comprising a sumptuous spread of fifteen or so dishes usually featuring a gourmet array of unusual Sri Lankan vegetables, plus chicken. Non-guests should reserve in advance by 4pm latest.
Slightly Chilled Lounge (Bamboo Garden) 29A Anagarika Dharmapala Mw 081 223 8267, slightly-chilled.com; map. Kandy’s coolest nightspot, Slightly Chilled is best for a drink but also does a passable range of Sri Lankan-style Chinese food, covering all the usual meat, veg and seafood Cantonese bases, plus assorted salads, sandwiches and pasta and chicken dishes. Most mains around Rs.1000. Daily 11am–9.30pm (last orders); bar shuts 2–5pm.
Sri Balaji Dosa 9 DS Senanayake Vidiya 222 4593; map. A good, inexpensive place for lunch during a tour of the centre, serving up a tasty range of pure-veg South Indian grub including good thalis (Rs.170) and a virtuoso range of dosas (around Rs.200). Daily 7.30am–9.30pm.
Sri Ram 87 Bennet Soysa Vidiya (Colombo St) 081 567 7287; map. A more upmarket alternative to Sri Balaji, but serving up a similar range of South Indian standards including cheap lunchtime thalis and burianis (Rs.300–650) as well as a few North Indian offerings plus more unusual Chettinad (Tamil Nadu-style) veg and meat curries (around Rs.500). No alcohol. Daily 9.30am–9.30pm.
The Pub 36 Dalada Vidiya 081 223 4341; map. The outdoor terrace overlooking Dalada Vidiya at this touristy restaurant is one of the nicest spots in town for a drink, and is backed up with a decent drinks list, including refreshingly cheap beer. Daily 11am–2pm & 5–11pm.
Queen’s Hotel Bar Queen’s Hotel, Dalada Vidiya; map. Atmospheric, colonial-style drinking hole under a huge veranda at the back of the stately Queen’s Hotel, with an old wooden bar, armchair seating and long rows of fans whirling gently overhead. Daily 9am–11pm.
Slightly Chilled Lounge (Bamboo Garden) 29A Anagarika Dharmapala Mw 081 223 8267; map. Kicking bar-restaurant set high above the lake, with an above-average drinks list accompanied by a smooth soundtrack. Daily 11am–2pm & 5pm–midnight.
Victory Hotel 79 Colombo St 081 222 2526; map. This smart (if rather smokey) upstairs bar attracts a noisy mix of tourists and locals, with cheap beer and a passable range of simple food to go with it – although service can sometimes be a bit Basil Fawlty-esque. Daily 8am–10pm.
Five places in town put on nightly shows of Kandyan dancing and drumming (all starting at 5pm, lasting around 1hr and costing Rs.1000). All are touristy but fun, with a fairly standard range of dances, generally including snippets of both southern as well as Kandyan dances and usually culminating in a spot of fire walking. Touts will try very hard to sell you tickets in advance, although there are pretty much always seats available on the door for all the shows if you simply show up ten minutes before curtain up.
Kandyan Arts Association Sangaraja Mw, southeast of the Temple of the Tooth. The long-running show here is the biggest, ritziest and most touristy of the dance shows, with flashy but fun performances drawing coach parties galore.
Kandy Buddhist Centre East of the temple. Energetic performances in a mid-sized venue just behind the Temple of the Tooth.
Lake Club Sangamitta Mw. The second smallest of the five venues, although lacking either the appealing intimacy of the YMBA or the pizzazz of the larger shows.
Red Cross Hall Next door to the Kandyan Arts Association. Almost next door to the crowd-pulling Kandyan Arts Association, and also with a fair bit of razzamatazz.
YMBA Rajapihilla Mw. The most intimate of the five shows, held in a much smaller auditorium and allowing you to get much closer to the performers.
Kandy is one of Sri Lanka’s main artisanal centres: many local villages still specialize in particular crafts (metalware, lacquerware, leatherwork and so on) and the city is perhaps the best place in the island to pick up traditional souvenirs. One place worth a look is the ramshackle Kandy Central Market (just south of the clocktower) whose upper floor is stuffed with souvenir and craft shops selling bags, batiks, cheap clothes, wallhangings, woodcarvings and so on, while shops below sell spices, plus fruit and veg. In complete contrast, the glitzy Kandy City Centre on Dalada Vidiya is the city’s prime upscale retail destination. Most of the shops are pretty run of the mill, although there are branches of local chains including Odel, the Cotton Collection and the Vijitha Yapa bookshop, plus a large foot court up top. There’s a handy (but often hectic) Cargills supermarket on Dalada Vidiya, and a slightly more peaceful Keells supermarket in the basement of Kandy City Centre (both open daily 8.30am–9pm); both have good selections of local tea and spices.
Earthbound Creations Yatinuwara Vidiya 081 222 7122, ebcsl.com; map. Brilliant selection of colourful crafts made from recycled newspapers and magazines, including pencils, placemats, bowls and ingenious beaded jewellery, as well as a range of other quality contemporary crafts, clothes and collectibles. Daily 9am–9pm.
Jayamali Batiks 1st Floor, 196 Central Market 077 783 3938, jayamalibatiks.com; map. Quality batiks in a range of original designs by Upali Jayakody. Pieces range from traditional Kandyan-style batiks through to striking contemporary creations, including signature angelfish and tea-picker designs. Upali has been the subject of numerous commission rackets by unscrupulous rickshaw drivers and other types, so greatly appreciates visitors who arrive independently, or only with a trusted guide. Daily 10am–6.30pm.
Kandyan Arts and Crafts Association (Kandyan Cultural Centre) Sangaraja Mw 081 222 3100, facebook.com/KandyanArtAssociation; map. In a 300-year-old building which once housed the old British Military Hospital, this government-supported place showcases the full range of Kandyan crafts – metalwork, lacquerware, drums and so on – all relatively inexpensive, and of a decent quality. Local artisans can often be seen at work around the veranda, working looms, brushes and needles. Daily 9am–5pm.
Luv SL Dalada Vidiya, next to Pub Royale; map. Kandy branch of this ever-expanding chain (an offshoot of the Odel store in Colombo), selling chic clothes plus assorted souvenirs, ranging from teas and Ayurvedic products through to funky painted elephants and other assorted bric-a-brac. There’s a branch of Odel proper (selling clothes only) in Kandy City Centre. Daily 10am–9pm.
Selyn 7 Temple St 081223 7735, selyn.lk; map. Made in their factory in Kurunegala, Selyn’s hand-woven fair-trade cottons are some of the finest textiles the island has to offer, patterned with vivid slabs of colour and transformed into a wide range of clothes (including scarves, shawls, blouses, aprons and lunghis) as well as tableware, pencil cases, cuddly toys and other trinkets. They also sell a good selection of upcycled jewellery and other fun bric-a-brac. Daily 9.30am–6pm.
Kandyan dancing and drumming is Sri Lanka’s iconic performing art, and you’re unlikely to spend long in the city without seeing a troupe of performers going about their (rather noisy) business, clad in elaborate traditional costumes, with dancers twirling, stamping and gyrating to a pulsating accompaniment of massed drumming. The art form originated as part of an all-night ceremony in honour of the god Kohomba, an elaborate ritual featuring some fifty dancers and ten drummers. This ceremony flourished under the patronage of the kings of Kandy and reached such heights of sophistication that it was eventually adopted into local religious ceremonies, becoming a key element in the great Esala Perahera festival. Many temples in the Kandyan area even have a special columned pavilion, or digge, designed specifically for performances and rehearsals by resident dancers and drummers.
There are five main types of Kandyan dance. The four principal genres are the ves, pantheru, udekki and naiyandi, all featuring troupes of flamboyantly attired male dancers clad in sumptuous chest plates, waistbands and various other neck, arm and leg ornaments which jangle as the dancers move about. The most famous is the ves dance, which is considered sacred to the god Kohomba. It’s at once highly mannered and hugely athletic, combining carefully stylized hand and head gestures with acrobatic manoeuvres including spectacular backflips, huge high-kicking leaps and dervish-like whirling pirouettes. In the more sedate pantheru dance, the turbaned performers play small tambourines, while during the udekki dance they beat tiny hourglass-shaped drums.
The fifth and final style of Kandyan classical dance is the vannam. This began life as songs, before evolving into stylized dances, each of which describes a certain emotion or object from nature, history or legend – the most popular are the various animal-derived vannams, including those inspired by the movements of the peacock (mayura), elephant (gajaga), lion (sinharaja) and cobra (naga). Vannams are usually performed by just one or two dancers (and sometimes by women), unlike other Kandyan dances, which are ensemble dances featuring four or five performers, always men.
As well as the traditional Kandyan dances, the city’s cultural shows usually include examples of a few characteristic southern dances such as the kulu (harvest dance) and the ever-popular raban dance.
All genres of dance are accompanied by drumming, which can reach extraordinary heights of virtuosity – even if the finer points pass you by, the headlong onslaught of a Kandyan drum ensemble in full flight leaves few people unmoved. The archetypal Sri Lankan drum is the geta bera (literally “boss drum”), a double-headed instrument carried on a strap around the drummer’s waist and played with the hands. Geta bera are made to a fixed length of 67cm, with different types of skins (monkey and cow, for example) at either end of the drum to produce contrasting sounds. The double-headed daule drum is shorter but thicker, and is played with a stick in one hand and the palm of the other. The tammettana bera is a pair of tiny drums (a bit like bongos) which are tied together and played with a pair of sticks. A horanava (a kind of Sri Lankan oboe) is sometimes added to the ensemble, providing a simple melodic accompaniment.
Like the dancers they accompany, Kandyan drummers perform in traditional costume, dressed in a large sarong, a huge red cummerbund and a white tasselled turban – significant musical points are marked by a toss of the head, sending the tassel flying through the air in a delicate accompanying flourish.
Rajanima Crafts 173 Rajapahilla Mw 081 495 0347, rajanima.com; map. Good-quality selection of local crafts including kolam masks (painted in either chemical or – more expensive – natural dyes), Buddha and elephant carvings in sandalwood, teak and mahogany, drums, chess sets and carrom boards and so on (bargaining possible). You can also watch craftsmen at work in the adjacent factory. Daily 8am–5.30pm.
Buddhist Publications Society Sangaraja Mw; map. Enormous selection of Buddhist titles, plus a few books on Sri Lankan history. Mon–Sat 9am–4.30pm.
Vijitha Yapa Bookshop Level 2, Kandy City Centre; map. Reasonable selection of English-language and Sri Lankan titles from the island’s leading bookstore chain. Daily 9am–6pm.
Mlesna Dalada Vidiya; map. Posh tea shop selling a good range of gift tea sets, fancy teapots and other upmarket tea-making kit. Daily 8.15am–6pm.
Ayurveda A number of hotels in and around Kandy have Ayurveda centres or spas: those at the Amaya Hills and Earl’s Regency are both good.
Banks There are heaps of banks in the city centre (see map,), the majority on Dalada Vidiya, most with ATMs that accept foreign cards, plus a couple of authorized moneychangers in the basement of Kandy City Centre.
Cricket Kandy is one of the island’s three Test-match venues (along with Colombo and Galle). Matches are now held at the custom-built Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, 15km outside the city. Aficionados might also enjoy a visit to the city’s former Test-match arena, the Asigiriya Stadium, shoe-horned into the hills just west of the centre and often described as the most beautiful cricket ground in the world.
Golf The magnificent eighteen-hole, par-73 course at the Victoria Golf Club (071 737 6376, golfsrilanka.com) is around 20km east of Kandy at Rajawella, tucked into a scenic spot between the Knuckles Range and the Victoria Reservoir. Green fees are Rs.9000/round.
Hospital Lakeside Adventist Hospital, 40 Sangaraja Mw (081 222 3466), on the lakeshore 100m beyond the Hotel Suisse; there’s also a dental clinic here.
Internet The Prince of Wales internet café, next to the Queen’s Hotel (daily 8am–9pm; Rs.120/hr) is reliable and well equipped.
Pharmacy There’s a well-stocked pharmacy at the back of Keells supermarket in the basement of Kandy City Centre (Mon–Sat 8.30am–8pm, Sun 8.30am–7.30pm).
Post office The main post office is opposite the train station (Mon–Sat 7am–8pm). There’s also a handy post office counter in the basement of Kandy City Centre.
Swimming Non-guests can use the pools at the Queen’s Hotel (Rs.250) and Hotel Suisse (Rs.500 for 2hr).
The countryside around Kandy is full of attractions, featuring an interesting blend of the cultural and the natural – elephants, historic temples, hill walking and more. Top of most visitors’ lists is the famous Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage, usually followed by the idyllic Peradeniya Botanical Gardens. There’s also a fascinating collection of Kandyan-era temples scattered around the countryside, while the dramatic Knuckles Range boasts some of the island’s finest wilderness trekking.
Lady Magdalene Drive • Daily 7am–4pm • Free • cwgc.org
West of Kandy, the moving Commonwealth War Cemetery is set amid beautiful gardens tucked into a peaceful little hollow in the hills next to the Mahaweli Ganga. The cemetery is home to around 200 immaculately maintained graves of servicemen who died in Sri Lanka during World War II, including army, navy and air-force personnel from across the British Empire – Britain, Canada, India, East Africa, plus 26 Sri Lankans from the Ceylon Light Infantry, Ceylon Pioneers, Ceylon Engineers and other regiments.
6km southwest of Kandy • Daily 7.30am–6pm • Rs.1500 • A tuktuk to the gardens costs around Rs.400 one way from Kandy; alternatively, take bus #644 (every 10–15min) from the Clocktower Bus Stand
Enclosed within a meandering loop of the Mahaweli Ganga, the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens are among the largest and finest in Asia, covering almost 150 acres and stuffed with a bewildering variety of local and foreign tree and plants (many of them labelled). The history of the site dates right back to the fourteenth century, when Wickramabahu III established a royal residence here. The park itself was created during the eighteenth century by King Kirti Sri Rajasinha to serve as a pleasure garden for the Kandyan nobility. It was transformed into a botanical garden by the British in 1821 during the enterprising governorship of Edward Barnes, who had Sri Lanka’s first tea trees planted here in 1824, though their full commercial potential wasn’t to be realized for another half-century.
Running from the entrance, the principal thoroughfare, stately Royal Palm Avenue, bisects the gardens, heading in an arrow-straight line north to the Mahaweli Ganga. At the southern end of the avenue, the Great Lawn is home to Peradeniya’s most majestic sight: a huge Javan fig whose sprawling roots and branches create a remarkable natural pavilion. (There’s also an overpriced restaurant near here, and cheaper drinks in a kiosk next door.)
Running along the southern side of the Great Lawn, Double Coconut Palm Avenue is flanked with a cluster of stumpy coco de mer trees, native to the Seychelles, whose massively swollen coconuts – the heaviest ever recorded weighed 42kg – hold the record for the world’s largest wild fruit. There are also a few stunning kauri pines here from Queensland (they’re actually broadleaved trees, not pines), while a long line of strangely twisted Cook’s pines, looking rather like oversized pipe-cleaners, flank the east side of the lawn.
North of here is the Great Circle, its eastern side dotted with a sequence of memorial trees planted at various times by assorted international bigwigs. The first was planted by the Prince of Wales in 1875 (his successor came back and planted another one in 1922), with subsequent contributions from the Tsar of Russia (1891 – the tree has lasted rather longer than the tsar), Queen Elizabeth (1954 – a sickly looking ficus krishnae), Joseph Tito (1959) and Yuri Gagarin (1961), along with various post-independence Sri Lankan and other Asian leaders.
The northern half of the gardens has an altogether wilder quality and is home to vast populations of fruit bats, which hang in spooky clusters from the branches overhead. At its northern end, Royal Palm Avenue meets the riverside walk, which follows the bank of the Mahaweli Ganga and offers a pleasant circuit right round the relatively peaceful edges of the garden.
Turning left you’ll reach a cute, wobbly suspension bridge – a popular climbing frame for local macaque monkeys. Turning right, past spectacularly large clumps of riverside bamboo, brings you to Cabbage Palm Avenue, lined with West Indian cabbage palms with their unusual greenish trunks. Palmyra Palm Avenue leads off to the left, lined with very tall and slender palmyra palms with their distinctively spiky tops, a familiar sight to anyone who has visited the Jaffna Peninsula, where they are the dominant palm species, though they’re much less common elsewhere in the island.
South of here is a marvellous group of Java almonds (follow the path towards Canarium Row and the Orchid House), whose huge buttressed roots line the side of the path. Returning to Cabbage Palm Avenue and continuing south brings you to Cannon Ball Avenue, lined with beautiful cannon ball trees, wreathed in creepers from which hang the characteristically large, round fruits, after which the artillery-loving British named the tree. The Sinhalese (who call them sal trees) hold their beautiful flowers sacred, since they appear to comprise a tiny dagoba, shaded by a cobra’s hood and surrounded by tiny florettes, which are thought to represent a crowd of worshippers. Beyond here, the avenue curves around away from the river, before returning you to the entrance.
South of the Great Lawn lies a small but picturesque Sri Lanka-shaped lake, covered in water lilies and overlooked by a classical rotunda and an enormous clump of giant bamboo. Continuing south brings you to a small area of carefully laid out medicinal and aquatic plants, plus various types of grass. Next to these is a line of far more striking talipot palms, identifiable by the unusual crisscross bark pattern at the foot of the trunk (the remains of old leaves) and by their huge leaves – the trees as a whole look rather like enormous toilet brushes. Beyond here, at the southernmost edge of the gardens, is the pretty little Students’ Garden, featuring over 350 plant species neatly laid out and labelled, surrounded by weird cycads and ferns.
The countryside around Kandy is dotted with dozens of historic Kandyan-era temples, most of them still largely unvisited by foreign visitors. The most interesting are the Embekke Devale, Lankatilake and Gadaladeniya, which lie some 10km west of Kandy and make for a rewarding half-day walk popularly known as the three-temples loop; they can be visited rather more quickly but less memorably by car or tuktuk. All three temples were constructed during the fourteenth century, in the early days of the nascent Kandyan kingdom, when the region was ruled from Gampola and Tamil influence was strong. There’s a further trio of temples to the east of Kandy.
Daily 8am–6pm • Rs.300 • Buses to Embekke depart from the Clocktower bus station (every 30min; 1hr)
Dating from the fourteenth century, the rustic little Embekke Devale, dedicated to Kataragama, is famous principally for the fine digge (drummer’s pavilion) fronting the main shrine. The digge’s intricately decorated wooden pillars were apparently brought here from another temple at Gampola; each bears a different design, with an entertaining jumble of peacocks, entwined swans, wrestlers, dragons, dancers, horsemen, soldiers and bodhisattvas (shown as composite figures: half man, half bird). One of the most famous panels depicts an elephant and lion fighting; another shows what looks curiously like a Habsburg double-headed eagle.
Two quaint lions flank the entrance to the main shrine behind, topped by a delicate tower. To the left of the main building stands a rustic granary (signed “Ancient Paddy Barn”) raised on stones above the ground to protect its contents from wild animals.
Daily 8am–6pm • Rs.300 • Buses to Lankatilake depart from the Goods Shed bus station (every 30min; 1hr)
Built on a huge rock outcrop, the imposing Lankatilake is perhaps the finest temple in the district. Founded in 1344, its architecture is reminiscent of the solid, gedige-style stone temples of Polonnaruwa rather than the later and more decorative Kandyan-style wooden temples. The building was formerly four storeys tall, though the uppermost storeys collapsed in the nineteenth century and were replaced by the present, badly fitting wooden roof. The gloomy central shrine, with eighteenth-century Kandyan paintings, is magically atmospheric: narrow but tall, and filled with a great seated Buddha under a huge makara torana, with tiers of gods rising above. The massive exterior walls contain a sequence of small shrines containing statues of Saman, Kataragama, Vishnu and Vibhishana (often kept locked, sadly), punctuated by majestic low-relief carvings of elephants. To the left of the temple, carved onto the ground, is a gigantic rock inscription, one of the largest in Sri Lanka, which records the details of the temple’s construction.
Daily 8am–6pm • Rs.300 • To reach Gadaladeniya by bus, take any of the numerous non-express buses heading west along the road to Kegalle and Colombo and ask to be set down at the Gadaladeniya turn-off in Pilimathalawa
Gadaladeniya dates from the same year – 1344 – as Lankatilake. The principal shrine is built on a rock outcrop at the top end of the site, and the style of the corbelled roof and carvings of dancers and drummers have a pronounced South Indian flavour, having been designed by a Tamil architect, a certain Ganesvarachari. The interior houses a fine gold Buddha (with oddly close-set eyes) under a marvellous makara torana. The whimsical subsidiary shrine, in the middle of the compound, consists of a cruciform building, each wing housing a tiny Buddha shrine and topped by a minuscule dagoba, with the entire structure being surmounted by a larger dagoba – one of the island’s most unusual religious buildings.
Walking the three-temples loop
Embekke, Lankatilake and Gadaladeniya temples can all be visited (albeit with some difficulty) by bus or, far more conveniently, by taxi (count on around Rs.3000 for the round trip, or Rs.2000 by tuktuk). The best way to visit, however, is to walk at least part of the way between the three, starting at the Embekke Devale and finishing at the Gadaladeniya (or vice versa).
To reach the Embekke Devale and the start of the walk, take bus #643 from the Goods Shed bus station (every 30min; 1hr) – the bus tends to leave from the left-hand side of the station in front of the row of shops rather than from one of the actual bus stands. All being well you’ll be dropped off on the main road through Embekke village, from where a black sign points down a side road to the Embekke Devale. Walk down this road for 800m then turn right and you’ll see the Embekke Devale directly in front of you.
Continue along the road past the Embekke Devale and go left at the T-junction. The road begins climbing steeply for around 1km until you reach the edge of the village, marked by a gorgeous bo tree and paddy fields. Go straight on for a further 500m until the road forks. Keep right and continue over the brow of a hill and down the other side. You’ll now catch your first glimpse of the Lankatilake, almost obscured by trees on the steep little hillock ahead on your left. Turn left down the short road next to a line of small pylons to reach the base of the hill, from where a magnificent flight of ancient rock-cut steps (alongside a less treacherous set of modern stone steps) leads precipitously up to the temple itself.
From the Lankatilake temple, return to the road by the pylons and go left, walking uphill (again) to reach a larger road and a few shops. Turn left again and follow this road for about 1km to reach the village of Pamunuwa and then continue another 2km to reach the Gadaladeniya temple (next to the road on the left). This part of the walk is less special – the road is bigger, there’s more traffic and you might prefer to just jump into a tuktuk (if you can find one) to reach Gadaladeniya. The area is also a major metalworking centre, and you’ll pass dozens of shops selling traditional oil lamps, looking a bit like overblown cake stands.
Beyond Gadaladeniya, carry on along the road for a further ten to fifteen minutes past numerous metalworking shops to reach the busy town of Pilimathalawa on the main Colombo–Kandy highway. Turn right along the highway and walk through town for about 200m and you’ll find a bus stop in front of Cargills and the Commercial Bank. Buses back to Kandy pass every minute or so – just flag one down.
Just east of the city there’s another rewarding trio of temples dating from the Buddhist renaissance experienced under Kirti Sri Rajasinha, who built all three.
Daily 8am–6pm • Donation
About 2km east of Kandy (head east along the Mahiyangana road, then turn north towards Madawela) on the banks of the Mahaweli Ganga, lies the Gangarama Viharaya. This small monastery is notable mainly for its fine two-storey image house, decorated with Kandyan-era paintings and home to an 8m-tall standing Buddha statue, carved out of the natural rock outcrop around which the shrine is built. (You can see the rock outcrop poking out of the back of the image house, carved with an extensive rock inscription in Sinhala recording details of the temple’s construction.) The walls inside are decorated with hundreds of tessellated sitting Buddhas, while the lower sections of the wall show Jataka stories and scenes from the Buddha’s life, delicately painted in characteristic Kandyan style in narrow panels using a predominantly red palette. A small digge stands opposite the entrance to the image house.
Daily 8am–6pm • Donation
The most interesting of this group of temples, Degaldoruwa is built in and around a large rock outcrop about 2km northeast of the Gangarama Viharaya. The temple consists of three small connected chambers: the first two – the digge and antechamber – are built outside the rock and topped by crumbling old wooden roofs, while the third, the main shrine, is hollowed out of the rock itself, and invisible from the outside. The digge has a few old wooden pillars and a couple of drums hanging from the rafters; it’s unusual in being directly attached to the rest of the temple, rather than occupying a separate pavilion, as is usually the case. Old wooden doors lead into the antechamber, which preserves a fine moonstone and a sequence of murals showing scenes from the Jataka stories, painted in five vivid red panels.
From here, doors (whose metal fittings were formerly studded with jewels) lead into the main shrine. The main image inside is a large reclining Buddha, his head resting on a pillow inlaid with a glass copy of a huge amethyst – according to tradition, the painters who decorated the shrine worked by the light generated by this enormous jewel. The murals here are some of Sri Lanka’s finest, though they’re rather dark and difficult to make out, having formerly been covered in a thick layer of soot from fires lit inside the shrine – a tiny square of black wall has been left just next to one of the doors to show what the walls looked like before restoration. The wall opposite the reclining Buddha is painted with Jataka scenes and pictures of dagobas at Sri Lanka’s principal pilgrimage sites, but the finest painting is on the ceiling, a magnificent depiction of the Buddha’s battle with Mara, dating from the 1770s and rivalling the far better-known example at Dambulla.
Outside stands a belfry, apparently built in imitation of a Christian church tower. Steps to the left of the temple lead up to a large platform, where a stupa and bo tree stand facing one another above the temple.
The extremely unusual Galmaduwa Gedige is the main attraction at the village of Kalapura (signposted north off the Mahiyangana road about 5km east of the turn-off to the Gangarama and Degaldoruwa temples). The bizarre shrine here is enclosed in a cloister-like stone structure (the gedige) and topped by a stone pyramid – an odd but endearing Kandyan version of a traditional South Indian temple. Apparently, the gedige was left unfinished, and its exact purpose remains unclear (the image house at the back was only added during a restoration in 1967). Old ola-leaf manuscripts suggest that the innermost section was originally built as a jail to contain a single prisoner of noble birth who had offended the king, and that the surrounding ambulatory was added later.
Tues–Sat 8.30am–4pm, Sun 8.30am–3pm • Rs.800 • ceylonteamuseum.com
South of Kandy, the small Hantana Road climbs steeply up into the hills through run-down tea estates, with sweeping views back to the city. Four kilometres along the road is the mildly interesting Ceylon Tea Museum, housed in an attractively converted tea factory. The ground and first floors hold various imposing pieces of colonial-era machinery collected from defunct factories around the hill country, including assorted rollers, sifters, drying furnaces, withering trays and even a tractor, plus a cute little working model of a tea factory. The second floor has displays on two of Sri Lankan tea’s great pioneers, with a small collection of the frugal personal effects (pipe, plate and walking stick) of James Taylor, who established the island’s first commercial tea estate, and a display on the much more flamboyant career of Thomas Lipton, who did so much to publicize Sri Lankan tea. There are also exhibits of other tea-related colonial-era bits and pieces, including Sri Lanka’s oldest packet of tea, dating from 1944 and “Guaranteed by the Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board”. The top two floors host a small café plus tea shop.
The hill country east of Kandy remains far less developed than the area to the west of the city – a refreshingly untamed area of rugged uplands which still preserves much of its forest cover. Two main highways run east from Kandy to Mahiyangana on either side of the sprawling Victoria Reservoir and Dam, opened in 1989 as part of the huge Mahaweli Ganga Project and one of the island’s major sources of electricity. A visitor centre, just off the highway, offers fine views of the spectacular dam itself. Much of the densely forested area around the reservoir is protected as part of the Victoria-Randenigala Sanctuary (no entrance), and you might even spot the occasional elephant sticking its trunk out of the forest while you’re travelling down the road.
Around 8km south of the southern road around Victoria Reservoir, and roughly 40km from Kandy, the sleepy little town of HANGURANKETA formerly served as a refuge for the kings of Kandy, who built a large palace here to which they would retreat during times of internal rebellion or external threat. The original palace was destroyed by the British in 1818 (or 1803, according to some sources) and its remains used to construct the Potgul Maliga Vihara (“Temple Library”), now home to an important collection of ola-leaf manuscripts, protected in their sumptuous original copper and silver covers. The temple as a whole is a good example of the high Kandyan style, with a fine central image house surrounded by smaller shrines and an unusual, mural-covered dagoba.
The second of the two main roads east from Kandy, the rougher but dramatic A26 twists and turns through the hills, skirting the northern edge of the Victoria Reservoir and running around the southern outliers of the Knuckles Range, the hill country’s last great wilderness, though its tourist potential is only slowly beginning to be tapped. The rugged peaks of the Knuckles (Dumbara Hills) – named by the British for their resemblance to the knuckles of a clenched fist – cover a rugged and still largely untouched area of great natural beauty and biodiversity. The steeply shelving mountain terrain reaches 1863m at the summit of the main Knuckles peak itself (the sixth highest in Sri Lanka) and includes stands of rare dwarf cloudforest. The area is home to leopard, various species of deer (sambar, barking and mouse), monkeys (purple-faced langur and macaque), giant squirrels, rare species of lizard such as the horned black-lipped lizard, and an exceptionally fine collection of endemic bird species.
An entrance fee of Rs.675 per person per day is charged to enter the conservation area
The most straightforward approach to the Knuckles is from the main Kandy to Mahiyangana Road. Some 27km east of Kandy, at Hunasgiriya, turning on the left takes you up into the range on hairpin bends via the village of Looloowatte (1065m) to reach Corbet’s Gap, from where there are magnificent views of the main Knuckles directly ahead. The central parts of the range – described as a “super biodiversity hotspot” – are protected as a conservation forest and in 2010 were added to the list of World Heritage Sites along with Horton Plains National Park (the eighth place in Sri Lanka to achieve World Heritage status). There are all sorts of intriguing trekking possibilities in the Knuckles, although you’ll really need to go with a guide if you plan on doing any extended walks.
Amaya Hunas Falls Elkaduwa, 27km north of Kandy 081 494 0320, amayaresorts.com. One of the most spectacularly located hotels in Sri Lanka, perched way up in the hills on the western edge of the Knuckles Ranges, a bumpy 1hr drive from Kandy. It’s all surprisingly luxurious, despite the remote setting, with good food and plush rooms, while facilities include an Ayurveda centre and small golf course. B&B $220
Green View Elkaduwa 077 781 1880, bluehavtravels@gmail.com. Shangri-La guesthouse set in a very peaceful spot way up in the hills some 22km from Kandy (a 45min drive; a pick-up can be arranged for $12). The thirteen rooms are simple but comfy enough, with superb views through big picture windows out over the mountains, and there’s also a pool. B&B $23
Rangala House Teldeniya, 25km west of Kandy 081 240 0294, rangalahouse.com. Cosy modern boutique guesthouse – more like staying in a friend’s country house than in paying accommodation. The location up in the Knuckles Range, a 50min drive from Kandy, is beautiful, and it’s also very convenient for the nearby Victoria Golf Club. $178
East of Hunasgiriya, the A26 gives increasingly fine views of the Knuckles Range to the north, with sheer rock faces towering above the road and further craggy peaks rising beyond – Sri Lanka at its most alpine. Another thirty minutes’ drive brings you to the dramatic escarpment at the eastern edge of the hill country, from where there are marvellous views of the dry-zone plains almost a kilometre below. The highway descends through a precipitous sequence of seventeen numbered hairpins – this stretch of the A26 is popularly known as Sri Lanka’s most dangerous road, and although it’s fairly small beer compared to Himalayan or Andean highways, the local bus drivers do their best to keep the adrenaline flowing. At the bottom of the hills, the village of Hasalaka is the starting point for a 45km road north to the little-visited Wasgomuwa National Park.
Lying spread out across the plains at the foot of the dramatic Knuckles Range, the small town of MAHIYANGANA (pronounced “my-yan-gana”) is famous in Buddhist legend as the first of the three places in Sri Lanka which the Buddha himself is said to have visited (the others are Kelaniya and Nainativu). The large Rajamaha Dagoba, a kilometre or so south of town, is held to mark the exact spot at which the Buddha preached, and is also believed to enshrine a lock of his hair. The dagoba’s origins are lost in antiquity; it’s said to have been rebuilt by King Dutugemunu, and has been restored many times since. The present bell-shaped structure, picturesquely set against a backdrop of hill-country escarpment, sits atop a large platform studded with elephant heads and approached by an impressively long walkway. The town’s other eye-catching building is the striking replica of the famous Mahabodhi Stupa at Bodhgaya in India, erected at the behest of the late President Premadasa, which sits next to the main road on the west side of town.
By bus Mahiyangana is something of a crossroads town between Polonnaruwa, Kandy, Badulla, Monaragala and Ampara, with reasonably frequent bus connections to all these places. The town itself is rather spread out, sprawling west from the Mahaweli Ganga.
The Nest Padiyathalawa Rd, 2km east of town 077 619 9511, nest-srilanka.com. Welcoming little place with five comfortable, modern rooms (all with optional a/c for Rs.750) and good Sri Lankan food. The owner can organize trips to local Veddha villages and other local excursions. Rs.3000
Sorabora Gedara Hotel Sorabora Wewa Rd 055 225 8307, soraboragedara.com. Neat, modern hotel in spacious grounds with comfy a/c doubles, a swimming pool, plus bar and restaurant. Rs.5450
The country east of Mahiyangana is one of the last strongholds of Sri Lanka’s ever-diminishing number of Veddhas, who live in the area around the village of Dambana, some 25km further along the A26. From Dambana, a rough track leads north a couple of kilometres to the principal Veddha village of KOTABAKINA (“King’s Village”, also often referred to as Dambana, although properly speaking this name refers to the Sinhalese village on the main highway). The village itself is a beautifully sylvan spot, with picturesque little bamboo-framed, mud-walled huts hemmed in by lush paddy fields. Men will be welcomed to the village with the traditional double-handed handshake (Veddha propriety means that female visitors are not handled, out of respect), after which you can have a look round and talk to the village chief and other male villagers – instantly recognizable with their wispy uncut beards, shoulder-length hair and brightly polished little axes, which they carry over their shoulders. You won’t meet any women, however, since all females retreat to their huts so as not to be seen by outsiders, and will stay there for the duration of your visit. You’ll need to pick up an interpreter en route to the village, however (there are usually lots of volunteers offering their services for a consideration), since the Veddhas cannot – or perhaps will not – speak either English or standard Sinhalese, but stick doggedly to their own “Veddha language” (although whether it’s a proper language or merely a strange sub-dialect of Sinhalese remains a moot point; native Sinhalese speakers can usually understand around a third of it).
Although undeniably interesting, visits to Kotabakina can also, sadly, be gratingly false. The Veddhas are used to entertaining passing coach parties with displays of dancing, singing, fire-making and bow-and-arrow shooting, and have become adept at extracting large sums of money for their services. Visits can be rather demeaning for all concerned, and may well end in unedifying disputes over money. If you do agree to watch some dancing or anything else, make sure you agree a sum in advance, and don’t expect to pay less than about $30 for the pleasure, or perhaps significantly more. Even if you don’t, expect to hand over $10 or so to look around the village (plus a few dollars for your interpreter). Alternatively, you might be able to find some cut-price Veddhas along the main A26 at Mavaragalpota, a few kilometres back toward Mahiyangana, who offer similar displays at about a quarter of the price. Fake Veddhas have also been known to offer their services to unwary tourists along the road and around the temple in Mahiyangana. If you have a genuine interest in the Veddhas, contact Sumane Bandara Illangantilake, who can arrange visits to Kotabakina on a more rewarding and equitable footing.
Daily 6am–6pm • $12 per person, plus the usual additional charges and taxes • The most common way to get to the park is to use the southern entrance, via Dambana; you can also get there via the village of Mannampitiya (14km east of Polonnaruwa on the main road to Batticaloa) from where a road leads 25km south to the entrance
Flanking the road inland between Mahiyangana and Batticaloa, the huge and remote Maduru Oya National Park was established in 1983 to protect the catchment area of the enormous Maduru Oya Reservoir and four smaller reservoirs (at least fifteen percent of the park area is usually made up of water, depending on recent rainfall levels). Much of Maduru Oya’s predominantly low-lying terrain was previously used for slash-and-burn agriculture, and is now mostly covered by open grasslands and secondary vegetation, although there are a few rocky mountains in the southwest corner reaching elevations of 685m. The usual range of fauna can be seen here: various species of monkeys and deer, abundant birdlife, rare sloth bears and even rarer leopards. It’s also good for elephants, at least during the dry season, when up to three hundred descend on the park to drink at its lakes.
The Wanniyala-aetto (“People of the forest”), more usually known by the name of Veddhas (meaning “hunter”), were the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka, and are ethnically related to the aborigines of India, Sumatra and Australia. The Veddhas may have arrived in the island as far back as 16,000 BC, and developed a sophisticated matrilineal hunter-gatherer culture based on ancestor worship and an intimate knowledge of their forest surroundings, the latter allowing them to coexist in perfect harmony with their environment until the arrival of the Sinhalese in the fourth century BC. Veddhas feature extensively in early Sinhalese legend, where they are described as yakkas, or demons, and this common perception of them as demonic savages has persisted through the centuries. One memorably smug Victorian colonial official described them as a:
strange and primitive race [whose] members are but a degree removed from wild beasts. They know nothing of history, religion or any art whatever. They cannot count, know of no amusement save dancing, and are popularly supposed not to laugh. During the Prince of Wales’s visit, however, one of those brought before him managed to grin when presented with a threepenny piece. The Veddhas have, however, of late years shown some signs of becoming civilised under British influence.
Faced by successive waves of colonizers, the Veddhas were forced either to assimilate with the majority Sinhalese or Tamils, or retreat ever further into their dwindling forests. Despite the best attempts of successive British and Sri Lankan governments to “civilize” them, however, an ever-diminishing population of Veddhas still cling obstinately to their traditions – about 350 pure Veddhas are now left in seven villages, mainly in the area east of Mahiyangana, and a small number have attempted to continue their traditional hunter-gatherer existence (even if they now use guns rather than bows and arrows), and also farm rice and other crops to supplement their diet and income. The creation of national parks, alongside government development and resettlement schemes and agricultural projects, have further encroached on traditional Veddha lands – in recent years they have campaigned vigorously for recognition and for the right to continue hunting on land now protected by the Maduru Oya National Park. Some “reserved” areas have now been set aside for their use, though their struggle for proper recognition continues.
For more on the Veddhas, see vedda.org.
The southern hill country is the highest, wildest and in many ways the most beautiful part of Sri Lanka. Although the area was an integral part of the Kandyan kingdom, little physical or cultural evidence survives from that period, and most of what you now see is the creation of the British colonial period, when the introduction of tea here changed the economic face of Sri Lanka forever. The region’s attractions are self-evident: a whimsical mixture of ruggedly beautiful scenery and olde-worlde colonial style, with sheer green mountainsides, plunging waterfalls and mist-shrouded tea plantations enlivened by quaint British memorabilia – clunking railways, half-timbered guesthouses, Gothic churches and English vegetables. A further, unexpected twist is added by the colourful Hindu temples and saris of the so-called “Plantation Tamils”, who have been working the tea estates since colonial times.
The journey south from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya is spectacular both by train and by bus. The bus is far more direct and significantly quicker, cutting up through the hills and swinging round endless hairpins, passing the magnificent waterfalls, which plunge over the cliffs in two adjacent 100m cataracts, at the village of RAMBODA en route. Around 3km south of Ramboda, the Bluefield Tea Gardens (bluefieldteagardens.com) offers interesting free guided tours of its tea factory, plus tea shop, restaurant, and attractive walks through the surrounding plantations. From here, it’s a short drive on to the Labookelie Tea Factory and Nuwara Eliya.
The train is significantly slower, but makes for a quintessentially Sri Lankan experience, as the carriages bump and grind their way painfully up the interminable gradients towards Nuwara Eliya (and occasionally lose traction and slither a yard or so back downhill again). The track climbs slowly through pine and eucalyptus forest into a stylized landscape of immaculately manicured tea plantations which periodically open up to reveal heart-stopping views through the hills, nowhere more so than above the village of Dimbula, at the centre of a famous tea-growing area, where the line passes high above a grand, canyon-like valley between towering cliffs.
West of the train line between Kandy and Nuwara Eliya (and roughly equidistant from both), is the village of KITULGALA, nestled in the dramatic valley of the Kelani Ganga, with sheer-sided, forest-covered hills plunging down to the wild waters of the river below.
Kitulgala’s original claim to fame is as the location for David Lean’s classic 1957 film Bridge on the River Kwai. If you know the film you’ll probably recognize some of the locations down along the river. About 1.5km east of the Plantation Hotel, a white sign saying “Bridge Road of Kwai Rever” (and a blue sign saying “Bridge on the Riverqua Road”) point to a small path. Follow this as it goes down a few steps then curves left around a cluster of small houses and on to the river, currently in the throes of building works associated with the new dam. A guide may magically materialize to show you the way and point out a few locations used in shooting.
Nowadays, however, Kitulgala is best known as the site of Sri Lanka’s best whitewater rafting, with grade two and three rapids some 5km upriver from the village, offering exhilarating descents of the foaming Kelani Ganga. Rafting trips can be organized through all the town’s hotels and guesthouse (around $20–30/person for 1hr 30min–2hr). The construction of two new dams as part of the Broadlands Hydropower Project (due for completion in 2020/21) may adversely affect rafting here over the coming years, and although the government had said the dam will only be closed at night, leaving daytime waterflows unaffected, whether it will actually honour this promise, particularly during periods of low rainfall, remains to be seen.
Kitulgala’s final claim to fame is the nearby Belilena Cave, around 8km north of town, one of prehistoric Sri Lanka’s best-known sites thanks to the discovery in the late 1970s of ten of the oldest human skeletons found on the island, thought to date by to around 30,000 BC. Adventure Base Camp (see below) arrange cycling trips here, although there’s not much to see.
Adventure Base Camp 077 306 9903, adventurebckitulgala.com. A good resource if you want to do a bit more than just rafting whilst in Kitulgala (although they do that too), with trips including half-day cycling tours to Belilena cave ($15), local birdwatching trips and two-day treks to Dahousie ($75).
Borderlands Main Rd, 250m west of the Plantation Hotel 011 441 0110, discoverborderlands.com. Half eco-resort and half adventure-sports centre, with accommodation in fifteen smallish tents and nicer (but identically priced) cabanas on a river-facing platform with gorgeous views, plus three en-suite “VIP” rooms ($36 extra). Activities include rafting, canyoning, waterfall abseiling, kayaking, guided hikes and mountain biking. Rates include two activities daily. Full board $294
Hotel Breeta’s Garden Main Rd, near the 49km post, 5km past the Plantation Hotel 051 224 2020, breetasgarden.com. Far and away Kitulgala’s best mid-range option, in an attractively airy modern building with spacious and very nicely furnished fan rooms with hot water and thick mattresses, all at a sensible price. Facilities include a nice restaurant and pool set amid surrounding tea plantations, and cut-price rafting trips can be arranged on request. Rs.5700
Plantation Hotel Main Rd, 1.5km east of the Rest House 036 228 7575, plantationgrouphotels.com. Attractive 11-room hotel occupying a fine old colonial villa, set in leafy grounds shelving down to the river. Rooms are nicely furnished in pseudo-colonial style, while the suite-sized superior rooms ($80) come with river view – a bargain at current rates. There’s also a decent riverside restaurant, although it often gets absolutely overrun with passing coach parties at lunchtime. The hotel also provides a home for the quaint little Anton Jayasuriya Memorial Automobile Museum, home to a fun medley of vintage cars including a pair of Rolls Royces and an unsual Porsche tractor (though sadly no “My other tractor is also a Porsche” sticker). $60
Kitulgala Rest House Main Rd 036 228 7528. Set in a drop-dead gorgeous riverside location, the good-looking old colonial dining room in Kitulgala’s elegant rest house scores top marks for style, although the lacklustre and overpriced selection of European (Rs.1400–1800) and cheaper Asian (around Rs.900) mains hardly sets the tastebuds racing. You can also stay here, although rooms are mediocre and seriously overpriced. Daily 12.30–3.30pm & 7–10pm.
Sri Lanka’s highest town, NUWARA ELIYA lies at the heart of the southern hill country, set amid a bowl of green mountains beneath the protective gaze of Pidurutalagala, Sri Lanka’s tallest peak. Nuwara Eliya (pronounced, as one word, something like “Nyur-rel- iya”) was established by the British in the nineteenth century, and the town is often touted as Sri Lanka’s “Little England”, a quaint Victorian relic complete with municipal park, golf course, boating lake, a trio of fine old colonial hotels and frequent, very British, showers of rain.
Tea estate bungalows
For a true taste of the colonial lifestyle of old Ceylon, you can’t beat a stay in one of the sumptuous tea estate bungalows that dot the southern highlands. Built for British estate managers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many offer beautiful and atmospheric lodgings, often in spectacular locations (and at similarly spectacular prices). The following are just a small selection of what’s available – further properties can be found at boutiquesrilanka.com and reddottours.com.
Ashburnham Estate Elkaduwa 07921 724439 (UK), toniclankacollection.com. Affordable option in the Knuckles Range about an hour’s drive east of Kandy, with six rooms in a gracious old 1930s bungalow on a working tea estate. B&B $149
Ceylon Tea Trails 011 774 5700, resplendentceylon.com/teatrails. Five superb bungalows of contrasting characters, all in working tea estates in the beautiful Bogawantalawa valley, close to Adam’s Peak. Full board from $800
Jetwing Warwick Gardens Ambewella, about 20km south of Nuwara Eliya 052 353 2284, jetwinghotels.com. Plush bungalow in its own six-acre estate deep in the heart of the southern hill country. B&B $340
Kirchhayn Bungalow Aislaby Estate, around 3km from Bandarawela 057 492 0556, kirchhaynbungalow.com. Characterful old bungalow owned by the last remaining British planting family in Sri Lanka. B&B $175
Rosyth Estate House Kegalle 071 533 7765, rosyth.lk. Colonial character meets contemporary chic at this 1926 planter’s bungalow, set in a working tea and rubber plantation a few kilometres north of Kegalle (and close to the elephant sanctuaries). Half-board (including afternoon tea) $375
Stafford Bungalow Ragala, 20km northeast of Nuwara Eliya 011 473 1307, staffordbungalow.com. In a small working tea plantation, this four-room Scottish planter’s bungalow of 1884 has been stylishly updated but retains plenty of period character. Half-board (including afternoon tea) $400
Strathisla Guest House Alwatta 077 760 2403, strathislaguesthouse.com. About 15min drive south of Matale, this is one of the island’s oldest estate bungalows, dating back to the 1860s, when it formed part of a coffee estate. Attractively affordable, too. B&B $140
Thotalagala Dambatenne, Haputale 077 204 0981, thotalagala.com. Uber-luxurious (but wallet-wrenchingly expensive) lodgings in a gorgeously restored nineteenth-century plantation bungalow next to the Dambatenne tea plantation. All inclusive $750
Parts of Nuwara Eliya still live up to the hype, with a medley of doughty British-era landmarks whose misplaced architecture – from jaunty seaside kitsch to solemn faux-Tudor – lend some corners of the town an oddly English (or perhaps Scottish) air, like a crazily transplanted fragment of Brighton or Balmoral. Much of modern Nuwara Eliya is, admittedly, far less of a period piece than the publicity would have you believe, while the unpredictable weather can add a further dampener. That said, if you take it with a pinch of salt, Nuwara Eliya still has a certain charm, especially if you can afford to stay in one of the town’s grand old colonial hotels, and it also makes an excellent base for excursions into the spectacular surrounding countryside and tea estates.
Although there’s evidence of Kandyan involvement in the region, Nuwara Eliya is essentially a British creation. The Nuwara Eliya region was “discovered” by the colonial administrator John Davy in 1819, and a decade later governor Edward Barnes recognized its potential, founding a sanatorium and overseeing the creation of a road from Kandy, which he hoped would encourage settlement of the area. Barnes’s plans slowly bore fruit, and during the 1830s the town gradually developed into a commercial and coffee-planting centre, with a largely British population. In 1847, Samuel Baker (who later distinguished himself by discovering Lake Albert in Africa and helping to identify the sources of the Nile) had the idea of introducing English-style agriculture to the area, laying the foundations for the town’s market-gardening industry: vegetables grown here are still exported all over the island, while many of the area’s local Tamil tea plantation workers supplement their incomes by growing vegetables in their own allotments.
With the gradual failure of the coffee crop during the 1870s, local planters turned their attention to the beverage which would radically change the physical and social face of the region: tea. The first experimental plantation was established in 1867 by Sir James Taylor at the Loolecondera Estate, between Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, and its success led to Nuwara Eliya becoming the centre of Sri Lanka’s tea-growing industry. British influence went beyond quaint architecture and golf, however. Whereas the coffee industry had required only seasonal labour, tea required year-round workers, and this led to the arrival of massive numbers of Tamil migrant workers from South India – the so-called Plantation Tamils – who settled permanently in the area and decisively changed the region’s demographic make-up; about sixty percent of the population here is now Tamil.
There’s nothing very historic about the centre of modern Nuwara Eliya, with its featureless procession of concrete shops strung out along New Bazaar Street, although it’s worth sticking your nose into the determinedly local Central Market, a picturesque little covered alleyway of fruit and veg stalls stuffed full of local horticultural produce. Small-scale market-gardening (introduced during the British era) remains one of the mainstays of the modern town’s economy and the odd spectacle of dark-skinned Tamils dressed up like English farm labourers in padded jackets and woolly hats, while carting around great bundles of turnips, swedes, marrows, radishes and cabbages, is one of Nuwara Eliya’s characteristic sights, adding a pleasantly surreal touch to the town’s out-of-focus English nostalgia.
Just west of the Central Market, the Mackwoods Fine Tea showroom (second floor, Queen Elizabeth Plaza; daily 8.30am–7pm; free) is home to a fun little display featuring miniature versions of the various machines found in most tea factories and an admirably clear and concise explanation of the entire tea-production process. They also have a shop downstairs selling some of their own leaves.
Entrance on Uda Pussellawa Rd • Daily 7am–7pm • Rs.300
South of the Central Market, the immaculate, British-style Victoria Park boasts wide swathes of pristine lawn, beautiful ornamental gardens, a children’s park and some of the tallest eucalyptuses you’ll ever see. The park also has an unusual ornithological distinction: despite its proximity to the polluted town centre, it’s something of an ornithological hotspot, being visited by a number of rare Himalayan migrant birds, including the Kashmir flycatcher, Indian blue robin and the pied thrush, as well as Sri Lankan endemics such as the Sri Lanka white-eye, yellow-eared bulbul and the dusky-blue flycatcher.
A popular resort among Sri Lankans, Nuwara Eliya is at its busiest during the Sinhalese–Tamil new year in April, when spring comes to the hill country, the flowers bloom and the Colombo smart set descends. For ten days the town gets overrun and accommodation prices go through the roof, while visitors are entertained by a succession of events, including horse racing, golf tournaments, motor-cross (motorcycles), clay-pigeon shooting and a mini-carnival.
Next to the southern entrance to the park the small Victoria Museum (same ticket) showcases an interesting selection of photographs from the 1860s through to the 1940s including old shots of the town, assorted cricket matches and horse races, and pictures of the railway line and tea plantations under construction.
Opposite Victoria Park, Nuwara Eliya’s sylvan golf course adds a further welcome splash of green, while to the south lies the town’s scrubby racecourse, the scene of Sri Lanka’s only horse-racing meetings, held here in April, August and December; each meeting lasts for a day, with ten to fifteen races.
Beyond the racecourse, Lake Gregory (created by governor Sir William Gregory in 1873) stretches between low hills to the southern end of town. New footpaths, boardwalks and lawns have been laid out along the west side of the lake (foreigners pay a Rs.200 entrance charge) and there are also horse rides, swan pedalos and loads of kiosks serving up drinks and snacks – a fun place to watch locals at play, although otherwise not wildly exciting.
If you want to get a bird’s-eye view out over the surrounding hills, there’s a pleasant short walk, starting near the racecourse, to Single Tree Mountain. Go straight up the road immediately before the Clifton Inn, and walk up through tea plantations to the electricity station at the top, from where (in clear weather) there are marvellous views out to Hakgala and beyond.
At the northern end of town rises the thickly forested mountain of Pidurutalagala (whose tongue-twisting name was transformed by the linguistically challenged British into the cod-Spanish Mount Pedro). The highest peak in Sri Lanka at 2555m, the summit (home to an array of militarily sensitive telecommunications masts used by the army, civil aviation authority and others) has recently been reopened to the public after decades off limits. Count on around 45 minutes’ drive each way to the top from Nuwara Eliya (around Rs.3000 return by taxi) – you’re not allowed to walk up due to security concerns and the risk, it’s said, of leopard attacks. It’s a fine drive, twisting up through dense cloudforest and with marvellous views, assuming the clouds hold off. You’ll need to collect a (free) security pass just before your reach the summit – bring your passport.
By train Nuwara Eliya doesn’t have its own train station; the nearest stop is at Nanu Oya, about 8km down the road, with regular connections east to Haputale, Ella and Badulla, and west to Kandy and Colombo. Buses to Nuwara Eliya meet all arriving trains (despite what waiting touts and tuktuks driver might tell you); alternatively, a tuktuk or taxi will cost around Rs.600, or possibly more depending on how few vehicles there are around.
By bus The bus station is right in the middle of town. There are occasional direct services to Ella and Haputale; alternatively, change at Welimada (every 30min; 1hr), from where there are frequent onward services to Bandarawela, with regular onward connections to Haputale and Ella – although in general it’s easier (if not necessarily faster) to take the train.
The best place to organize local tours is Single Tree Hotel (contact Aruna on 077 356 0116 or 045 2222 3009, or email krishanthagamage@ymail.com) where you can arrange various activities including tea factory visits, guided mountain biking, horseriding, fishing, canoeing and an interesting full-day waterfall tour (Rs.10,000 per vehicle seating up to six), visiting up to sixteen cascades (or slightly fewer in the dry season) – a good way to get to see some of the hidden corners of the surrounding hill country. They can also arrange a car or van to take you up Pidurangala (Rs.3000). Further afield, the return trip to Horton Plains costs Rs.4000 per vehicle (single travellers and couples might also be able to get discounted transport for Rs.1000 per person by taking a ride in a shared vehicle arranged by the hotel). The journey to Horton Plains and then on to Haputale or Ella will cost around Rs.7000, while the trip to Adam’s Peak (leaving at 10.30pm) goes for Rs.10,000.
There are also several good walking guides attached to Single Tree, including the excellent Raja (Neil Rajanayake, contactable via Single Tree), who leads various one-day walks throughout the area (around Rs.3000 per group, plus any transport costs). These include the fine hike up to Shantipura and Uda Radella (15km); an exhilarating downhill walk from Ohiya to Haputale (15km); another one-day walk from Bomburuwela (4km from Nuwara Eliya) to Welimada (17km); and a 20km hike up Great Western mountain, near Nanu Oya. Another good local guide is Deen (077 646 243, trekkingsrilanka.com or srilankatrekkingclub.com), who leads treks throughout the southern hill country, and also runs the Misty Mountain Lodge in Ohiya.
Destinations Badulla (every 30min; 3hr); Bandarawela (6 daily; 1hr 45min, or change at Welimada); Colombo (hourly; 5hr); Ella (4 daily; 2hr 15min); Galle (2 daily; 8hr); Hatton (7 daily; 2hr); Kandy (every 30min; 2hr 30min); Matara (2 daily; 8–9hr); Nanu Oya (every 15–30min; 15min).
Although accommodation in Nuwara Eliya is plentiful, prices are high and many places are aimed more at Sri Lankan than foreign visitors – come the weekend or holiday periods, many cheaper places get overrun by parties of hormonal teenage boys or drunken locals. Wherever you stay, make sure you’ve got reliable hot water and blankets – Nuwara Eliya can get surprisingly cold at night. Many places hike rates at weekends, especially over “long” weekends when the Friday or Monday is a poya day. Rates also rise steeply during December and Christmas, and over the “mini-season” during the school vacations in August, while rates in most places can triple or quadruple during the April new year period.
Backpack Lanka 18 Wedderburn Rd 052 222 4383, backpacklanka.com; map. In a nice old one-storey villa offering basic accommodation in two simple and rather poky six-bed dorms and a few uninspiring rooms, although the public areas are nice, and there’s a handy kitchen. Dorms Rs.1200pp, doubles Rs.3500
Blue Moon Guest House 7 Ranasinghe Mw, off Badulla Rd 071 746 7497; map. One of Nuwara Eliya’s better bargains, with cosy pine-panelled rooms with TV, quality mattresses and smart modern bathrooms, efficiently run and at a very competitive price.Rs.3500
Ferncliff Wedderburn Rd 052 222 2516, ferncliff.lk; map. Built for celebrated British governor Edward Barnes in 1831, this is one of Nuwara Eliya’s most picture-perfect colonial bungalows, surrounded by a lovely wraparound veranda and enclosed in immaculate gardens. The interior has been sensitively updated but retains bags of period character, with just four attractively furnished rooms, plus cosy lounge and restaurant. B&B $210
Hotel Glendower 5 Grand Hotel Rd 052 222 2501, hotelglendower.com; map. One of the town’s better mid-range options, this atmospheric half-timbered establishment makes a decent halfway alternative to the town’s posh hotels and retains oodles of period character, including a pub-style bar, a pleasant lounge and billiards table, and cosy rooms, plus the added bonus of the good in-house King Prawn Chinese restaurant. B&B Rs.$110
Grand Hotel Grand Hotel Rd 052 222 2881, tangerinehotels.com; map. Doughty half-timbered pile, over a century old, which appears to have been lifted wholesale from a golf course in Surrey. The gorgeous public areas are painfully redolent of Blighty, with gracious old wooden decor and creaking furniture, and there are plenty of facilities including three good restaurants, bar, wine bar and a billiards room. As a period piece it’s difficult to beat, although rooms are small and relatively undistinguished, and pricey for what you get. $250
Haddon Hill Hotel 24/3 Haddon Hill Rd 052 222 2087; map. Bland but comfortable modern hotel, with smart, spotless and cheerfully bright tiled rooms and efficient service, although not much character. Rs.6600
Hill Club Off Grand Hotel Rd 052 222 2653, hillclubsrilanka.lk; map. Founded in 1876, this baronial-looking stone and half-timbered structure is Sri Lanka’s most famous exercise in nostalgia, with one of the island’s best-preserved colonial interiors, complete with a cosy lounge, billiards room, a pair of bars and a fine old dining room. Rooms are homely, with creaky wooden floors, dark wood furniture and bathtubs, and rather incongruous-looking satellite TVs. Excellent value at present rates, and even if you’re not staying it’s worth coming for dinner or a drink. B&B $150
Jetwing St Andrew’s 10 St Andrew’s Drive 052 222 2445, jetwinghotels.com; map. In a late Victorian former country club overlooking a swathe of immaculate lawn and the golf course, this serene colonial-style hotel is the smartest place in town. Rooms are spacious, well equipped and pleasantly old fashioned, while public areas – including an oak-panelled restaurant, billiards room and cosy lounge – retain a delightful Edwardian ambience. Also offers a good range of walks and tours with the hotel naturalist. B&B $220
Park View Off Park Rd, behind the Victoria Inn 072 230 4220; map. A new budget offshoot of the nearby Trevene, offering five simple but very competitively priced rooms (with hot water), plus a nice little lounge and balcony overlooking Victoria Park. Rs.2000
The Rock 60 Unique View Rd 052 567 9002, therock.lk; map. Small, mid-range guesthouse, a steep 10min walk up the hill from town, though compensated for by fine views. Rooms are comfortably furnished in British B&B style and well equipped with heater, TV, minibar and DVD player. There’s a cosy little in-house restaurant and bar, and half-board rates ($85) are good value. B&B $75
Sherwood Lodge 22 Waterfield Drive 077 734 5715, sherwoodlodge@yahoo.com; map. Attractive modern guesthouse with cosy rooms in a pair of A-frame buildings high above town (plus one inside the main house) and fine views through big picture windows. $30
Single Tree Hotel 1/8 Haddon Hill Rd 052 222 3009, 077 356 0116; map. Comfortable and reasonably priced guesthouse spread across two buildings – the wood-panelled rooms in the main building are particularly cosy on chilly nights. Also a great place to arrange tours. Free pick-up from train or bus station. Rs.4000
Teabush Hotel 29 Haddon Hill Rd 052 222 2345, teabush-hotel.com; map. Small hotel set in a gracious colonial bungalow with comfortable rooms attractively kitted out with old-fashioned wooden furniture (plus two “super-deluxe” rooms in an ugly building outside). There’s also a comfortable lounge to crash out in and a nice restaurant and bar with panoramic views. Good value. B&B $55
The Trevene 17 Park Rd 072 230 4220, hoteltrevenenuwaraeliya.com; map. Attractive guesthouse set in an atmospheric 200-year-old colonial bungalow complete with cosy old lounge and sunny veranda. The attractively time-warped rooms at the front have old wooden floors and period furniture; those at the back are simpler and cheaper. Free pick up from train/bus station if you book direct, and local tours and transport can be arranged including inexpensive transport to Horton Plains. Good value. Rs.3500
Victoria Inn Park Rd 077 475 6258; map. Long-running budget stalwart with basic but just about adequate rooms in a nice central location overlooking the park, although quoted rates can fluctuate according to demand – try bargaining. Rs.2500
Villa de Roshe 60 Unique View Rd 052 745 1655, villaderoshe.com; map. In a smart modern mock-Tudor building perched high above town, this upmarket new guesthouse offers something a bit different from your usual old-world Nuwara Eliya-style accommodation, with three surprisingly chic rooms and fine views over town from the attractive lounge and terrace. B&B $65
Amaya Langdale Radella, Nanu Oya, 12km southwest of Nuwara Eliya 052 492 4959, amayaresorts.com. Set in beautiful tea country high above Nuwara Eliya, this soothing black and white boutique hotel set in an old plantation owner’s residence has plenty of old-world charm, very comfortable rooms and a beautiful pool and spa. $240
Heritance Tea Factory Kandapola, 14km east of Nuwara Eliya 052 555 5000, heritancehotels.com. Set on a hilltop surrounded by rolling tea estates, this spectacular five-star hotel was created out of the old Hethersett Estate Tea Factory, which closed in the 1970s. The factory’s original exterior has been completely preserved, with corrugated-iron walls and green windows, and it’s not until you step inside the stunning interior atrium that you realize the place isn’t a working factory at all, although there’s still plenty of old machinery lying around, giving the place a kind of industrial-retrochic look. Rooms are stylish and extremely comfortable, with stunning views to all sides, and there are loads of facilities, including a plush spa. $240
Gavin Thomas/Rough Guides
BUDURUWAGALA ROCK CARVINGS
Several decent restaurants in the larger hotels offer good food and heaps of colonial charm. Many guesthouses and hotels also have convivial little bars – those at the Hill Club and Jetwing St Andrew’s are particularly nice, and outsiders can also use the great little bar at the Golf Club. It’s also fun to have high tea (usually served around 3–5pm) on the lawns of one of the Big Three hotels, either St Andrew’s ($7), the Grand Hotel ($8) or, most spectacularly, the Hill Club ($20).
Grand Hotel Coffee Bar Grand Hotel Drive 052 222 2881; map. In the other half of the building shared with the Grand Indian, this place serves up good coffee and fresh juices along with decent cakes and short eats. Daily 7am–7pm.
Grand Indian Grand Hotel Drive 052 222 2881; map. This low-key little place at the foot of the Grand Hotel driveway isn’t nearly as grand as its name suggests but still gets packed most nights thanks to its crowd-pleasing selection of North Indian classics (mains Rs.900–1200, plus cheaper veg options) – no culinary surprises, but well prepared and reasonably priced. They don’t accept reservations, so arrive early or expect to queue. Daily noon–3.30pm & 6.30–10pm.
Grand Thai Grand Hotel 052 222 2881; map. Another in the Grand Hotel’s growing restaurant portfolio, with plush decor and a decent selection of mainstream curries, stir-fries and soups. Surprisingly inexpensive given the setting. Mains mostly Rs.900–1100 (meat), Rs.700 (veg). No reservations accepted, so arrive early. Daily noon–3pm & 6.30–10pm.
Hill Club Off Grand Hotel Drive 052 222 2653; map. Dining at this atmospheric old hotel offers a heady taste of the colonial lifestyle of yesteryear, complete with discreetly shuffling, white-gloved waiters. Men need to wear a jacket and tie to eat in the main dining room; you can borrow the requisite clobber from the club wardrobe. Ladies are expected to don “formal dress”. Food is either à la carte from a varied international menu (mains $9–12) or sign up for the daily-changing five-course set dinner ($25) or three-course set lunch ($20), usually featuring classic old-school cuisine – think roast leg of pork, rhubarb crumble and so on. (The hotel’s “casual” Lily Restaurant serves exactly the same food and doesn’t require you to dress up, but it’s nowhere near as atmospheric as the main restaurant). Alternatively, just come for a drink in one of the cosy “Mixed Bar” (formal dress required after 7pm). A temporary club membership fee of Rs.100 must be paid to use either restaurant or bar. Daily noon–10.30pm.
King Prawn Hotel Glendower, 5 Grand Hotel Rd 052 222 2501; map. Cosy so-called “Chinese” restaurant, with an extensive menu of meat, fish and vegetarian Cantonese dishes (around Rs.900) prepared Sri Lankan-style with great hunks of chilli. The food’s actually quite tasty, albeit overpriced and about as authentic as a dancing dodo, but OK if taken with a large pinch of spice. Daily noon–3pm & 6–10pm.
Milano 24 New Bazaar St 052 222 2763; map. Lively local upstairs restaurant serving up passable food from a mainly Chinese menu (mains Rs.550–660). The downstairs café area is also open from breakfast for drinks and snacks. Daily 12.30–9.30pm.
Old Course Restaurant Jetwing St Andrew’s hotel, 10 St Andrew’s Drive 052 222 2445; map. Set in the oak-panelled dining room of Nuwara Eliya’s smartest hotel (plus a much less atmospheric overflow dining area next door) with a mainly Sri Lankan and Indian menu (mains Rs.1200–1600), plus a few pricier continental dishes, all well-prepared and attractively presented. Daily 12.30–3pm & 7–10pm.
Salmiya 122 Badulla Rd 077 913 5263; map. This dark-green corrugated-iron shack provides an unlikely setting for some of the best Italian food in the hill country featuring delicious thin-crust pizzas (Rs.800–1200) plus a few pasta dishes. Slight lake views offset the functional decor, while the air is so heavy with garlic it’s almost a meal in itself. Daily 11.30am–8.30pm.
Sri Ambaal’s New Bazaar St; map. Cheery little South Indian-style vegetarian café serving up cheap and tasty dosas (Rs.140–220), string hoppers and banana-leaf rice-and-curry meals along with assorted short eats, vadais and sweets. Ambaal’s restaurant, diagonally opposite, is very similar. Daily 6am–8.30pm.
Banks The ATMs at the Commercial, Sampath and Hatton banks all accept foreign Visa and MasterCards; those at the Seylan and People’s banks accept Visa only.
Bicycle hire Single Tree Hotel have loads of bikes for hire (Rs.1500/day).
Golf The gorgeous, 125-year-old Nuwara Eliya Golf Club course (052 222 2835, nuwaraeliyagolfclub.com) winds through the town centre, beautifully landscaped with magnificent old cypresses, pines and eucalyptus. A round (including green fees, club hire, caddy and balls) costs around $33 on weekdays and $41 at weekends.
Post office In the quaint half-timbered building on New Bazaar St, just south of the town centre (Mon–Sat 7am–8pm).
Taxis Taxis can be found lined up along New Bazaar St.
The main reason for visiting Nuwara Eliya is to get out into the surrounding countryside, which boasts some of the island’s highest and most dramatic scenery. The most popular and rewarding trip is to Horton Plains National Park and World’s End, while you could also, at a push, use Nuwara Eliya as a base for visiting Adam’s Peak – although you’ll need to leave Nuwara Eliya before midnight in order to reach the summit for dawn.
Daily 8–11am & 2–4pm • Rs.200 • Bus #715 to Kandapola (every 30min–1hr) goes past the factory, or catch a tuktuk
Set beneath a flank of Mount Pedro about 3km east of Nuwara Eliya, the Pedro Tea Estate offers a convenient introduction to the local tea industry. The factory building and tea fields are less picturesque than others in the highlands (there’s rather too much suburban clutter, and pylons straggle impertinently across the views), but the easy accessibility and informative guides make it a worthwhile short excursion. Established in 1885, the estate remained under British ownership until being nationalized in 1975 (it was reprivatized in 1985); its factory is still home to a few impressive pieces of old British machinery, some still in operation.
In the same area, the Lover’s Leap waterfall is the most impressive cataract in the immediate environs of Nuwara Eliya, tumbling over a thickly wooded cliff at the foot of Pidurutalagala. The falls can be reached on foot from the Pedro Tea Factory, a pleasant 2km walk – ask for directions locally.
1.5km southeast of the centre between Havelock Drive and Upper Lake Rd • Daily 6am–5pm • $10, plus additional taxes
Keen birders might be interested in visiting the tiny Galway’s Land National Park, just southeast of the city centre near the village of Hawa Eliya. The park’s forty acres play host to twenty-odd rare migrants including Indian blue robins, pied thrush and Kashmir flycatchers, plus assorted native species, among them endemic species including the dull-blue flycatcher, Sri Lanka white-eye and yellow-eared bulbul.
Kandy–Nuwara Eliya highway • Daily 8.30am–6.30pm • Free • facebook.com/DamroLabookellieTeaLounge
Around 20km north of Nuwara Eliya lies the expansive Labookelie Tea Estate, set in gorgeous rolling countryside at an elevation of around 2000m. The Labookelie tea gardens are much more photogenic, and the countryside much more unspoiled, than at the Pedro estate, and the whole place is well set up for visitors, with a swish café and free tours of the busy factory, albeit these can be a bit rushed and uninformative compared to those at the nearby Bluefield Tea Gardens. It’s also easy to reach, since buses between Nuwara Eliya and Kandy pass right by the entrance.
Daily 8am–5pm • Rs.1500 • Take any bus heading to Welimada or Badulla (every 15min; 20min)
Some 10km southeast of Nuwara Eliya, Hakgala Botanical Gardens lie beneath the towering Hakgala Rock, with majestic views across the hills of Uva Province receding in tiers into the distance. The rock is allegedly one of the various pieces of mountain scattered by Hanuman on his return from the Himalayas – Hanuman apparently carried this bit of mountain in his mouth, hence its name, meaning “Jaw Rock”. The gardens were first established in 1861 to grow cinchona, a source of the anti-malarial drug quinine, and were later expanded to include a wide range of foreign species. They’re also well known for their roses (in bloom from April to August).
The gardens sprawl up the steep hillside, ranging from the anodyne ornamental areas around the entrance to the far wilder and more interesting patches of forest up the hill where you’ll find many majestic Monterey cypresses from California, plus fine old cedars, a section of huge tree ferns, stands of Japanese camphor, and pines and eucalyptus, including a shaggy cluster of bark-shedding Australian melaleucas. You might also glimpse one of the gardens’ elusive bear monkeys, while this is also an excellent place to spot endemic montane bird species, including the dull-blue flycatcher, Sri Lanka whistling thrush and Sri Lanka bush warbler.
About 1.5km along the main road from Hakgala Botanical Gardens towards Nuwara Eliya, the Sita Amman Temple is said to be built at the spot where Rawana held Sita captive, as related in the Ramayana – although the same claim is also made for the Rawana Cave in Ella – the strange circular depressions in the rock by the adjacent stream are supposed to be the footprints of Rawana’s elephant. The small temple – the only one in Sri Lanka dedicated to Sita – boasts the usual gaudy collection of statues, including a couple of gruesome Kali images, though there’s not really much to see.
The area west of Nuwara Eliya around the tiny village of DIMBULA is one of the most scenically spectacular parts of the island, though its tourist potential remains largely unexploited. The easiest way to get a taste of the area is to go on one of the “waterfall tours” run by the Single Tree hotel in Nuwara Eliya, which usually include the Ramboda falls along with several picturesque cascades in the Dimbula area – notably the broad, two-tiered St Clair Falls and the taller and more precipitous Devon Falls, which lie less than 2km apart just north of – and clearly visible from – the A7 highway.
Daily 6am–4pm • $15 per person, plus additional service charge and taxes
Perched on the very edge of the hill country midway between Nuwara Eliya and Haputale, Horton Plains National Park covers a wild stretch of bleak, high-altitude grassland bounded at its southern edge by the dramatically plunging cliffs that mark the edge of the hill country including the famous World’s End, where the escarpment falls sheer for the best part of a kilometre to the lowlands below. Set at an elevation of over two thousand metres, Horton Plains are a world apart from the rest of Sri Lanka, a misty and rainswept landscape whose cool, wet climate has fostered the growth of a unique but fragile ecosystem. Large parts of the Plains are still covered in beautiful and pristine stands of cloudforest, with their distinctive umbrella-shaped keena trees, covered in a fine cobweb of old man’s beard, and whose leaves turn from green to red to orange as the seasons progress. The Plains are also one of the island’s most important watersheds and the source of the Mahaweli, Kelani and Walawe rivers, three of the island’s largest.
The park’s wildlife attractions are relatively modest. The herds of elephants which formerly roamed the Plains were all despatched long ago by colonial hunters, while you’ll have to be incredibly lucky to spot one of the 45-odd leopards which are thought to still live in the area. The park’s most visible residents are its herds of sambar deer, while you might see rare bear monkeys. The park is also one of the best places on the island for birdwatching, and an excellent place to see montane endemics such as the dull-blue flycatcher, Sri Lanka bush warbler, Sri Lanka whistling thrush and the pretty yellow-eared bulbul. You’ll probably also see beautiful lizards, some of them boasting outlandishly fluorescent green scales, though their numbers are declining as the result of depredations by crows, attracted to the park (as to so many other parts of the island) by the piles of litter dumped by less environmentally aware visitors.
Vehicles aren’t allowed into the park, making this the only major national park in Sri Lanka which you can explore on foot. The only track open to visitors is the 9km circular trail around the park, starting from the visitor centre by the entrance and walkable at a gentle pace in two to three hours. There’s also a much longer (22km return) trek to the top of Kirigalpota from here, as well as an easy shorter trail (6km return) to the summit of Totapolakanda, which starts a few kilometres back down the main road to Nuwara Eliya (although you’ll still have to pay the park entrance fee for if you want to walk either of these trails). If you haven’t come with a guide, it’s fairly easy to find your own way around – you may be able to pick up a guide at the entrance, but don’t count on it. Wherever you go, remember that the Plains can get cold and very wet: take a thick sweater, stout shoes and something waterproof.
From the visitor centre, the circular trail around the park leads for 500m through rolling plains covered in patana grass and dotted with rhododendron bushes; the altitude here is over 2000m and the air quite thin – fortunately, most of the trail is more or less flat. This opening section of the trail gives a good view of the park’s strange patchwork flora, with alternating stretches of bare patana grassland interspersed with densely wooded cloudforest. According to legend, the grasslands were created by Hanuman during the events described by the Ramayana. Tradition states that Hanuman, to avenge the kidnapping of Sita, tied a burning torch to his tail and swept it across the plains, creating the areas of treeless grassland which can still be seen today, although the prosaic explanation is that they’re the result of forest clearances by prehistoric farmers – these areas were still being used to grow potatoes as recently as the 1960s. Beyond the grasslands, the path leads for 2km through a superb stretch of cloudforest: a tangle of moss-covered keena trees and nellu shrubs, along with many medicinal herbs and wild spices such as pepper, cardamom and cinnamon. From here, it’s another couple of kilometres to reach the cliffs which bound the southern edge of the park and the first viewpoint, Small World’s End.
Beyond Small World’s End the path continues through another 1.5km of cloudforest, dotted with numerous clumps of dwarf bamboo, before reaching World’s End proper (2140m). From here, the cliffs plunge almost vertically for 825m, revealing enormous views across much of the southern island; the large lake in the near distance is at Uda Walawe National Park, while on a clear day you can see all the way down to the coast. There are also marvellous views along the craggy mountains which line the escarpment, including Sri Lanka’s second- and third-highest peaks, Kirigalpota (2395m) and Totapolakanda (2359m), which stand at the edge of the park (and which are reachable by the trails mentioned above). Another 200m beyond World’s End, the path turns inland towards Baker’s Falls. If you ignore this turning for a moment and continue along the cliff edge for a further 100m you’ll reach another viewpoint from the overhanging rock ledge – it’s said that no fewer than ten star-crossed couples have leapt to their deaths from here over the years.
From here, retrace your steps back to the main track and follow it as it loops back towards the visitor centre, through open patana grassland with cloudforest set back on both sides.
A couple of kilometres from World’s End you pass Baker’s Falls, named after the pioneering Samuel Baker. It’s a steep and slippery scramble down to the beautiful little falls themselves, after which you’ll have to scramble back up again. The final couple of kilometres are relatively humdrum, crossing open patana grassland back to the entrance, and enlivened during the early morning by the resonant croaking of thousands of frogs in the surrounding grasses and trees.
Just outside the entrance to the park on the Ohiya side, a track leads off the road to Poor Man’s World’s End, named back in the days when it was possible to come here to enjoy the view without having to pay the national park entry fee. The viewpoint is reachable along the plantation road which divides the national park itself from the Forestry Department land on the other side; look for the DWC stone post roughly 1km before the Ohiya-side ticket office. It’s a five-minute walk to the viewpoint, although you can carry on along the plantation road for several kilometres, a superb little hike through tea plantations strung out along the edge of the ridge. It’s a fine panorama, offering an interestingly different perspective of the dramatically plunging escarpment, and there are further sensational views of World’s End from the road beyond as it plunges down towards Ohiya.
Note that the view from World’s End is generally obscured by mist from around 10am onwards, especially during the rainy months from May to July, so you’ll have to arrive early to stand a realistic chance of seeing anything – most drivers will suggest you leave around 5.30am to reach the park entrance by 7am, and World’s End by 8.30am. One other way of getting into Horton Plains is to tackle the strenuous paths leading up from Bambarakanda and Belihul Oya.
By car You can reach Horton Plains from either Nuwara Eliya or Haputale; the return trip from either takes around 1hr 30min and currently costs around Rs.4000/vehicle, including waiting time. Single travellers and couples may be able to save money by taking a ride in a shared van organized by Single Tree Hotel. The plains are bisected by a single road running between Pattipola (on the park’s Nuwara Eliya side) and Ohiya (Haputale side); entrance fees are collected at ticket offices next to this road on either side of the park. (Note that although the road is publicly owned and maintained, tourists now have to pay the national park entrance fee just to drive along it, even if you’ve no intention of going walking in the Plains themselves.) It’s a 3km drive from either ticket office up to the main entrance into the park.
By train It’s also possible – with difficulty – to reach the park by public transport and on foot. The easiest place to start is Haputale; catch the first train (currently leaving at 7.45am) to Ohiya (arrive 8.22am), from where it’s an 11km walk (around 3hr uphill, and 2hr back down) up the road to the national park entrance, a pleasant hike with fine views. Make sure you check latest train times before starting out to make sure you don’t get stranded – if you miss the 4.51pm train the next one’s not until 8pm.
Tourist information The smart visitor centre at the park entrance has some interesting displays on the Plains’ history, flora and fauna. There are a few places to stay dotted around the edge of the park, including a couple of remote options around Bambarakanda Falls.
Poking up from the southwestern edge of the hill country, the soaring summit of Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) is one of Sri Lanka’s most striking natural landmarks and also one of its most celebrated pilgrimage destinations – a miniature Matterhorn which stands head and shoulders above the surrounding hills, giving a wonderful impression of sheer altitude (even though, at 2243m, it’s actually only Sri Lanka’s fifth-highest peak). The mountain has accumulated a mass of legends centred around the curious depression at its summit, the Sri Pada or Sacred Footprint. The original Buddhist story claims that this is the footprint of the Buddha himself, made at the request of the local god Saman; different faiths subsequently modified this to suit their own contrasting theologies. Sometime around the eighth century, Muslims began to claim the footprint to be that of Adam, who is said to have first set foot on earth here after being cast out of heaven, and who stood on the mountain’s summit on one leg in penitence until his sins were forgiven. Hindu tradition, meanwhile, claimed that the footprint was created by Shiva. Many centuries later, the colonial Portuguese attempted to rescue the footprint for the Christian faith, claiming that it belonged to St Thomas, the founder of the religion in India, though no one seems to have ever taken this random assertion very seriously.
Saman is one of the four great protective divinities of Sri Lanka, and the one who boasts the most modest and purely Sri Lankan origins. He is believed originally to have been a pious Indian trader (or possibly a king) who, thanks to the merit he had acquired, was reborn as a god residing at Sumanakuta (as Adam’s Peak was originally called). According to the quasi-mythological chronicle of Sri Lankan history, the Mahavamsa, Saman was among the audience of gods to whom the Buddha preached during his visit to Mahiyangana, and upon hearing the Buddha, he immediately entered on the path of Enlightenment. When the Buddha returned to Sri Lanka on his final visit, Saman begged him to leave a footprint atop Sumanakuta to serve as a focus for worship; the Buddha duly obliged. Saman is still believed to reside on the mountain, and to protect pilgrims who climb it. He is usually shown in pictures with a white elephant, holding a red lotus, with Adam’s Peak rising behind.
Despite all these rival claims, Adam’s Peak remains an essentially Buddhist place of worship (unlike, say, the genuinely multi-faith pilgrimage town of Kataragama). The mountain has been an object of pilgrimage for over a thousand years, at least since the Polonnaruwan period, when Parakramabahu and Vijayabahu constructed shelters here for visiting pilgrims. In the twelfth century, Nissanka Malla became the first king to climb the mountain, while later foreign travellers including Fa-Hsien, Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo and Robert Knox all described the peak and its associated traditions with varying degrees of fanciful inaccuracy.
The ascent of Adam’s Peak is traditionally made by night, allowing you to reach the top in time for dawn, which offers the best odds of seeing the extraordinary views free from cloud as well as a chance a glimpsing the peak’s enigmatic shadow.
Most visitors climb the mountain during the pilgrimage season, which starts on the Duruthu poya day in December or January and continues until the Vesak Poya in May. During the season the weather on the mountain is at its best, and the chances of a clear dawn at the summit highest; the steps up the mountainside are also illuminated, and little tea shops open through the night to cater to the throngs of weary pilgrims dragging themselves up. It’s perfectly possible, if less interesting, to climb the mountain out of season, though most of the tea shops are closed and the lights are turned off, so you’ll need to bring a decent torch. Note, too, that the summit itself might be locked, although you may be able to summon a resident monk to let you in.
Although most people climb by night, you can also go up the mountain by day, but the summit is often obscured by cloud and, even if it’s clear, you won’t see the famous shadow, or (assuming you’re visiting during the pilgrimage season) be able to enjoy the spectacle of the night-time illuminations and all-night tea shops on the way up.
Finally, don’t despair if you arrive in Dalhousie and it’s pouring with rain. The daily deluge which usually descends on the village out of season (and sometimes in season as well) often stops at around midnight, allowing you a clear run at the summit during the night, although the path will be wet and the leeches will be out in force.
The easiest ascent, described below, is from Dalhousie. An alternative, much longer and little used route (15km; around 7hr), ascends from the Ratnapura side of the mountain via Palabaddale. An interesting walk, if you could arrange the logistics, would be to ascend from Dalhousie and then walk down to Palabaddale. Another possibility is to take a tour from Nuwara Eliya, climbing the peak from Dalhousie, although this makes for a very long night.
However fit you are, the Adam’s Peak climb is exhausting – a taxing 7km up a mainly stepped footpath (there are around 5500 steps) which can reduce even seasoned hill walkers to quivering wrecks. Dawn is at around 6am, and most people make the ascent in anywhere between two hours, thirty minutes and four hours, depending on your speed, levels of fitness, and how many tea shops you stop off in on the way (although at particularly busy times, such as poya days, the crowds can seriously slow your progress). A 2am start should therefore get you to the top in time for sunrise. The eastern side of the summit (facing the rising sun) can get jam-packed at dawn, and you might struggle to find a place to stand – arrive early if you want to be sure of finding a spot. The western side of the summit (facing the shadow) is generally emptier. It can get bitterly cold at the summit: take warm clothing. Guides are available (around Rs.2500), though you’ll only really need one if you’re attempting the climb out of season at night, when the mountain can be a very cold and lonely place.
The track up the mountain starts at the far end of Dalhousie village, passing a large standing Buddha, crossing a bridge and looping around the back of the large pilgrim’s rest hostel (if you reach the Green House guesthouse you’ve gone wrong). For the first thirty minutes the path winds gently through tea estates, past Buddha shrines and through the big makara torana arch which marks the boundary of the sacred area. Beyond here the path continues to run gently uphill to the large Peace Pagoda, built with Japanese aid during the 1970s. In wet weather the cliff face opposite is spectacularly scored with myriad waterfalls.
Beyond the Peace Pagoda, the climb – and the steps – start in earnest; not too bad at first, but increasingly short and steep as you progress. By the time you reach the leg-wrenchingly near-vertical section equipped with handrails you’re within about 1500 steps of the summit, although by then it’s a real physical struggle. The path is very secure and enclosed, however, so unless you suffer from unusually bad vertigo, this shouldn’t be a problem (unlike at Sigiriya, for example) – and obviously at night you won’t be able to see anything on the way up in any case. The upper slopes of the mountain are swathed in dense and largely undisturbed stands of cloudforest which are home to various species of colourful montane birdlife such as the Sri Lanka white-eye and Eurasian blackbird, the sight of which might offer some welcome distraction during the slog up or down.
The summit is covered in a huddle of buildings. The footprint itself is surprisingly unimpressive: a small, irregular depression, sheltered under a tiny pavilion and painted in gold – although tradition claims that this is actually only an impression of the true footprint, which lies underground. Upon reaching the summit, pilgrims ring one of the two bells (tradition stipulates that pilgrims ring a bell once for every ascent of the mountain they have made).
The views are as spectacular as you would expect, while as dawn breaks you may also see the mysterious shadow of the peak – a spooky, almost supernatural apparition which seems to hang magically suspended in mid-air in front of the mountain for around twenty minutes, given a clear sunrise (most visitors face east in order to watch the sunrise – to see the shadow you’ll have to go right up to the rear side of the summit and face west). One of the mysteries of Adam’s Peak is the shadow’s perfectly triangular outline, which doesn’t correspond to the actual – and far more irregular – shape of the summit itself. The Buddhist explanation is that it’s not actually the shadow of the peak at all, but a miraculous physical representation of the “Triple Gem” (a kind of Buddhist equivalent to the Holy Trinity, comprising the Buddha, his teachings and the community of Buddhist monks). Locals reckon you’ve got an eighty percent chance of seeing the shadow during the pilgrimage season, falling to around forty percent (or less) at other times of year.
The descent is much quicker though no less painful, since by now your legs will have turned to jelly. A low-key Siddhalepa spa at the bottom of the track offers muscle-soothing post-climb massages (10min/Rs.400).
The main base for the ascent of Adam’s Peak is the modest village of Dalhousie (pronounced “Del-house”; also increasingly known by its Tamil name of Nallatanniya). It’s usually busy with visitors during the pilgrimage season, but can seem rather desolate at other times. Dalhousie lies just over 30km southwest of the busy town of Hatton, which is on the main rail line through the hill country (see timetable,).
By bus During the pilgrimage season once-daily (sometimes more) buses run to Dalhousie from Colombo and Kandy; alternatively, take a bus or train to Hatton, from where there are regular buses (hourly; 1hr 30min) to Dalhousie in season. Outside the pilgrimage season there are a few direct buses from Hatton to Dalhousie (6 daily – usually 3 in the morning and 3 late afternoon); alternatively, take a bus from Hatton to Maskeliya (hourly; 45min), and then pick up one of the battered old minibuses which ply between Maskeliya and Dalhousie (every 30min; 45min). A taxi from Hatton to Dalhousie will cost around Rs.3000; a tuktuk costs around Rs.1500 – all the guesthouses listed should be able to arrange a pick-up.
There’s a reasonable spread of accommodation in Dalhousie, although rates are high and rooms are at a premium over public holidays and poyas during the season, so it pays to book in advance. Outside the season, it should be possible to score a discount on quoted prices. In addition to the places listed, there are also the four superb Tea Trail bungalows dotted around the countryside nearby. All the following places in Dalhousie are lined up along the main road into the village, starting with the Wathsala Inn (around 500m from the village) and finishing with the Punsisi Rest, almost in the centre.
Grand Adam’s Peak (formerly the Achinika Holiday Inn) 052 205 5510, adamspeakholidayinn.com.
This ever-expanding place is one of the biggest in the village, with a bewildering array of 40-odd rooms starting with budget basement cheapies and progressing through a selection of progressively smarter and pricier rooms, with increasingly fine views, as you climb the floors, culminating in a handful of flash new rooftop cabanas for a cool $150. There’s also a sauna and jacuzzi in which to revive aching legs. $15
Hugging Clouds 052 205 5529, huggingclouds.com. A blissfully small-scale and personable contrast to the faceless concrete monstrosities now mushrooming across Dalhousie, with just five rustic, colourfully decorated rooms and a pleasantly intimate restaurant – plus fine views from the attached balcony. B&B $30
Punsisi Rest Middle of village 051 492 0313, punsisirest.com. Another of Dalhousie’s ever-expanding hotels. The cheapest rooms (little more than simple tiled boxes) are in the old hotel building at the bottom, with a string of increasingly upmarket “cottages” mushrooming on the hillside above, the most expensive going for around $100, smartly decorated and with stunning views. It’s a stiff climb up to the higher cottages (a staggering 340-odd steps to reach the highest ones, and the last thing you’ll want after climbing the peak), although a road around the back means hotel staff can drive you up to your room on request. B&B Rs.4500
Slightly Chilled Guest House 052 205 5502, slightlychilledhotel.com. Spacious and very comfortably furnished rooms in an attractive riverside setting, plus mountain bikes for rent and information about local hikes. Rates include an excellent buffet rice and curry dinner. Half board $60
Wathsala Inn 052 205 5505, adamspeakhotels.com. A range of rooms of varying standards in a peaceful riverside setting (all with some sort of view) – nothing to write home about, but comfortable enough. Staff can arrange rafting, canoeing and other excursions. Rs.4500
White Elephant 052 205 5511, hotelwhiteelephant.com. Large, functional-looking place with a handful of small but cosy and very competitively priced budget doubles. Avoid the vast standard rooms, which are drab and expensive – albeit big enough to swing an entire sackful of cats. B&B: budget Rs.2500, standard Rs.6550
Tucked away in the lushly wooded valley of the Belihul Oya river at the foot of the hill country escarpment immediately below Horton Plains, the little town of BELIHUL OYA sits in an attractive but still largely untouristed corner of the hill country. Belihul Oya is also the nearest jumping-off point for the Bambarakanda Falls, which tumble out of the dramatic hills below the towering escarpment of World’s End. The long, slender cascade has a total drop of 241m, making it the highest in Sri Lanka and five times taller than Niagara – although it can be slightly underwhelming during periods of low rainfall. The falls are 5km north of the main A4 highway between Haputale and Belihul Oya at the village of Kalupahana; lots of buses pass through Kalupahana, from where you should be able to pick up a tuktuk to take you up the tiny road which hairpins to the falls. Bambarakanda is also the starting point for a taxing 17km hike, known as the “Colonial Trail”, up to Horton Plains.
The places in Belihul Oya below are all situated on the main road fairly close to one another along the main A4 highway, around 4–5km west of town. The places listed under Bambarakanda Falls are among the most remote and dramatically situated in Sri Lanka – though you’ll have to brave steep, twisting and nerve-racking roads to reach them.
The Glenrock Ulugalathenna, 3.5km north of town (turn off by the Rest House) 076 920 5305, glenrock.lk. Luxurious nature retreat hidden away on the rocky Belihul Oya river at the foot of Horton Plains, with lush jungle surroundings and sweeping hill views. Accommodation is in a mix of stylish suites and more rustic cabanas, with balconies and big windows making the most of the superb riverside setting. B&B $175
Jungle Rest 500m up the road behind the Rest House 045 490 2952. The beautiful setting, amid tropical gardens with drop-dead gorgeous views over river and paddy fields below, is the reason to come here, although the whole place is badly in need of some major TLC, with gloomy and damp dark-green rooms (fan only; hot water Rs.500 extra), shabby furniture and the general sense that the whole place is slowly falling to bits. The restaurant promises “lump rice”, “lasaniya” and “pitza”. Rs.1800
Landa Holiday Homes 1.5km west of the Rest House 045 228 0288. Set in lush gardens running down to the river, with five attractive cabanas in a mix of chunky stone and orange-painted brick dotted around the hillside, all attractively furnished and very tranquil. B&B $75
Pearl Tourist Inn Just east of the 157km post, and 300m east of the Rest House 045 228 0157. The cheapest place in town, with large, old-fashioned and slightly musty rooms (with hot water) – dated but comfortable, and at a good price. Rs.2000
Hill Safari Eco-Lodge Off the road between Bambarakanda and Ohiya 071 277 2451 or 011 264 7582. Set in the middle of a tea estate in a dramatic location (reached via a hair-raisingly steep access road) below the towering escarpment of World’s End. Basic rooms are simple but comfortable, and there are also two fancier “luxury” rooms (half board Rs.7000/8000) with observation deck offering views all the way to the south coast. Half board Rs.5000
Misty Mountain Lodge Udawariya Hospital Rd, Ohiya (6km from Ohiya train station) 077 764 6243 or 057 561 9772, facebook.com/mistymountionlodgeohiya. Run by leading local trekking guide B. M. Mohideen (“Deen”), this bungalow up in the mountains above Ohiya offers a good taste of upland Sri Lanka at its wildest. Rooms (with hot water) are simply but comfortably furnished, and treks can be arranged in the vicinity of the lodge and elsewhere across the hill country. Half board Rs.6000
World’s End Lodge 057 567 6977. Perhaps the most spectacularly situated place to stay in Sri Lanka; look for the turn-off from the A4 highway between Haldumulla and Kalupahana, just east of the Bambarakanda Falls turning. From here, it’s 4km up a very steep and rough road of hairpin bends – passable, but only just, in a normal car. Rooms are simple and rather spartan, with verandas from which to enjoy the wild and beautiful views, when not blanketed by mist. You can walk from here up to Horton Plains in around four hours. Half-board Rs.11,000
Rest House Main Rd 045 228 0156. Easily the nicest place to eat hereabouts, with a lovely old colonial-style terrace restaurant overlooking the foaming waters of the Kudu Oya. Set Western and Sri Lankan lunches (Rs.900–1100) pull in the coach parties, and there’s also a small à la carte selection (mains Rs.700–1100) – nothing special, but decent value, and in a setting that can’t be beat. Daily 7am–10pm.
One of the most spectacularly situated of all Sri Lankan towns, HAPUTALE (pronounced “ha-poo-tah-lay”) is perched dramatically on the crest of a ridge at the southern edge of the hill country with bird’s-eye views in both directions – south to the plains and coast, and inland across the jagged lines of peaks receding away to the north. The town itself is a busy but fairly humdrum little commercial centre with a mainly Tamil population, though the mist that frequently blankets the place adds an enjoyably mysterious touch to the workaday shops that fill the centre.
As with Ella, the principal pleasure of a stay in Haputale is the chance to get out and walk in the surrounding hills – most notably up to (or down from) the magnificent viewpoint at Lipton’s Seat. Specific sights around town include the tea factory at Dambatenne, the evocative old country mansion of Adisham and the impressive Diyaluma Falls. The major drawback to Haputale is the weather, exacerbated by its exposed position. The marvellous views usually disappear into mist by midday, while the town receives regular afternoon showers of varying severity for much of the year – September to December is the wettest period.
Views excepted, Haputale has little to detain you. The town comprises a small but lively mishmash of functional concrete shops and cafés, while a small fruit and vegetable market straggles along the approach to the train station, offering the slightly surreal sight of crowds of loquacious Tamil locals in saris and woolly hats haggling over piles of very English-looking vegetables.
Sadly little remains of Haputale’s Victorian past. The principal memento is St Andrew’s, a simple neo-Gothic barn of a building with a rustic wooden interior which lies just north of the town centre along the main road to Bandarawela. The churchyard is full of memorials to nineteenth-century tea planters, along with the grave of Reverend Walter Stanley Senior (1876–1938), author of the once-famous Ode to Lanka, Victorian Ceylon’s great contribution to world literature.
Mon–Sat 8am–5pm • Tours Rs.250 • Buses run every 30min to the factory from the south side of the bus stop in the centre of Haputale; a tuktuk will cost around Rs.600/1000 one-way/return
East of Haputale, a scenic road leads 10km along the edge of the escarpment through beautiful tea estates to the rambling Dambatenne Tea Factory, built in 1890 by the famous tea magnate Sir Thomas Lipton. The long white factory building is one of the most impressive in the highlands and preserves some of its original colonial-era equipment, which demonstrates the extent to which the tea-making process (and often the actual machinery as well) has remained unchanged for a hundred years or more. Factory tours explain the tea-making process from leaf to packet, although disappointingly, there’s no tea for sale, either to take home or drink on the premises. Note that you’ve got more chance of seeing the entire factory in operation if you visit before noon, after which things slow down.
Rs.50 • Around Rs.1000/1300 one-way/return by tuktuk from Haputale
From Dambatenne, a marvellous walk leads up to Lipton’s Seat, one of the finest viewpoints in the country – the equal of World’s End, but minus the hefty entrance fee. The road offers increasingly expansive views the higher you go, leading steeply up through a perfect landscape of immaculately manicured tea plantations with scarcely a leaf out of place, connected by flights of stone steps and enclosed in fine old drystone walls. It’s quite a strenuous hike to the seat – about 7km by road, though you can avoid the lengthy hairpins made by the tarmac and so reduce the overall distance by taking short cuts up the stone steps. Lipton’s Seat itself – named after Sir Thomas Lipton, who often came here to admire the view – sits perched at the edge of a cliff, offering an almost 360-degree overview of the surrounding countryside; you can see all the way to the coast on a clear day. Taking a taxi up to Lipton’s Seat then walking back down (either to Dambatenne Tea Factory or all the way back to Haputale) is one of Sri Lanka’s finest, but most effortless, short hikes. As with World’s End, the viewpoint clouds over most days from about 10am, so it’s best to arrive early. The walk from here down to Dambatenne takes around two hours.
3km west of Haputale along Welimada Rd • Sat & Sun, poya days and school holidays 9am–4.30pm • Rs.100 • adisham.org
Just west of Haputale, the grand colonial mansion of Adisham offers a misty-eyed moment of English nostalgia in the heart of the tropics. Adisham was built by Sir Thomas Villiers, who named it after the Kent village in which he was born. No expense was spared in the construction of the rather dour-looking building, with its rusticated granite walls and vaguely Tudor-style windows. The house was bought by the Benedictine monastic order in the 1960s and now functions as a monastery. Only the sitting room and library are open to visitors, complete with their musty original fittings; the monastery shop, selling home-made pickles, chutneys, sauces and cordials, is particularly popular with locals. Adisham is about 4km west of Haputale: go down Welimada Road from the town centre and follow the signs.
By bus Buses stop right in the centre of town, although as hardly any bus services originate in Haputale it’s pot luck whether or not you’ll get a seat, and as there’s no actual bus station finding the right bus can be trickier than usual. For Ella, you’ll need to change at Bandarawela. There are a couple of direct buses daily to Nuwara Eliya, or take a bus to Welimada (or Bandarawela, then Welimada) and change there.
Destinations Bandarawela (every 20–30min; 30min); Badulla (hourly; 1hr 30min; or change at Bandarawela); Belihul Oya (every 30min; 1hr 30min); Colombo (every 30min; 6hr 30min); Nuwara Eliya (2 daily; 2hr 15min); Ratnapura (every 30min; 3hr); Wellawaya (5 daily, or catch a bus to Beragala and change there; 1hr).
By train Haputale’s train station is right in the town centre, with direct connections to Ella, Bandarawela, Badulla, Nanu Oya (for Nuwara Eliya), Kandy and Colombo. Check the timetables in “Basics”.
By tour Haputale is a good place from which to visit Horton Plains – most guesthouses can arrange transport for around Rs.4000–4500, as well as vehicles to visit local attractions such as Lipton’s Seat.
By tuktuk All local guesthouses can arrange a tuktuk (or possibly a taxi) to Dambatenne, Lipton’s Seat and other local attractions.
Accommodation in Haputale is good value. All the following places have hot water and serve food; a few rooms have fans, although none have a/c (totally unnecessary up here).
ABC Guest Inn Off Sherwood Rd 057 226 8630, abcguestinn.haputale@gmail.com; map. Well-run guesthouse right in the centre of town with neat and very competitively priced rooms – some of the cheapest with shared bathroom; more expensive ones have some sort of view. Rs.1200
Amarasinghe Guest House 057 226 8175 or 077 776 3397, agh777@sltnet.lk; map. Established in 1978, Haputale’s oldest guesthouse is still one of its best, centred on a very cosy lounge-cum-restaurant with a good rice and curry served nightly. Rooms are spacious and nicely furnished and come with little balconies, and there are also three newly refurbished doubles (Rs.3800) with fancier décor and big thick mattresses. The guesthouse can be reached on foot by following the tiny footpath from the road by the rail tracks next to Susantha Stores, just east of the Olympus Plaza hotel; alternatively, you can drive up from the Colombo Rd, although the access road is nerve-janglingly narrow and twisty. Free tuktuk from train or bus station. Rs.2500
Awinco Rest Badulla Rd 057 226 8620, awincorest.blogspot.co.uk; map. Pleasant family guesthouse with six varied rooms (including two family rooms) of various sizes, standards and prices, plus communal TV area, lounge and fine views from the terrace outside. Free cooking classes for guests. Rs.1500
Kelburne Mountain View Cottages 1km east of Haputale, off Dambatenne Rd 011 257 3382, kelburnemountainview.com; map. Three pretty colonial-style cottages (each with two or three bedrooms) in a breezy hillside location just outside Haputale, surrounded by tea gardens and with sweeping views. $220
Leisure Mount View Off Welimada Rd (signed on left about 750m past the Olympus Plaza hotel) 057 226 8327; map. Mixed guesthouse-cum-hotel, with four simple rooms at rock-bottom prices in the cosy family house and five attractively furnished upmarket rooms in the big new annexe – the latter with superb views south. Old block (room only) Rs.1500, new block B&B Rs.4500
Lilly Guest Inn 35 Lilly Ave 077 475 9753, lillyguestinn@gmail.com; map. Immaculate and good-value modern guesthouse, run by a charming Muslim family. Rooms are squeaky clean and nicely furnished; those upstairs have views and slightly fancier furnishings for Rs.1000 extra. Rs.3500
Olympus Plaza 75 Welimada Rd 057 226 8543, olympusplazahotel.com; map. This ugly but comfortable mid-range hotel is Haputale’s only non-budget option. Rooms are spacious and nicely (if rather chintzily) furnished, with private balconies and fine views over the hills below, plus hot water and satellite TV. There’s also a so-so restaurant, a surprisingly chic little bar, gym and kids’ play area. B&B $77
Sri Lak View Holiday Inn Sherwood Rd 057 226 8125; map. The best option in the town centre, with a wide range of spotless, modern tiled rooms, some with marvellous views south, of varying sizes and standards (getting more expensive as you go up the building) and a nice little restaurant from which to watch the clouds roll by. Rs.2500
’t En Zal 79A Welimada Rd 077 7586 584, tenzal.com; map. A stay in this unique boutique guesthouse is almost like sleeping in a museum. The tall, stone-clad exterior is striking, but it’s the interior which really boggles, stuffed full of an astonishing array of antique wooden furniture and fittings salvaged by the Dutch owner from across the island, along with beautiful old carpets, prints and other colonial memorabilia. Just three rooms, all beautiful, and with great views too. B&B $120
The walk to Idalgashina
A fine walk leads west from Adisham along the ridgetop towards the village of Idalgashina through the Tangamalai (or Tangmale) nature reserve (open access; free), home to plentiful birdlife and wildlife including lots of monkeys. The path starts just to the left of the Adisham gates and runs for 3km through patches of dense subtropical jungle full of grey-barked, moss-covered weera trees alternating with airy stands of eucalyptus. The track is reasonably easy to follow at first, though it becomes indistinct in places further on (the directions below should suffice, though). After about 1km, the path comes out to the edge of the ridge with panoramic hill views stretching from Pidurutalagala and Hakgala near Nuwara Eliya to the left, Bandarawela below, and right towards the distinctive triangular-shaped peak of Namunakula, south of Badulla. Below you can see Glenanore Tea Factory and (a little later) the rail tracks far below (they will gradually rise to meet you).
From here on, the path sometimes sticks to the edge of the ridge, sometimes turns away from it, undulating slightly but always keeping roughly to the same height. After a further 1.5km you’ll see the rail tracks again, now much closer. Over the next 500m the path winds down the edge of the ridge to meet the ascending rail line, at which point there’s a wonderful view south, with impressive sheer cliffs to the left framing views of the lines of hills descending to the south, and the flat, hot plains beyond. From here you can either continue along the tracks to Idalgashina (about 6km) and catch a train back, or return to Haputale along the tracks (about 4km).
White Monkey Dias Rest Dambatenne Rd 072 409 3534, diasrest@yahoo.com; map. Enjoying one of the most spectacular locations of any Sri Lankan guesthouse, clinging to the escarpment 3km east of Haputale (10min/Rs.200 by tuktuk). Rooms (some with stunning views) are spread over three buildings, including a trio of simple, inexpensive doubles, a pair of family rooms and two fancier deluxe rooms, and the ultra-helpful owner can arrange tours islandwide including hikes and jungle camping in Koslanda, Idyalume and Bambarakanda. All meals available (with mains from just Rs.350). Rs.1800
Living Heritage Koslanda Naulla, Koslanda 077 935 5785, koslanda.com. Lovely back-to-nature boutique retreat in a gorgeous location midway between Haputale and Wellawaya (and close to Diyaluma Falls), centred on a beautiful infinity pool and surrounded by forest and tea plantations. Design mixes traditional architecture with modern facilities and comforts, with accommodation in a mix of beautiful suites and a handful of ambalama-style “forest pavilions”. Pavilions $185, suites $325
Melheim Resort Lower Blackwood, Beragala–Diyaluma Rd, 6km from Haputale, 2km from Beragala 057 567 5969, melheimresort.com. A marvellous location right on the edge of the hill country escarpment is the big draw at this attractive boutique hotel, with sweeping views south and the lights of Hambantota on the coast sometimes visible after dark. Rooms are bright and spacious, with attractive wooden furnishings, private balconies and big picture windows. Terraced gardens run down to a pool and kids’ play area, and there are free bikes. $150
Lettuce & Cabbage Station Rd 077 776 3397; map. Haputale’s first independent tourist restaurant offers an incongruous dash of city cool right in the ramshackle heart of town, with minimalist modern décor and a wide-ranging menu of well-prepared, very inexpensive international fare including a good rice and curry (just Rs.325) alongside European dishes like chicken schnitzel and fish ‘n’ chips (Rs.750). No alcohol, although you can bring your own. Daily 10am–9.30pm.
Midway between Ella and Haputale, the scruffy little town of BANDARAWELA lacks either the rural charm of the first or the dramatic setting of the latter. The only real reason to stay here is to spend a night at the time-warped Bandarawela Hotel, although you might well find yourself changing buses here en route to somewhere else.
By bus Buses to Ella, Wellawaya and Badulla leave from opposite the HNB Bank on the east side of town. All other buses leave from the new bus station in the midde of town. For Nuwara Eliya, it’s generally easier to catch a bus to Welimada, from where there are frequent onward services.
Destinations Badulla (every 15min; 1hr); Colombo (every 30min; 7hr); Ella (every 10min; 30min); Haputale (every 20–30min; 30min); Kandy (8 daily; 4hr); Matara (3 daily; 7hr); Nuwara Eliya (6 daily; 1hr 45min); Ratnapura (every 30min; 3hr 30min); Welimada (every 30min; 45min); Wellawaya (every 30min; 1hr 15min).
By train Bandarawela is on the main hill-country train line midway between Ella and Haputale. For timetables see Basics.
Bandarawela Hotel 14 Welimada Rd 057 222 2501, aitkenspencehotels.com; map. Easily the best place to stay in Bandarawela, occupying a lovely old planters’ clubhouse of 1893. The personable, rambling old wooden building is brimful of charm (albeit stronger on colonial atmosphere than modern creature comforts), with polished wooden floorboards, colonial fittings, bathtubs and quaint old metal bedsteads. Probably the best bargain in Sri Lanka at current rates. B&B $60
Set on the eastern edge of the hill country, the bustling modern town of BADULLA is capital of Uva Province and its most important transport hub – you might pass through en route between the hill country and the east coast, and if you do get stuck here overnight, you’ll find a couple of modest attractions to while away a few hours. Thought to be one of the oldest towns on the island, Badulla became a major centre on the road between Polonnaruwa and the south, though the old town has vanished without trace. Badulla thrived under the British, developing into a vibrant social centre complete with racecourse and cricket club, though there’s almost nothing left to show from those days now. Nearby Dunhinda Falls and the unusual Bogoda Bridge are also both worth a look.
Entrance from Devale St
Easily the most striking building in town is the eighteenth-century Kataragama Devale. Centrepiece of the temple is the quaint Kandyan-style main shrine, a rustic little structure with tiled wooden tower and the extensive remains of murals on the exterior walls showing scenes from a perahera. The shrine is entered via a colonnaded walkway leading to a cluster of finely carved columns and an elaborate door topped by a carving of a buxom figure in a tiara, flanked by two elephants – possibly a bodhisattva. Inside, the principal image of Kataragama is, as usual, hidden behind a curtain except during pujas, and flanked by statues of a pink Saman, holding an axe and flag, and Vishnu, bearing a conch shell and bell.
There’s a smaller subsidiary shrine to Pattini to the right of the main shrine, with another finely carved wooden door, pillars and the slight remains of old murals.
At the southern end of town stands the Muthiyagana Vihara, whose origins are believed to date back two thousand years to the reign of Sri Lanka’s first Buddhist king, Devanampiya Tissa. It’s a tranquil, if unremarkable, spot, occasionally enlivened by the presence of a rambling temple elephant.
Elephants are unlikely to be seen in the vicinity of the modest little St Mark’s Church, one of the few mementoes of Badulla’s colonial-era past, which flanks the roundabout at the northern end of King Street. Inside, a prominent tablet memorializes the infamous soldier and sportsman Major Thomas William Rogers, who is said to have shot well over a thousand elephants before being torched by a timely bolt of lightning at Haputale in 1845. The memorial concludes, appropriately enough, with the traditional biblical homily, “In the midst of life we are in death” – a sentiment with which Major Rogers, who alone despatched so many of island’s most majestic creatures, would no doubt have agreed.
Daily 7am–5pm • Rs.200
Around 7km north of Badulla tumble the majestic, 63m-high Dunhinda Falls, reached via a beautiful drive from town, followed by a pleasant 1.5km scramble along a rocky little path during which you cross a wobbly, Indiana Jones-style suspension bridge. The falls themselves, fed by the Badulla Oya, are the island’s seventh highest, but are most notable for their sheer volume, spewing out an impressive quantity of water which creates great clouds of spray as it crashes into the pool below. Buses running past the path to the falls leave town about every thirty minutes; alternatively, hire a tuktuk (around Rs.300 return). Avoid weekends and public holidays, when the falls are thronged with locals.
By bus The bus station is bang in the middle of Badulla on King St, with regular services to all nearby towns and further afield.
Destinations Bandarawela (every 15min; 1hr); Colombo (hourly; 8hr); Ella (every 30min; 45min; or catch a Bandarawela bus to Kumbalwela Junction, 3km from Ella, where the Ella Road branches off the main Bandarawela–Badulla road, and either wait for another bus or catch a tuktuk); Haputale (hourly, or change at Bandarawela; 1hr 30min); Kandy (every 45min; 3hr); Monaragala (every 30min; 3hr); Nuwara Eliya (every 30min; 3hr); Wellawaya (every 45min; 1hr 30min).
By train Badulla sits at the terminus of the hill country railway line from Kandy. The train station is on the southern edge of the centre.
Destinations Colombo (4 daily; 10–11hr); Ella (5 daily; 1hr); Haputale (5 daily; 2hr); Hatton (5 daily; 5hr); Kandy (3 daily; 7hr); Nanu Oya (for Nuwara Eliya; 5 daily; 3hr 45min).
Badulla has a modest range of places to stay. You’ll probably eat where you’re staying; the only other possibilities are the usual local cafés.
Dunhinda Falls Inn 35/10 Bandaranayake Mw 055 222 3028; map. On a peaceful street just north of the town centre, with large, comfortable and well-maintained old-fashioned rooms with fan (plus hot water for Rs.500 extra) or a/c and hot water, plus restaurant. The helpful manager can arrange interesting local tours. Rs.2200, a/c Rs.3850
River Side Hotel 27 Lower King St 055 222 2090; map. Close to the centre, with pleasant if slightly battered-looking and overpriced modern rooms with hot water and optional a/c (Rs.1000 extra) and a passable rooftop restaurant, though the view of the massed pylons next door probably isn’t what you came to Sri Lanka to see. Rs.4500
Some 20km west of Badulla lies the remote village of BOGODA, squirrelled away in a deeply rural setting on the banks of the small Galanda Oya amid the undulating fringes of the hill country. Steep steps lead from the village down to an unusual roofed bridge, a quaint little toy-like structure, with delicately balustraded sides and tiled roof elegantly balanced on a single wooden pier plunged into the rocky rapids below. The bridge lies on a pilgrimage route that connects with Mahiyangana and the Dowa Temple near Ella – there’s thought to have been a bridge here since the twelfth century, though the present structure dates from around 1700. Next to the bridge is the Raja Maha Vihara temple, an attractive little whitewashed structure built into a large rock outcrop. The temple dates back to the eighteenth century and houses a large reclining Buddha, but not much else.
By bus It’s slightly tricky to reach Bogoda by public transport from Badulla. First, catch a Bandarawela-bound bus to Hali-Ela. In Hali-Ela, buses leave from outside the post office (on the side road on your right as you enter the village) to Katawela, from where it’s a 4km walk or tuktuk ride (around Rs.600 return) to the bridge. A few buses go all the way from Hali-Ela to Bogoda. Alternatively, bus #312 goes directly to Katawela from Badulla. You could also visit the bridge from Bandarawela or Ella.
The southern hill country’s major tourist honeypot, ELLA is highland Sri Lanka at its photogenic best, surrounded by idyllic green hills blanketed in tea plantations and enjoying a pleasantly temperate climate midway between the heat of the plains and the chills of the hills – as well as serving up one of the finest views in Sri Lanka.
The village itself has changed dramatically over recent years, with new buildings mushrooming on every available plot and skyrocketing visitor numbers making the whole place feel a bit like some kind of Unawatuna in the hills, with hordes of tourists roaming up and down the main drag and cafés pumping music out until approaching midnight. Still, it’s easy enough to escape the crowds, and Ella remains a fine place to walk and unwind, particularly if you get a bed away from the heart of the village, such as in the neighbouring hamlet of Kithalella.
There’s not much to Ella itself bar a single street meandering gently downhill, past innumerable guesthouses, cafés and shops before reaching the edge of the escarpment, just below the Grand Ella Motel, from where you can see the classic view past the towering bulk of Ella Rock on the right and through a cleft in the hills – the so-called Ella Gap – to the plains far below.
One of the best ways to spend a morning in Ella is to tackle the beautiful short walk up to the top of Little Adam’s Peak (aka “Mini Adam’s Peak”). The walk is largely flat, apart from a short climb at the end – count on around 2–3hr return. Start by heading down Passara Road for 1km. Just past the 1km marker (and Adam’s Breeze restaurant) a small but clearly signed road goes off on the right, running through beautiful tea plantations. Keep left whenever there’s a choice of routes, following the path as it loops around a ramshackle tea pickers’ village. After another 500m you’ll see two gated tracks heading off on the right close to one another. Take the second (signed to Mini Adam’s Peak), and follow it for the final kilometre and climb the 300-odd steps up to the top, from where there are marvellous views of Ella Rock, Ella Gap, the Newburgh Tea Factory and the very top of the Rawana Ella Falls. From here another track switchbacks along the ridge to a second hilltop about 1km distant, with further views over the lowlands below.
Passara Rd, about 250m past the 98 Acres resort • Mon–Sat 8.30am–5pm • Rs.500 •
Further down the Passara Road past the Little Adam’s Peak turn-off, endless fields of green enclose the Newburgh Tea Factory, built in 1903 and converted in 2009 for the exclusive production of green tea. Whistle-stop guided tours (every 30min) help explain differences in the manufacturing process between this and the black variety of the brew, and there’s also tea for sale, although if you’ve not been round a tea factory previously you’re better off visiting the Uva Halpewatte Tea Factory first (see below).
Badulla Rd, 6km from Ella • Mon–Sat 8am–4pm • Rs.450 • 057 222 8599 • halpetea.com • Take a tuktuk for Rs.1200–1500 return including waiting time
If you’ve never seen the inside of a tea factory before, the Uva Halpewatte Tea Factory is a good place to get up to speed. Dating from 1940, the factory is one of the biggest in the hills, and the tours here are among the most informative on the island, unravelling the entire tea-production process from bush to bag. It’s best to visit in the morning, when the factory is busiest, and note the factory isn’t usually fully operational on a Monday (or days after public holidays and some Saturdays too, depending on production levels), although there are still guides on hand to show you round. Tours (roughly every 30min) last around 45min, after which visitors are invited to exit through the well-stocked gift shop and café.
For an enjoyable and not-at-all-strenuous two-hour walk around Ella, the hike to the landmark Demodara Bridge ticks all the right boxes. Head out along Passara Rd, past the Newburgh Tea Factory. About 100m past the factory you’ll see three small roads going off to the left (the middle leads to The Secret Ella). Take the left-hand road and walk downhill for twenty minutes to reach the railway line, then turn left and cross the impressive Demodara Nine Arch Bridge (if you just want to see the bridge without the walk you can catch a tuktuk here from Ella for around Rs.800 return). Just past here the tracks pass through a short tunnel (about 100m long – a bit gloomy, and with a few bats in the middle) before emerging back into daylight. From here, carry on along the railway track, which will bring you back to Ella station in another 30–40 minutes or so. If you want to extend the walk, it’s easily combined with the hike up Little Adam’s Peak. There are several places for drinks and food en route, including Adam’s Breeze and Cafe 98.
Ella is famous in Sri Lankan folklore for its Ramayana connections: according to one tradition, the demon king Rawana brought the captive Sita here and hid her away in a cave a couple of kilometres outside the present-day village. Rawana’s name is now memorialized in the names of various village guesthouses, as well as in the dramatic Rawana Ella Falls (also known as the Bambaragama Falls), which plunge magnificently for some 90m over a series of rock faces 6km below Ella down the Wellawaya Road. It’s an impressive sight, and you can clamber some way up the rocks to one side of the falls. To reach the falls, catch any bus heading down towards Wellawaya.
To reach the cave, head down the Wellawaya Road from the village for about 2km, from where a path on the right heads up to the cave – it’s easiest to find the start of the path by catching a tuktuk from Ella (around Rs.250)
En route to Rawana Ella Falls, a few kilometres out of Ella, lies the Rawana Ella Cave, in which Rawana is claimed to have held Sita captive, as related in the Ramayana – although a similar claim is made for the Sita Amman Temple near Nuwara Eliya. It’s a punishing climb up to the cave, including over 600 steps, and sections can be treacherously slippery after rain (there’s a very welcome tea shack around two-thirds of the way up). The sweeping views at least partly compensate, although there’s not much to see in the cave itself – bring a torch.
Walking up Ella Rock
The most rewarding, and most taxing, hike around Ella is the ascent of the majestic Ella Rock, which looms over the village. It’s around a four-hour hike in total, with an interesting mix of rail track, tea plantation, and some steep stuff near the summit. Carry food, water and good footwear, and take care in wet weather, when tracks can get slippery – and be aware, too, that mist and rain can descend quickly at the top.
There are several different possible routes – it’s a good idea to ask at your guesthouse for latest information before setting out. Most begin by following the rail line south out of the village for about 1.5km until the tracks cross a rickety bridge near the top of Little Rawana Ella Falls. From here, various paths strike up towards the top of the rock – quite possibly, a local villager will materialize to guide you up, for a consideration, or you could simply try to make your own way by following the likeliest-looking path (although scams involving fake signs and deliberate misdirection have been reported). Alternatively, most guesthouses should be able to arrange a guide for around Rs.1500–2000.
10km southwest of Ella, 6km from Bandarawela • No set hours • Donation
Next to the main road between Ella and Bandarawela, the small Dowa Temple is set in a secluded and narrow wooded valley and boasts a striking low-relief Buddha, carved into the rock face which overlooks the temple. It’s similar in style to the figures at Buduruwagala, and may represent Maitreya, the future Buddha of the Mahayana pantheon who also appears at Buduruwagala. The temple itself is of some antiquity, though there’s not much to show for it now apart from some fairly uninteresting paintings and a reclining Buddha. All buses from Ella to Bandarawela run past the temple.
Buses drop passengers off at the road junction outside the Curd and Honey Shop in the centre of the village, close to most of the guesthouses. No buses originate in Ella, so finding a seat when leaving can sometimes be tricky.
Hill country Both Haputale or Nuwara Eliya are easier (although not necessarily quicker) to reach by train; heading to Haputale by bus, you’ll have to change at Bandarawela. Heading towards Badulla, you might find it easier to catch any bus heading to the main Badulla–Bandarwela road, about 3km from the village (or take a tuktuk to the junction), and pick up a bus there.
Destinations Badulla (every 30min; 45min); Bandarawela (every 10min; 30min); Kandy (2 daily; 6hr; alternatively go to Badulla, from where there are Kandy services every 30min); Nuwara Eliya (1 daily at 9.30am; 2hr 15min; alternatively go to Bandarawela, from where there are services onto Welimada every 15min, and then on to Nuwara Eliya).
South coast Ella is a convenient jumping-off point for the south coast, with regular services to Matara via Pamegamuwa Junction (for Tissa), Tangalla and Hambantota. There’s one direct bus daily to Tissa and Kataragama; alternatively, take any Matara bus to Pamegamuwa and change there. For Galle, change at Matara.
Destinations: Kataragama (1 daily at 8.30; 2hr 30min); Matara (8 daily; 6hr); Tissamaharama (1 daily at 8.30am; 2hr); Wellawaya (every 30min; 45min).
It’s generally more comfortable and enjoyable to leave Ella by train, especially if you’re heading to Haputale or Nuwara Eliya – and railway buffs will also enjoy the famous loop which the train tracks make to gain height just east of Ella en route to Badulla. The train station is on the north side of the village. See Basics for timetables.
Destinations Badulla (5 daily; 1hr); Colombo (3 daily; 9–10hr); Haputale (5 daily; 1hr–1hr 40min); Hatton (4 daily; 4–5hr); Kandy; 4 daily; 6hr–10hr 40min); Nanu Oya (for Nuwara Eliya; 5 daily; 2hr 40min–4hr 20min).
Information The Dream Café is a good source of local information, including bus times.
Tours Most of the village’s guesthouses can arrange taxis and tours. Alternatively, the Dream Café (057 222 8950) runs various excursions including day-trips to Horton Plains (Rs.7500 for vehicle only) and two enjoyable one-day tours, the first combining Buduruwagala, Rawana Falls, Haputale, Diyaluma Falls, Dowa Temple and the Uva Halpewatte Tea Factory (Rs.7500 for a minivan seating up to five, plus Rs.1000 extra to add in Lipton’s Seat), the second combining Uva Halpewatte, Dunhinda Falls, Bogoda Bridge, Dowa and the Demodara railway loop (Rs.8500 for vehicle only). They also have 90cc scooters for rent (Rs.1500/day).
Ella has a huge range of accommodation for such a small place, although real bargains are hard to find– and you’ll pay a premium for anywhere with a view. There are plenty of options in the village itself, plus a growing number of places above the village along the railway tracks in Kithalella – much more peaceful, and often with superb views, although a little way from the action. All of the following have hot water, although a/c isn’t usually provided, and isn’t really needed.
Beauty Mount Tourist Inn Main Rd 077 679 1168, nimalibeautymountcottage@gmail.com; map. Neat and very good-value rooms in a steep-sided garden bang in the centre of the village. Good food, and cooking classes on request, plus scooters for hire. Rs.2500
The Blue View Inn Off Police Station Rd 077 695 4243; map. Welcoming guesthouse house tucked away in a central but very peaceful location, a 5min walk from the village, with five neat, bright modern rooms nestled amongst the trees. B&B Rs.4200
Country Comfort Inn 32 Police Station Rd 057 222 8532, hotelcountrycomfort.lk; map. Small hotel on quiet Police Station Rd. Rooms in the main building are pleasant but overpriced, although the two budget doubles in the pretty old garden villa are a bargain. Garden rooms Rs.2000, main building Rs.7500
Eeshani 22/3 Police Station Rd 057 222 8703, eeshaniguestinn@yahoo.com; map. Five small rooms in a very cosy little family guesthouse, central but very peaceful, and at a sensible price. Rs.3500
Hangover Hostel 16 Police Station Rd 077 313 9797, hangoverhostels.com; map. Upmarket hostel in a smart two-storey house with beds in cool and spacious 6- and 8-bed mixed a/c dorms, each with its own in-dorm bathroom. Beds come with individual lights and sockets, thick mattresses and big lockers, and there are also daily yoga sessions (Rs.1000), a nice chillout deck, plus kitchen with free tea and coffee. $14
Hill Top Guest House Off Main Rd 057 222 8780, hilltopella@hotmail.com; map. Perched at the top of a short but steep hill just above the main road, with fine views of Ella Gap from the upper storey and attractive hammock-strewn veranda. Rooms are spacious and neatly furnished, although slightly pricey for what you get, and you’ll pay around Rs.2000 extra for a view. B&B Rs.4800
Ravana Heights 057 222 8888, ravanaheights.com; map. One of the nicest places to stay in Ella, set amid a lovely little garden just below the village. The three bright modern rooms come with picture-perfect views of Ella Rock and the Gap, and there are also two smart new family suites and a rooftop apartment. The owner can also arrange hiking excursions (around $15 plus transport) and serves up superior Thai food. Rough Guides readers are promised a discount of around ten percent when booking directly (contact the guesthouse for details). B&B $150
Rawana Holiday Resort 057 222 8794, rawanaholiday.com; map. Decent selection of clean and comfortable rooms, reasonably priced, plus good home-cooking in the large restaurant with fine views of Ella Gap. Also offers cookery classes. Rs.3500
Rock View Guest House 057 222 8561, rockviewh@gmail.com; map. One of the longest-established places in the village, with a marvellous view of Ella Rock and good-value accommodation – choose between the spacious and attractively refurbished rooms in the main house or the three smaller but newer ones with balcony in the annexe outside. Rs.3000
Chamodya Guest House 078 535 4726, chamodyahomestay@hotmail.com; map. Super-friendly family guesthouse offering five smart and attractively decorated rooms worthy of a mid-range hotel at a well below-average price, plus gorgeous views, particularly from upstairs, of the rock and falls. $40
Idyll Homestay 057 2050 834, 071 911 3701, ellagoodneighbours.com; map. Tiny and very friendly little family guesthouse with five bright and quite smart modern rooms with big picture windows and a small terrace facing the Little Rawana Ella Falls. B&B Rs.5000
Mountain Heavens Hotel 057 492 5757, mountainheavensella.com; map. Small modern hotel with a jaw-dropping view right down the middle of Ella Gap, offering spacious modern rooms with private balcony or terrace and big French windows through which to enjoy the scenery. Nice, although rates are steep verging on silly. B&B $190
Waterfalls Homestay 057 567 6933, waterfalls-guesthouse-ella.com; map. In a wonderfully peaceful location opposite Little Rawana Ella Falls, this Australian-owned hideaway feels more like a homestay than a conventional guesthouse, with just three colourful and very comfortable rooms (including one triple/family room) and a lovely terrace from which to watch the falls, There’s also a small Ayurvedic massage parlour downstairs, and cooking lessons are available on request, and dinner is available at the adjacent Water Fall View Inn restaurant (see below). B&B Rs.6500
Water Fall View Inn 077 996 1971, ellawaterfallview@gmail.com; map. Small, very welcoming family guesthouse with four rooms (including a family room), all with hot water, big windows and verandas facing the Little Rawana Ella Falls. The small attached restaurant serves up a good rice and curry buffet (Rs.900) at 7.30pm nightly. B&B Rs.4500
98 Acres Passara Rd (next to 2km post) 057 205 0050, resort98acres.com; map. Gorgeous eco-resort set amid the rolling tea-bushes of the Uva Greeland Estate. Accommodation is in a string of rustic-chic stone-thatched cabanas, perched on the ridge at the top of the estate, with stylish rooms up and down and stunning views of nearby Little Adam’s Peak and Ella Rock. Facilities include the eye-catching Cafe 98, plus gym, spa and a skinny little pool, while activities include yoga, archery, birdwatching, trekking and biking. B&B $190
Amba Estate Ambadandegama (30–40min drive south of Ella) 057 357 5489, ambaestate.com; map. Idyllic rural retreat, far from the madding crowds of Ella, set in an organic farm amid stunning scenery. Accommodation is in either the old estate bungalow, full of wonderfully time-warped country-house character, or the modern Clove Tree Cottage, while activities include cooking lessons and some great local hikes. Advance reservations essential. $65
Virtually every guesthouse in the village now seems to offer cookery classes. Classes usually last 2–3hr, cost Rs.2000–2500 and feature between three and five traditional Sri Lankan dishes which you get to eat at the end of the class. The places below are three of the best – be sure to book in advance.
Ella Spice Garden Down the path next to Café Chill 075 236 3636. Three-hour morning and afternoon classes (Rs.2500), including recipe book and a tour of the attached spice garden (which is also open daily 8am–5pm for guided tours; Rs.100pp).
Grand 39 Passara Rd 076 709 9200. Well-regarded classes run by local chef Iran featuring five veg curries, plus chicken/fish and a dessert (classes on request; Rs.2500).
Lanka’s Cooking Signed south off Passara Road 077 695 7495. Perhaps the most authentic classes in the village, featuring five dishes cooked in traditional clay pots over wood fires in a pleasantly rural setting slightly southwest of the village (Rs.2000; daily at 5pm).
The Planter’s Bungalow Wellawaya Rd, 10km south of Ella 055 205 5600, plantersbungalow.com; map. Lovely colonial-style boutique guesthouse in a superbly restored tea planter’s bungalow of 1889 surrounded by lush wooded gardens. Accommodation is in three stylish rooms in the bungalow itself, a small cottage, plus six stylish and slightly pricier modern rooms with stunning views spread around the garden, and there’s also a pool and excellent and authentic hill-country-style Sri Lankan food using home-grown organic vegetables. Good value at current rates. B&B $105
The Secret Ella Sutherland Estate, Namunukula Rd 057 222 6333, thesecrethotels.com/ella; map. Lovely boutique guesthouse in a gorgeously updated 1855 tea plantation bungalow, set in fourteen acres of immaculate garden amid the Sutherland Tea Estate, with sweeping hill views at the rear. The five beautifully appointed rooms are luxurious but full of character, and there’s also a pool and various activities including croquet, minigolf, bike rides and tours of the Sutherland estate. B&B $248
Ella is well stocked with places to eat, mainly strung out along Main St, while there’s often good home-cooking in the various guesthouses as well. Rice and curry is generally king, although there are also several places serving up good international cuisine.
Adam’s Breeze Passara Rd (just before the 1km post and the path off to Little Adam’s Peak) 077 506 6560; map. A nice place for a drink or food on the way to or from Little Adam’s Peak, with a well-prepared and inexpensive range of Sri Lankan and Western breakfasts, rice and curry (Rs.600 veg, Rs.750 meat), plus snacks including lots of sweet and savoury rottys. Daily 8.30am–10pm.
AK Ristoro 37 Grand View, Passara Rd 057 205 0676; map. Not at all what you’d expect to find down a dusty Ella back road, this funky restaurant – with cool warehouse-style stripped-brick decor and food to match – brings something a bit different to Ella’s rice-and-curry-centric dining scene. The innovative menu features unusual local and international tapas (Rs.100–350) plus a good Japanese selection (Rs.850–1250) and excellent authentic pasta (Rs.600–900) – or there’s always the obligatory rice and curry (Rs.600), given a nice contemporary twist. Daily 11am–10pm.
Cafe Chill Main St 077 180 4020; map. At the heart of the main drag, this kicking restaurant is usually the liveliest place in the village, and often the last place to close, with seating either on the streetside veranda or around the back by the open kitchen – or just have a drink on the rooftop terrace under a spectacular thatched roof. Food comprises a decent spread of local and international fare – the pizza (from Rs.1100) is good, as is the eight-dish rice and curry (Rs.770), and there’s also real coffee and very cheap beer. Arrive early or expect to queue. Kitchen closes at 10pm. Daily 10am–12.30am.
Cafe 98 Passara Rd 057 205 0050; map. In the beautiful 98 Acres resort, this attractive pavilion restaurant, topped by a huge thatched roof and with wonderful views from the decked seating area outside, makes a good pit stop en route to or from Adam’s Peak or Demodara Bridge. Drinks include a fine selection of single-estate teas from the nearby Halpewatte estate, and there’s also a wide range of Sri Lankan and international mains (from Rs.1000). Daily 7.30am–10.30pm.
Dream Café Main St 057 222 8950; map. This sprawling two-floor café in the middle of the village has become a bit too big for its own good, but still serves up some of the best food in Ella, with a well-prepared range of local and international dishes (mains mostly Rs.700–1000) – anything from rice and curry through to pasta, burgers, wraps and salads, plus some of the best pizza in the island. Good breakfasts, too, either Western or Sri Lankan. Daily 8am–10pm.
Hometown 17 Main St 071 292 4507; map. Bang in the middle of the village but easily overlooked, this unprepossessing little café is highly rated by locals for its very good, very inexpensive rice and curry spreads (Rs.350–550), and also serves up tasty sweet rottys and above-average breakfasts. Daily 10am–10pm.
Remo’s 7 Main St (on the first floor and easily missed; access is via the Lanka Grand Herbal arch) 057 454 5073; map. A great place for inexpensive rice and curry featuring a mouthwatering array of dishes for a bargain Rs.500. Good Sri Lankan and Western breakfasts too, plus assorted snacks, all delivered with tremendous enthusiasm by Remo and his exceptionally chipper staff. Daily 8.30am–10pm.
RMS Antiques 5 Police Station Rd 077 929 7811; map. Small shop selling an interesting range of antiques sourced by the owner from around the island, alongside some attractive modern crafts and bric-a-brac. Daily 10am–7pm.
Ayurveda The best of the various Ayurveda centres around Ella, the small and very rustic little Hela Osu (071 111 0010) in the middle of the village offers assorted massages, herbal baths and shirodhara at bargain rates (Rs.2000–4000). Avoid the Suwamadura centre on Passara Rd, which has a dreadful reputation.
Banks There’s a small Bank of Ceylon beneath the Jade Green Restaurant with a single, temperamental ATM, and a more reliable HNB machine slightly further down the road. Both accept Visa and MasterCard.
Internet The EzTaxi office, just south of the bus stop, has a couple of machines (daily 7am–9pm; Rs.200/hr).
Laundry There are several places offering cheap laundry services along Police Station Rd.
Standing in the dry-zone plains at the foot of the hills of Uva Province, WELLAWAYA is, strictly speaking, not part of the hill country at all, though it’s an important transport hub and provides regular connections to Ella, Haputale and beyond. The town itself is eminently forgettable, though there are a few worthwhile sights nearby – although it’s also perfectly possible to visit these from Ella or Haputale. There are also a couple of excellent eco-lodges in the area around the town of Buttala, about 15km east of Wellawaya.
Daily 7am–6pm • Rs.200 • Daily 24hr • A tuktuk from Wellawaya will cost around Rs.500 return; head 5km south of Wellawaya along the main road towards Tissa, then turn right onto a signed side road for another 5km
Just south of Wellawaya lie the magical rock carvings of Buduruwagala, in a patch of beautifully unspoilt dry-zone forest populated by abundant birds and butterflies. The site features a series of seven figures carved in low relief into the face of a large rock outcrop (whose outline is sometimes fancifully compared to that of an elephant lying down). The figures are some of the largest in the island (the biggest is 16m tall), and are thought to date from the tenth century – they’re unusual in displaying Mahayana Buddhist influence, which enjoyed a brief vogue in the island around this time. The large central standing Buddha in the abhaya (“have no fear”) pose still bears traces of the stucco which would originally have covered his robes, as well as faint splashes of his original paint.
On the left-hand side of the rock stand a group of three figures. The central one, which retains its white paint and red halo, is generally thought to represent Avalokitesvara, one of the most important Mahayana divinities. To the left stands an unidentified attendant, while the female figure to his right in the “thrice-bent” pose is Tara, a Mahayana goddess. The three figures on the right-hand side of the rock are much more Hindu in style. The figure on the right is generally thought to represent the Tibetan bodhisattva Vajrapani, holding a thunderbolt symbol (a dorje – a rare instance of Tantric influence in Sri Lankan Buddhist art); the central figure is Maitreya, the future Buddha, while the third figure is Vishnu. The presence of square-cut holes in the rock above some figures – particularly the central Buddha – suggests that they would originally have been canopied.
Head 8km south of Wellawaya along the main road towards Tissa (3km past the Buduruwagala turn-off), then 1.5km along a track on the left
Just beyond Buduruwagala lies the beautiful Handapanagala Tank. There are gorgeous views from here, especially if you scramble up the rock at the far end of the path that runs along the south side of the tank, with the great wall of Uva mountains spread out on one side and the arid dry-zone plains towards Tissa on the other. Although the tank is worth visiting just for the views, there’s the possible added bonus of spotting wild elephants, who sometimes come to the tank to drink (late afternoon is usually the best time). It might also be possible to arrange a catamaran trip on the lake with local boatmen (around Rs.2000).
Reached by any bus running between Wellawaya and Beragala/Haputale
Around 12km west of Wellawaya and 30km from Haputale, the Diyaluma Falls are the second-highest in Sri Lanka, tumbling for 220m over a sheer cliff face in a single slender cascade. A circuitous walk (allow 1hr each way) to the top of the falls starts from the main road a few hundred metres east, next to the km 207/5 marker. Follow the track here uphill for around twenty minutes until you reach a small rubber factory, where you’ll need to stop and ask someone to point out the very faint and rough path up the steep and rocky hillside behind – if in doubt just keep on heading straight up. It’s a steep and tiring hike (and you can’t actually see the falls properly from the top), although you can cool off with a dip in one of the large natural rock pools near the summit of the falls.
The pleasant Diyaluma Falls Inn on the main road below the falls, has fine views of the cascades and is a pleasant spot for lunch or a drink.
By bus The bus stand is in the middle of town. Wellawaya is a major transport hub between the south coast and hill country, with good services in all directions, although if travelling to Kandy or Nuwara Eliya you might prefer to take a bus to Ella and then catch the train from there. A lot of southbound services bypass Tissamaharama, calling at Pannegamuwa Junction, a short bus or tuktuk ride from Tissa itself. For Kataragama, change at Buttala.
Destinations Bandarawela (every 30min; 1hr 15min); Badulla (every 30min; 1hr 30min); Buttala (every 15min; 40min); Ella (every 30min; 45min); Embilipitiya (4 daily; 3hr); Haputale (5 daily, or take one of the hourly buses to Beragala and change there; 1hr); Kandy (2 daily; 6hr); Matara (every 30min; 4hr); Monaragala (every 15min; 1hr 15min); Nuwara Eliya (5 daily; 3hr 30min); Tissamaharama (hourly; 2hr).
Banks The Commercial, HNB and People’s banks all have ATMs which accept foreign cards.
Little Rose Inn 1km south of town on the Tissa Rd 077 657 3647, littlerosewellawaya.com. The best of Wellawaya’s scant accommodation options, this family-run guesthouse has clean, bright and spacious rooms in the modern garden annexe plus a few slightly older but well-kept ones inside the house itself – smarter rooms come with a/c, hot water and satelite TV. There’s also bike rental, and the owners can arrange local excursions. Rs.2500, a/c Rs.4500
Nestled among verdant hills at the southwestern corner of the hill country, RATNAPURA (literally “City of Gems”) is famous for its precious stones, which have been mined here in extraordinary quantities since antiquity. Naturally, the town makes a big deal of this, with plenty of touts offering trips to gem mines and stones for sale, though unless you have a specialist interest in gemology, this alone isn’t really a sufficient reason to visit the place. If you are interested in learning more, ask your guesthouse or touts in town, who may be able to arrange a visit to a working mine. Ratna Gems Halt run a convenient trip combining a visit to a gem mine, gem museum and Saviya Street (Rs.1000pp), and even run a five- and ten-day gem-cutting course if the subject really grabs your imagination.
Ratnapura does have other attractions, however. The town makes a possible base for visits to Sinharaja and Uda Walawe national parks; trips to both involve a long (4hr-plus) return drive, making for a big day. Local guesthouses (including Ratna Gems Halt) can arrange trips: the going rate for a minivan or jeep is around $50–60 to either park. Ratnapura is also the starting point for an alternative ascent of Adam’s Peak, though it’s significantly longer and tougher than the route up from Dalhousie. The path starts from the village of Palabaddale, from where it’s a climb of five to seven hours to the summit. Buses run to Palabaddale via Gilimale during the pilgrimage season; alternatively, transport can be arranged through Ratna Gems Halt and Deer Park Inn.
Ratnapura also has the distinction of being one of the wettest places in Sri Lanka, with an annual rainfall sometimes exceeding four metres – and even when it’s not raining, the climate is usually humid and sticky.
A major regional commercial centre, Ratnapura is a busy and rather exhausting place, even before you’ve dealt with the attentions of touts trying to flog you gems or get you on visits to local mines. The heart of the town’s gem trade is Saviya Mawatha (also spelt Zavier, Zaviya and Zavia), about 150m east of the clocktower, which presents an entertaining scene of crowds of locals haggling over handfuls of uncut stones; the shops of a few small dealers line the street (the town’s traditional jewellers’ shops are mainly located at the clocktower end of Main St). Trading takes place on weekdays until around 3pm. You’re likely to be offered stones to buy – it should go without saying that unless you’re an expert, steer well clear.
Potgul Vihara Mw • Mon–Fri 9.30am–4.30pm • Rs.100
If you want a detailed look at the area’s mineral riches, head out to the Ratnapura Gem Bureau, usually simply referred to as the “Gem Museum”, a couple of kilometres west of town on Potgul Vihara Mawatha. Intended as an altruistic and educational venture (although they might make a gentle attempt to flog you a few stones), the museum’s centrepiece is a colourful display of minerals and precious stones from around the world, including interesting Sri Lankan gems in both cut and uncut states. There are also displays of other handicrafts – stone carvings, metalwork and so on.
Main St • Tues–Sat 9am–5pm • Rs.300, camera Rs.250
There’s surprisingly little coverage of the town’s gem-mining heritage at the lacklustre National Museum, off Main Street on the northwest side of the town centre, located in a fine old walauwa of 1814. Exhibits here run through the predictable gamut of Sri Lankan arts and crafts, the usual depressing collection of pickled and stuffed wildlife, plus assorted rocks, fossilized bones, the fossilized shells of snails on which prehistoric Ratnapura man presumably feasted, and a few lion and pig teeth (also fossilized). The surrounding grounds have been turned into the so-called Paleobiodiversity Museum Park – a rather fancy name for what is basically a few fibre-glass prehistoric hippos, elephants and so on, already looking decidedly mildewed.
Horana Rd • Free
The most interesting sight hereabouts is the impressively large and harmonious Maha Saman Devale, 3km west of town, the most important temple in the island dedicated to Saman, who is said to reside on nearby Adam’s Peak. There has been a temple here since the thirteenth century. It was rebuilt by the kings of Kandy during the seventeenth century, destroyed by the Portuguese, then rebuilt again during the Dutch era (a carving to the right of the entrance steps, showing a Portuguese invader killing a Sinhalese soldier, recalls European attacks against the town and temple).
A big Esala Perahera takes place here during July or August. Numerous local buses run past the entrance to the temple, or you can catch a tuktuk.
By bus Good roads head east and west from Ratnapura, served by regular buses. Heading north into the central hill country or south to the coast is significantly more time-consuming however, given the lack of good direct roads.
Destinations Akuressa (for Galle; 4 daily; 4hr 30min); Avissawella (for Hatton and Nuwara Eliya; every 10min; 1hr); Bandarawela (every 30min; 3hr 30min); Colombo (every 30min; 3hr 30min); Deniyaya (for Sinharaja; 3 daily; 2hr 30min); Embilipitiya (every 30min; 2hr 30min); Haputale (every 30min; 3hr); Kalawana (for Sinharaja; every 30min; 1hr); Kandy (hourly; 3hr 30min); Matara (3 daily via Deniyaya, or change at Embilipitiya; 5hr).
Deer Park Inn Muwagama 045 223 1403, deerparkratnapura.com; map. Tranquil guesthouse in a large modern house south of the Kalu Ganga river (about 1km from the centre). There’s a mix of simple but very neat and clean fan and a/c rooms (some with shared bathrooms), plus a small pool inserted beneath the house, and the owners can arrange various activities including cycling excursions and Adam’s Peak trips. $30
Ratna Gems Halt 153/5 Outer Circular Rd 045 222 3745, ratnapura-online.com; map. Varied collection of simple but extremely good-value rooms, getting nicer (and more expensive) as you go up the building, from the rather poky, but also very cheap, ground-floor offerings to the bright, modern and spacious rooms (with a/c and hot water) on the top floor. They also run a good local gem-mining tour (Rs.1000), plus other interesting local excursions, and have a small Ayurveda centre attached. Rs.1250, a/c Rs.3000
Sri Lanka is one of the world’s most important sources of precious stones, and its gems have long been famous – indeed one of the island’s early names was Ratnadipa, “Island of Gems”. According to legend, it was a Sri Lankan ruby which was given by King Solomon to the Queen of Sheba, while Marco Polo described a fabulous ruby – “about a palm in length and of the thickness of a man’s arm” – set in the spire of the Ruvenveliseya dagoba at Anuradhapura. The island also provided the “Blue Belle” sapphire which now adorns the crown of the British queen, while in 2003 a 478-carat Sri Lankan sapphire – larger than a hen’s egg – fetched $1.5m at auction.
Gems are actually found in many parts of Sri Lanka, but the Ratnapura district is the island’s richest source. The origin of these gems is the geological rubble eroded from the central highlands, which is washed down from the hills along the valleys which crisscross the area – a gravelly mixture of eroded rock, mineral deposits, precious stones and muddy alluvial deposits known as illam. Gem mining is still a low-tech, labour-intensive affair. Pits are dug down into riverbeds and among paddy fields, and piles of illam are fished out, which are then washed and sieved by experts who separate the precious stones from the mud. The mining and sorting is traditionally carried out by the Sinhalese, though gem cutters and dealers tend to be Muslim.
The most valuable precious stones found in Sri Lanka are corundums, including sapphires and pink rubies. Other stones mined locally include garnets, cat’s eyes, alexandrite, tourmalines, quartz, spinel and zircon. The greyish moonstone (a type of feldspar) is a particular Sri Lankan speciality, though these aren’t mined in the Ratnapura area.
Rest House Rest House Rd 045 222 2299; map. Imposing old colonial rest house in a wonderful position on a hilltop above town and with fine views. Rooms, of various sizes and standards (all a/c), are clean and spacious, albeit pricey for what you get and with some furniture so dated it’s almost retro. The in-house restaurant (mains from Rs.600) is the nicest in town. Rs.6050
Daily 6.30am–6pm • Rs.660; Rs.1000/group for an obligatory guide (unless you bring your own), who will lead you on walking tours (3hr)
The largest surviving tract of undisturbed lowland rainforest in Sri Lanka, Sinharaja is one of the island’s outstanding natural wonders and a biodiverse treasure box of global significance (recognized by its listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989). This is the archetypal rainforest as you’ve always imagined it: the air thick with humidity (approaching ninety percent in places) and alive with the incessant noise of birds, cicadas and other invisible creatures; the ground choked with a dense understorey of exotic ferns and snaking lianas wrapped around the base of towering tropical hardwoods, rising towards the forest canopy high overhead.
According to tradition, Sinharaja was formerly a royal reserve (as suggested by its name, meaning “Lion King”). The first attempts to conserve it were made as far back as 1840, when it became property of the British Crown. Logging began in 1971, until being banned in the face of national protests in 1977, when the area was declared a national reserve. Sinharaja is now safely protected under UNESCO auspices, using a system whereby inhabitants of the twenty-odd villages which surround the reserve have the right to limited use of the forest’s resources, including tapping kitul palms for jaggery and collecting rattan for building.
Sinharaja stretches for almost 30km across the wet zone at the southern edges of the hill country, enveloping a series of switchback hills and valleys ranging in altitude from just 300m up to 1170m. To the north and south, the reserve is bounded by two sizeable rivers, the Kalu Ganga and the Gin Ganga, which cut picturesque, waterfall-studded courses through the trees.
Visiting the reserve The closest starting points for visits to Sinharaja are Deniyaya, on the eastern side of the reserve, and Kudawa, on its northern edge. It’s also possible to arrange visits from guesthouses in Ratnapura or with a couple of tour operators in Unawatuna, though it would be a long day by the time you’ve driven to and from the reserve.
Entry points There are two entrances to the reserve. The most popular approach is via the northern entrance at Kudawa. The less frequently used eastern entrance is at Mederipitiya, about 11km east of Deniyaya; the rainforest here is denser and more dramatic than on the Kudawa side, though it makes bird- and wildlife-spotting correspondingly more difficult. The road from Deniyaya ends just short of the reserve, from where it’s a pleasant 1.5km walk through tea plantations. The path isn’t signposted (go right at the fork by the gravestones near the beginning).
Walking There are no driveable roads in the reserve, so you have to walk (which is, indeed, one of the pleasures of a visit). Waterproofs are advisable: Sinharaja receives up to 5m of rain annually. Leeches are abundant after rain.
Guides What you get out of a visit to Sinharaja relies on having a good guide – the rainforest is dense and difficult to decipher. Many of the reserve’s guides speak very little English, although some may be able to turn up some interesting birdlife even so. A fail-safe option is to sign up for a tour with Bandula or Palitha Ratnayake, based at the Sinharaja Rest in Deniyaya.
The village of KUDAWA is the most popular base for visiting Sinharaja. There’s a better range of accommodation in the area on this side of the reserve, including a couple of top-end options, but it’s more difficult to reach by public transport, so is likely to be of interest mainly to those with their own vehicle.
Note that Kudawa and the area immediately around the reserve is one of the few places in Sri Lanka which doesn’t have mobile phone coverage.
By car It’s a slow and bumpy drive to Sinharaja from Ratnapura. With your own vehicle it’s likely to take the best part of 2hr to reach Kudawa, or slightly over an hour to reach Kalawana and Koswatte.
By bus There are frequent buses from Ratnapura to Kalawana (15km north of Kudawa), from where there are infrequent (around four daily) buses to Kudawa itself.
There’s not much choice of accommodation in Sinharaja, and prices are high. Accommodation on the Kudawa side of the reserve can be found in Kudawa itself and in the nearby villages of Weddagala, about 6km from the reserve entrance, and Koswatta, a further 10km back up the road, and about 2km from the town of Kalawana.
Sinharaja’s wildlife
A staggering 830 of Sri Lanka’s endemic species of flora and fauna are found in Sinharaja, including myriad birds, reptiles and insects, while no less than sixty percent of the reserve’s trees are endemic too. The reserve’s most common mammal is the purple-faced langur monkey, while you might also encounter three species of squirrel – the dusky-striped jungle squirrel, flame-striped jungle squirrel and western giant squirrel – along with mongooses. Less common, and very rarely sighted, are leopards, rusty spotted cats, fishing cats and civets. There’s also a rich reptile population, including 21 of Sri Lanka’s 45 endemic species, among them rare snakes and frogs. Many of the reserve’s bountiful population of insects are yet to be classified, although you’re likely to see various colourful spiders and enormous butterflies, while giant millipedes are also common.
Sinharaja has one of Sri Lanka’s richest bird populations: 21 of the country’s 26 endemic species have been recorded here (although some can only be seen in the reserve’s difficult-to-reach eastern fringes). The density of the forest, and the fact that its birds largely inhabit the topmost part of the canopy, means that actually seeing them can be tricky, especially if entering via the Mederipitiya entrance, where the forest is particularly thick – as ever, a good guide (see below) is of the essence.
Lakmini Luxury Lodge Just south of the side road to the Boulder Garden Resort 045 225 6110. Attractive little six-room family guesthouse in a trim modern house surrounded by lush forest. Rooms are simple but very comfortable, with thick mattresses, and there’s even a small pool. Good value. $40
Boulder Garden Koswatta 045 225 5812, bouldergarden.com. Small eco-resort in a captivating natural setting some 16km from Sinharaja (a 45min drive), nestled between huge boulders and patches of rainforest. It’s a lovely concept, if you don’t mind the rather sombre expanses of slate-grey stone which give the rooms a slightly coal mine-like ambience. Facilities include a striking open-air restaurant underneath a huge rock overhang and a (very shallow) swimming pool. B&B $275
Singraj Rest Koswatta 045 225 5201. Quiet – verging on moribund – guesthouse, with a selection of modern rooms of various sizes and standards (including a couple with a/c for a hefty supplement). Uninspiring, but easily the cheapest place in the area. Rs.2000, a/c Rs.4000
Blue Magpie Lodge Kudawa 045 492 8284, bluemagpie.lk. In a perfect location close to the ticket office in Kudawa, with nicely furnished modern rooms grouped around a patch of lawn and a nice natural swimming area in the river below. Good value by Sinharaja standards. $60
Forest View (Martin Wijesinghe’s Guest House) Kudawa 045 568 1864 or 045 791 3323. Long-established guesthouse run by a knowledgeable former Sinharaja ranger and on the edge of the reserve; staying here is the closest you can get to spending a night in the forest itself, and the after-dark cacophony of cicadas and other nocturnal creatures is extraordinary. Accommodation is in a handful of very basic but clean rooms, with simple meals (bring your own booze). It’s around 3km by road from the ticket office – walkable in 15–20min via a tricky-to-find off-road shortcut, or arrange a jeep (around 20min drive, or longer during rainy months; Rs.3500 return). A memorable experience, although very expensive given the basic accommodation on offer, especially if you pay for a jeep to get there. Half board Rs.8100, full board Rs.9600
Rock View Motel Rakwana Rd, Weddagala, 8km from Sinharaja (signed 2km off road on left, 6km before you reach Sinharaja, past Rainforest Edge) 077 771 4024. Pleasant but overpriced hotel with attractively furnished, high-ceilinged modern a/c rooms with hot water and private balconies offering fine views over the wooded hills opposite. Note that there’s a reception hall downstairs, however, so it can be noisy if there’s a function in progress. B&B Rs.8000
The small town of DENIYAYA offers an alternative base for visiting Sinharaja if you haven’t got your own vehicle; it can be reached either from Galle or Matara on the south coast or from Ratnapura to the north (although bus services are surprisingly skimpy).
By bus The bus station is right in the middle of town. Moving on from Deniyaya, there are irregular direct buses to Matara and Galle (roughly every 2hr). Otherwise change at Akuressa (every 30min; 1hr 30min), from where there are frequent onward connections to both these places. Transport northwards is much more infrequent, with about four buses to Pelmadulla and Ratnapura daily.
Deniyaya Guesthouse Ihalagama Rd 071 353 0895, facebook.com/deniyaya.guesthouse. Super-cheap, great-value lodgings in a lovely little family guesthouse close to the town centre and bus stop, with cheerily painted rooms and good rice-and-curry spreads. Rs.2000
Natural Mystic Sanctuary Naindawa Estate, Batandura Road, 078 882 2328, naturalmysticsanctuary.com. A 15min walk from the nearest driveable road (unless you have 4WD or a motorbike), this is a real rural escape, deep in the heart of nature on an old tea estate currently being restored to its former forested splendour. Accommodation is in two spacious guest rooms and a pair of pretty mud huts, with great organic food straight from the garden. B&B $51
Rain Forest View Villas Mederiditiya 041 491 8651 or 071 801 0700, rainforestviewvillas.com. Just 5min walk from the Mederipitiya entrance to Sinharaja (45min by tuktuk from Deniyaya), this is a good place to soak up the forest atmosphere, with beds in a handful of rustic but well-made wooden cabanas and good home cooking. B&B $51
Sinharaja Rest 500m north of the bus station 041 227 3368. Six simple but comfortable rooms, plus organic food. It’s owned and managed by local guides Bandula and Palitha Ratnayake, who run day-trips to Sinharaja for Rs.6000/person (including entrance fees), entering the reserve through Mederipitiya and walking 12–14km. Shorter trips can also be arranged, as can longer excursions, such as the seven-hour hike over to Kudawa or the two-day (27km) trek across the entire reserve to Lion Rock. B&B Rs.4000
Entrance on the Embilipitiya–Tanamal road at km-post 7 • $15 per person, plus the usual additional charges and taxes
Sprawling across the lowlands due south of the towering cliff faces of Horton Plains, Uda Walawe has developed into one of Sri Lanka’s most popular national parks mainly thanks to its large and easily spotted population of elephants – it’s the best place on the island to see pachyderms in the wild, although in other respects it doesn’t have the range of fauna and habitats of Yala or Bundala. The park is beautifully situated just south of the hill country, whose grand escarpment provides a memorable backdrop, while at its centre lies the Uda Walawe Reservoir, whose catchment area it was originally established to protect. Most of Uda Walawe lies within the dry zone, and its terrain is flat and denuded, with extensive areas of grassland and low scrub (the result of earlier slash-and-burn farming) dotted with the skeletal outlines of expired trees, scratched to death by the resident elephants. The actual landscape of the park is rather monotonous during dry periods, although the lack of forest cover makes it easier to spot wildlife than in any other Sri Lankan park, and the whole place transforms magically after rain, when temporary lagoons form around the reservoir, drowning trees and turning the floodplains an intense, fecund green.
The principal attraction is, of course, elephants, of which there are usually around six hundred in the park; animals are free to migrate along an elephant corridor between here and Lunugamvehera National Park, though most stay here. There are also hundreds of buffaloes, plus macaque and langur monkeys, spotted and sambar deer and crocodiles, while other rarely sighted residents include leopards, giant flying squirrels, jungle cats, sloth bears and porcupines. Uda Walawe is also good for birds, including a number of endemics and some birds of prey, while the reservoir also attracts a wide range of aquatic birds including the unmistakable lesser adjutant, Sri Lanka’s largest – and ugliest – bird, standing at well over a metre tall.
Daily feeding sessions 9am, noon, 3pm and 6pm • Rs.500
About 5km west of the park entrance on the main road is the engaging Elephant Transit Home – usually referred to as the “Elephant Orphanage”. Founded in 1995, the orphanage is home to around 25 baby elephants rescued from the wild after the loss of their parents. As at the better-known orphanage at Pinnewala, elephants here are bottlefed milk until the age of 3 and a half, after which they’re given a diet of grass. At the age of 5, most are released into the national park (around 110 so far). You can’t get quite as close to the elephants as at Pinnewala; outside feeding times the elephants are allowed to wander, so there’s usually nothing to see.
By tour Uda Walawe’s central location makes it accessible from a number of different places, and you can arrange tours here from as far afield as Ratnapura, Hambantota, Tissa and even Unawatuna (see the relevant town accounts for more details), although all these involve long drives to reach the park. The closest starting point is Embilipitiya, 20km distant.
By bus and jeep Half-hourly buses from Embilipitiya to Tamanalwila go right past the entrance, where you can hire a jeep (seating 6–8) for around Rs.4000 for a few hours’ drive.
There’s plenty of accommodation on (or slightly off) the main road along the south of the park, plus further places in nearby Embilipitiya. If you want to stay inside the park itself, note that upmarket tented safaris are run by Kulu Safaris, Mahoora and Big Game Camps and Lodges.
Grand Udawalawe Safari Resort Thanamalwila Rd (1.5km east of Thimbolketiya junction) 047 223 2000, udawalawesafari.com. This impressive modern four-star is the area’s fanciest address, occupying an eye-catching orange building set around a narrow garden inside a lush walled compound. Rooms are a tad bare but come with all mod cons, while facilities include a spa, gym, and a large kidney-shaped pool (plus kids’ pool). B&B $140
Kalu’s Hideaway Walawegama Rd, 15min from the park entrance 077 805 0600, kalushideaway.com. Chic boutique hotel owned by World Cup-winning former cricketer Romesh Kaluwitharana, with lots of cricketing memorabilia on display and fourteen smooth modern a/c rooms either in the main building or in an incongruous-looking three-storey block in the garden, plus two-room chalet. Facilities include a fine decked restaurant, and a small pool plus spa in the lovely grounds. B&B $110
Silent Bungalow Behind the army camp, 1.3km south of the main road (turn off 1km past the Grand Uda Walawe Safari Resort, and around 10km from the park entrance) 071 271 8941. Welcoming and reliable budget option, set in gorgeously lush gardens, with five simple but spacious and spotless rooms, plus competitively priced safaris and good food. Rs.3000
Walawa Cottage Behind the army camp, 1.6km south of the main road (near Silent Bungalow) 071 213 5152, walawacottage.com. Another good budget option, set in a peaceful family villa with neat, clean and very well-kept rooms at a bargain price. Rs.3000
Superson Family Guest House Walawegama Rd 047 347 5172, supersonfg@gmail.com. One of the few reasonably priced options close to the park – the house looks a bit of a mess and rooms are fairly basic, but the veranda and garden is pleasant, and the home-cooking can’t be faulted. Rs.2500
Halfway between Ratnapura and the coast, the medium-sized town of EMBILIPITIYA is the closest base for visits to Uda Walawe, 20km distant. There’s not much to Embilipitiya itself apart from the scenic Chandrika Wewa which stretches south of town – actually a modern man-made reservoir rather than a natural lake.
By bus Buses arrive at the station about 100m south of the clocktower at the centre of town. If you’re heading towards the southeastern hill country, catch a bus to Tamanalwila, from where you can pick up a bus to Wellawaya, which has frequent connections with Ella, Haputale, Bandarawela and Badulla. To reach Deniyaya (for Sinharaja) you’ll need to catch one of the early-morning buses from Embilipitiya to Suriyakanda (a two-hour journey; check latest times the night before), from where infrequent buses head south. For Tissa, change at Hambantota.
Destinations Hambantota (every 15min; 1hr 30min); Matara (every 30min; 2hr 30min); Ratnapura (every 30min; 2hr 30min); Tamanalwila (every 30min; 1hr); Tangalla (every 30min; 1hr 30min).
You’ll most likely eat where you’re staying, unless you fancy venturing out to the Centauria Lake Resort. All the place listed can also arrange half-day trips to Uda Walawe for around Rs.4500.
Centauria Lake Resort South of town (signposted off the west side of the main road slightly south of Sarathchandra Rest, then 1.5km down this road) 047 223 0514, centauriahotel.com/lake. Pleasant resort hotel, surprisingly well-appointed for dusty little Embilipitiya. Accommodation is in a comfortable scatter of modern a/c rooms and slightly pricier villas, most with fine views of adjacent Chandrika Wewa, and there’s also a decent restaurant, pool and Ayurveda centre. $100
Frozen Villa Ratnapura Rd, Udagama 077 713 7041. On the north side of town, this recently opened guesthouse is a cut above most other places in Embilitpitiya, with immaculate bright white rooms (all with a/c and satelite TV), plus decent food, a funky little pool and a small gym – but, sadly, no reindeer. $37
Pavana Resort 250m down the side road running east off the main road just south of Sarathchandra Rest 077 351 6838, pavanaresort.lk. A more modern alternative to the nearby Sarathchandra Rest, with twelve neat modern rooms (pricier ones with a/c and hot water) and a teensy pool. Free use of bikes, but no meals except breakfast. Rs.4000, a/c Rs.5000
Sarathchandra Rest On the main road 100m south of the bus station 047 223 0044. Well-run hotel with comfortable modern a/c rooms, all spacious and attractively furnished, plus fancier new “deluxe” rooms in the block opposite. There’s also a good little restaurant downstairs, plus a rather rowdy local bar. Rs.3500, a/c Rs.7000
