Sri Lanka’s fascinating variety in climate and landscape, and rich cultural heritage has for many centuries attracted travelers from all over the world. Within a relatively small area of around 66,000 sq. km., the island offers to the traveler a diversity of attractions and a way of life which combines a dynamic new present with a tradition-bound past.

Nowhere is this rich diversity more evident than in Kandy, the charming hill capital and the cultural city, 129 km. from Colombo and situated 465 metres above sea level. The name Kandy is a shorter version of the Sinhala term "Kanda Uda Rata", meaning the land of mountains, which originated in the colonial era.

The capital of the Kandyan Kingdom in the 16th century and the seat of much of Sri Lanka’s culture, this Royal City fell into the hands of the British when the last Kandyan King, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha was captured by them in 1815. The city was born in the 14th century and became the capital of the Kandyan Kingdom in the 16th century.

Nestling amidst low hills, and looped by the Mahaweli, Sri Lanka’s largest river, Kandy is still the home of the arts and crafts, music, dance and song which flourished during the reign of the king their patron.

This beautiful city, with its hills and valleys, rivers, lakes and cascading waterfalls around the hills, has its share of hallowed and living shrines, of the Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and the Muslims in the city and around. But, to the Buddhist, Kandy is a Sacred City.