Current Time in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Kandy is a city in the Central Province of Sri Lanka, situated in a hollow among the hills at an elevation of about 500 meters above sea level, approximately 115 kilometers northeast of Colombo. The last capital of the ancient Sinhalese kingdom and the spiritual capital of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Kandy is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most sacred cities in the Buddhist world, home to the Temple of the Tooth Relic, which houses a relic believed to be a tooth of the Buddha.

With a population of approximately 110,000, Kandy is the second-largest city in Sri Lanka and the capital of the Central Province. Its setting in the hill country — surrounded by forested ridges and centered on the artificial Kandy Lake — is one of the most beautiful in Sri Lanka, and its cultural and religious significance draws pilgrims and tourists from around the world throughout the year.

Kandy was the capital of the Kingdom of Kandy, which for several centuries successfully resisted Portuguese and Dutch colonial occupation of the island's interior. The British finally captured the city in 1815, bringing the Kandyan Kingdom to an end. The Temple of the Tooth (Sri Dalada Maligawa), the most sacred Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, houses the relic of the Buddha's tooth and is the focus of daily worship and the spectacular Esala Perahera festival. The Perahera, held each July or August over ten nights, is one of the grandest processions in Asia: elaborately caparisoned elephants, costumed dancers, drummers, and devotees parade through the streets of Kandy by torchlight in a ceremony of extraordinary spectacle and religious devotion.

The Royal Palace complex adjacent to the Temple of the Tooth, the National Museum (housed in the former Queen's Palace), and the Audience Hall, where the last Kandyan kings held court and the British signed the Kandyan Convention of 1815, are the most important historical monuments. The Peradeniya Royal Botanic Gardens, about 5 kilometers from the city, are the finest botanical gardens in South Asia, covering 147 acres with remarkable collections of tropical trees, orchids, and bamboo along the banks of the Mahaweli River.

Kandy is the center of traditional Kandyan art forms — Kandyan dance (Ves dance), drumming, and the production of lacquerware, handloom batik, and silver and brass work. The Cultural Show at the Kandyan Arts Center near the lake offers nightly demonstrations of traditional performance. Numerous Buddhist temples, monasteries (viharas), and sacred sites are distributed throughout the hill country around Kandy.

Kandy is connected to Colombo by rail — the train journey through the hill country, particularly on the line towards Ella that passes through tea estates and mountain scenery, is one of the most celebrated train journeys in Asia. Road connections via the A1 highway link the city to Colombo (about three to four hours) and to the hill country towns of Nuwara Eliya and Ella.

Kandy is a city of profound religious significance, natural beauty, and living cultural tradition — one of the essential destinations for understanding the civilization and faith of Sri Lanka.