Kandy

The city of Kandy is located 116 kilometers from Colombo.  It is 465 meters above  sea-level  and  nestled  in  the  mountainous  central  region  of  the island.    First  established  in  the  mid-14th  century,  the  city  resisted  many invasions by the Portuguese and Dutch, who occupied most of the island from the 16th century onwards.  Kandy remained the last independent capital of Sri Lanka until the reign of Sri Vikrama...

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The Temple of the Tooth

The  most  famous  attraction  in  Kandy  is  the  Temple  of  the  Tooth,  or  “Sri Dalada Maligawa”.  The Buddha’s Tooth was first brought to Kandy during the reign of Vimaladharmasuriya I at the turn of the 17th century.  He built a temple to house the relic but this was later destroyed.  It was taken away for safety during a Portuguese invasion of Kandy and eventually...

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The Golden Rock Temple

Although there are numerous cave temples in Sri Lanka, the Golden Rock Temple a few kilometers south of the market town of Dambulla, is its most famous and spectacular.  The town is about 72 kilometers north of Kandy, and the temple is in a cave under a range of granite hillocks which rise 160 meters above the surrounding plains. It  is  believed  that  when  King  Vattagamini  was  fleeing  from  his  enemies in  the  1st  century  BCE,  he  was  sheltered ...

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