Kandy, set in a natural bowl in Sri Lanka’s Central Province at approximately 465 metres elevation, was the capital of the last independent Kandyan Kingdom until its fall to the British in 1815. The city is built around Kandy Lake, an artificial reservoir constructed by the last Kandyan king, Sri Wickrama Rajasinha, in 1807. The historic city and its surroundings are designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic at the centre of a complex of royal, monastic, and administrative buildings.
A walking tour of Kandy covers the lakeside promenade along Sangharaja Mawatha, the exterior of the Temple of the Tooth, the Kandy City Market and adjacent bazaar lanes, the National Museum of Kandy (occupying a former palace building and housing royal regalia from the Kandyan period), and the 19th-century colonial architecture along Dalada Vidiya. The Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters â the two most senior Buddhist monastic institutions in Sri Lanka â are located within walking distance. The walk concludes naturally at the lake, where waterbirds including purple moorhens, jacanas, and kingfishers can be observed.
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