Day Trips from Kandy

Kandy is a good base for a few days, partly because so much is within a morning’s reach. West of the city are three old temples and the botanic gardens; to the north, the cave temple where Buddhism’s scriptures were first written down; to the east and north-east, the wild ridges of the Knuckles. This page sorts the best day trips by direction and by how long they take, so you can fit one or two around the city itself.

Most are easiest by tuk-tuk or with a car and driver for the day. Agree the price and the stops before you set off.

Half-day trips close to town

• Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya. About 5.5 km west on the Colombo road: 147 acres in a loop of the Mahaweli River, with more than 4,000 plant species, an orchid house, palm avenues and a giant Java fig on the Great Lawn. Open every day. The suspension bridge over the river was severely damaged in the floods of late 2025.
• Ceylon Tea Museum. About 3 km away on the Hantana road, in a 1925 tea factory full of old machinery, with a tea café at the top. Closed on Mondays; it pairs well with Peradeniya on the same morning.
• Udawattakele. Not a day trip at all: the forest reserve on the hill behind the Temple of the Tooth, a sanctuary since 1938, for a walk without leaving town.

The three temples of Udunuwara

West of Kandy, near Pilimatalawa, three old temples make a classic half-day loop:

• Gadaladeniya Temple: a 14th-century stone image house in the South Indian Vijayanagara style, about 12.5 km from Kandy and close to the main road.
• Lankatilaka Temple: a tall white image house on a rock, from the same reign, which Sri Lanka Tourism calls the most magnificent building of the Gampola period.
• Embekke Devalaya: a village shrine famous for its wooden hall, whose pillars carry 514 different carved designs.

The temples are on village roads, so you’ll need a tuk-tuk, taxi or car. Cover shoulders and knees, and take off your shoes and hat at each.

North: Matale and the road to Dambulla

• Aluvihara Rock Temple. A cave temple among huge boulders about 4 km north of Matale, where, according to the chronicles, monks wrote the Pali Canon on palm leaves in the 1st century BC. One cave has very graphic scenes of hell, which may upset young children.
• Nalanda Gedige. A small stone temple beside the Bowatenne reservoir, about 1 km off the A9, built like a South Indian Hindu shrine. Most visitors need under half an hour.

Both are on the way to Dambulla and Sigiriya, so they work best as stops on that journey rather than a separate day.

The hills: a full day out

• Ambuluwawa. A forested hill outside Gampola, about an hour’s drive south, with a white spiral tower you can climb for a view over the valley to the Knuckles. The top is a narrow open stairway with low railings, so it isn’t for anyone uneasy with heights.
• The Knuckles. For walking, the Forest Department’s centre at Deanston, reached from the Kandy–Mahiyangana road, has a short trail to a viewpoint. On the Matale side, the drive via Rattota to Riverston leads to a summit viewpoint and the grassy cliff edge of Pitawala Pathana. Go early, before the mist comes in, and see Horton Plains or the Knuckles for more.

Skip, or think twice

The elephant orphanage at Pinnawala, west of Kandy near Kegalle, is a popular stop, but welfare groups advise against its hands-on extras such as bathing and feeding the elephants. Our guide to Pinnawala or wild elephants explains the alternatives.

Sigiriya and Dambulla are possible as a very long day from Kandy, but they’re better seen with a night in the Cultural Triangle; see Kandy or Sigiriya. To fit the city and a day trip into one stay, see 3 days in Kandy.

Header photo: Cherubino / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Last checked 21 October 2026