Our trip had already been jam packed, overwhelming really, with sights, sounds and smells galore — and the two nights we spent in Kandy were no different.
Home for our time in the area was a small heritage homestay perched on the hillside, a short drive from the city. A tranquil oasis of calm with gracious hosts, beautiful gardens, two perfectly adorable labradors, and a small restaurant teetering on stilts with the jungle cascading beneath it. Sitting here in the early morning, sipping our coffee and admiring the abundance of green below us, jackfruit trees, coffee plants and more, we listened to the chorus of birds and insects, with monks chanting in the distance, the call to prayer from a nearby mosque, and church bells layered alongside it all.
In preparation for the full day food tour we had ahead of us, our breakfast that morning was simple: delicious curd with fruit and kithul treacle, the syrup made from the sap of the kithul palm, a tall fishtail species native to Sri Lanka.
Kandy is the royal heart of Sri Lanka, the last stronghold to resist the colonial powers and home to generations of Kandyan rulers. The Portuguese and Dutch never managed to conquer it fully, and it was only in 1815 that the British finally annexed the kingdom, bringing centuries of Sinhalese rule to an end. I’d imagined misty hills, temple bells, and a city steeped in quiet dignity. Instead, we arrived to a place gridlocked with traffic, horns wailing, people flowing in every direction and a general feeling of chaos. We soon found our guide, Buddhima, smiling broadly in the heat, greeting us like old friends, her warm, infectious laugh like a big hug.
At the centre of Kandy lies the lake, its green surface somehow holding the chaos together. Built by the last Kandyan king, it is a calm heart amidst the noise. Around it, life is everywhere, buses sighing to a stop, school children in crisp white uniforms (the mother in me ever thankful I didn’t have to wash those daily), and people balancing impossible loads on bicycles. Just beyond, the hills rise steep and wild, thick with jungle and the kind of green that hums in the heat and humidity. It’s easy to see why the old kingdoms lasted here, the terrain itself seems to have conspired in their defence.
Temple of the Tooth
The Temple of the Tooth is the most sacred site in Sri Lanka’s Buddhist culture and home to the annual Esala Perahera Festival. The temple enshrines what is believed to be a tooth relic of the Buddha, smuggled from India to Sri Lanka in the 4th century CE by a princess and her husband, hidden in her hair. It has since been enshrined wherever the island’s kings ruled, finally finding its home in Kandy.
Crowds flock here daily, and outside the gates colourful, scented blooms for offerings are sold for just a few rupees. From the lake, the temple is only a short walk. The air is heavy with incense. Pilgrims and tourists move slowly, barefoot up the stairs, carrying flowers and small offerings, all waiting for the brief moment when the shrine opens and you can glimpse the nested gold caskets that hold the relic. This ceremony is performed three times a day.
In January 1998, a suicide truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the temple, killing and injuring dozens and shattering part of the structure. The damage has long been repaired, but the scar lingers, a reminder that even sacred places aren’t protected from the world’s harder realities.
After the temple, we started the food tour as we had the others, king coconuts in hand. From there it was a nonstop day of food discovery and a bit of sensory overload. Early on we enjoyed warm, spicy chai and crispy edged dosa with curry and chutney for our second breakfast. For an early lunch we tasted lamprais, stuffed rotis, samosas, and a dessert of soft serve ice cream from the university café, shaded by glorious old trees. Sri Lanka doesn’t do half measures when it comes to food.
Walking through the streets and chatting with Buddhima about the history of the city, Buddhism, and the food of Sri Lanka, we marvelled at the array of vegetables for sale, fruit I’d never seen before and tasted segments of fresh nectarines and mango bursting with flavor. Vendors selling local spices lined the streets, mountains of curry leaves, pandan and herbs piled high alongside them.
We left the city behind in our tuk tuk and tackled the steep hills, rewarded at the top with sweeping views. We climbed a set of equally steep stairs to a small cave temple, complete with mischievous monkeys who were very interested in anything we had in our hands. A betel chewing monk appeared and opened the shrine for us. Inside, the ancient painted walls glowed faintly in the filtered light, with the brightly coloured reclining Buddha tucked neatly into the curve of the cave.
The hills are dotted with temples, including one crowned by an enormous Buddha statue watching over the city below, perched on a concrete platform.
Our last meal stop — and the highlight of the day — was the Hela Bojun Hala outlet. These traditional food courts around Sri Lanka are run by local women offering authentic Sri Lankan dishes and are promoted as a way to support local economies and empower women. Buddhima piled the table high with a wide variety of dishes for us to taste. The flavours each different and exciting : samosas, vadas, puri and spicy chickpeas, puttu and dhal, millet rotis, an egg curry roll, and a delicious cake called bibikkan made from coconut, dates and treacle, alongside some herbal tea. A truly excellent place to savour Sri Lankan cooking.
A short detour ended our tour, through Kandy’s biggest market, a sprawling, slightly worn building full of energy. Inside, everything was piled high: chillies in every shade of red, bundles of greens, gourds, bunches of drum sticks (moringa), tropical fruit, and that unmistakable scent of dried fish that finds you before you find it. It was crowded with the after work commuters and quite chaotic, a befitting end to our day!
By early evening we were back at our homestay, exhausted, overfed with the heat still clinging to us and a few inevitable spice and kitchenware purchases rattling in our bags. Kandy had been full on, surprising, occasionally overwhelming, but in its own way completely unforgettable. A city that doesn’t pretend to be serene, but gives you everything – noise, history, faith, food, and moments of calm tucked into the hills.
