Kandy District

Kandy District is a district of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Its area is 1906.3 km². The capital of the district is Kandy.Kandy is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is both an administrative and religious city and is also the capital of the Central Province. Kandy is the home of the Temple of the Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa), one of the most sacred places of worship in the Buddhist world. It was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988.

It is the second-largest city on the island and the capital of the Central Province of modern Sri Lanka. Its geographic location has made it a major transportation hub on the island: while Kandy being the gateway to the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka, the city can be reached by major motorways in every direction of the island. The railway line from Colombo, the seaport on the western coast runs via Kandy to the farthest point of Badulla in the Central Highlands. The main roads Colombo-Kandy and Kandy-Nuwara Eliya are two of the most scenic roads of Sri Lanka; Colombo-Kandyroad passes through rubber plantations and rice paddies, Kandy-Nuwara Eliya road cuts through paddy fields and seamless tea plantations. Both roads claw their way up the winding, rounding over the rings of hills. Currently, feasibility studies are afoot for another highway between Colombo and Kandy via Kadawata and the scenic city of Katugastota.

Kandy is located in the mountainous and thickly forested interior of the island. The city is located in between multiple mountain ranges including the Knuckles mountain range and the Hanthana Mountain Range, giving the city an elevation of 500 meters (1,600 ft) above sea level. It lies adjacent to the artificial Kandy Lake and south of Udawatta Kele Sanctuary. Today Udawatte Kele is reducing its area.

Its climate is tropical rainforest. With Kandy located in the center of the island and in a high elevation, the city has a relatively wetter and cooler temperatures than that of the tropical climate of the rest of the country, especially the coastal regions. Nuwara Eliya is south of it and has a cooler climate due to its higher elevation. Nevertheless, Kandy's climate is still tropical as mean temperatures year-round are above 18 °C on average. The city does experience a drier period from January to April. From May through to July and October to December the region experiences its monsoon season, during this time the weather is rough and unstable. From March through the middle of May is the inter-monsoonal period, during this time there is light rain and strong humidity. The humidity is generally between 70% to 79%.

Kandyans do many things for leisure and entertainment in the city. Kandy is popular due to the annual procession known as the Esala Perahera, in which one of the inner caskets used for covering the tooth relic of Buddha is taken in a grand procession through the streets of the city.

Tourists attractions in Kandy District

Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Royal Palace of Kandy, Udawattekele Sanctuary, Commonwealth War Cemetery, Millennium Elephant Foundation, International Buddhist Museum, British Garrison Cemetery, Kandy Lake, Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, Ceylon Tea Museum, Can buy Gem Museum, Knuckles Mountain Range, Lankatilaka Vihara Temple, National Museum of Kandy.