Kandy Day Excursion

Departure from the hotel at 5.30 am, then after reaching Colombo we head across the Kalaniya Bridge towards Kandy, the former capital of Sri Lanka. On the way, in the area of ​​Gampaha you can try the most delicious pineapples, straight from the farm (in season). After a short stop in Gampaha we go to Kashewgama, a town where cashew trees grow for a moment of rest after the long drive. From Kashewgama we head to the east of the island to Pinnawela, an elephant orphanage, where currently over 80 Elephanus Maximus elephants live. Depending on the time of day, you will be able to see young elephants being fed milk or the herd bathing in the nearby Ma Oya River. In Pinnawela there are also factories of paper from elephant dung. You can see the production process, interesting photos of various events in the life of an elephant, an elephant skeleton with a map of sensitive points. After visiting the orphanage, you can optionally go on an elephant safari and bathe in the river with an elephant – a high-pressure shower from the elephant’s trunk.

From Pinnawela we will go along the picturesque A1 road leading among rice fields, stalls with baskets woven by the lowest caste in Sri Lanka, and gardens with herbs and spices.

These gardens are a place where you can see how the proverbial pepper and vanilla grow, and indulge in a several-minute massage performed by adepts of the art of Ayurvedic medicine. We will also be invited to a school of Ayurvedic medicine, where we will learn how natural herbal medicines have been produced in Sri Lanka for centuries and how they work on our body.

After visiting the herb and spice garden, we will go further into the island. We will pass by a tower built as a monument to Captain Douzen, the engineer who designed and participated in the construction of this strategic road for the English. The next interesting place will be a tea plantation, where we will stop to see what the tea fields in Sri Lanka look like. From the tea plantation, after less than 15 minutes of driving, we will reach the tea factory, where we will be able to see the tea production process, as well as taste the wonderful BOP and buy many different types of tea very cheaply.

After visiting the tea factory, we will go to Peradenia, where the Royal Botanical Gardens are located, for less than an hour’s stroll through the wonderful garden, where you will be able to see many exotic plant species, including endemics and plants from various places around the world. With a bit of luck, we will be able to photograph the bats living here as well as groups of monkeys – macaques. Peradenia Gardens also has wonderful trees from the Indonesian rainforest, many varieties of crotons, and an orchid house where you can see countless species of these plants. Exotic palm trees, a Japanese garden, avenues of cabbage palms reminiscent of Beverly Hills and many other attractions. After a stroll through Peradenia Gardens, we will go to Kandy, the former capital of the Kandyan kingdom.

On the way, from the car windows, you will be able to see the road museum with steam engines once used to build the Colombo – Kandy road. At the entrance to Kandy, there is a silk factory, the undoubted advantage of which is a large selection of T-shirts with variations on the Sri Lankan theme. The price of a T-shirt – approx. PLN 3! After visiting the silk factory, we will go for lunch at the Senani Restaurant located on Upper Lake Drive. The restaurant’s advantage is not only delicious dishes of European and local cuisine, but also a wonderful view from the windows of Kandy with the Temple of the Relic of the Buddha’s Tooth – Dalada Maligawe. After lunch, we will visit a gemstone mine, where we will see a short film about the methods of extracting gemstones in Sri Lanka, we will learn about processing methods. You will also be able to see a wonderful collection of precious and semi-precious stones and possibly buy stones or jewelry made from them. On Upper Lake Drive there is also a traditional craft workshop, producing products from various types of local wood, which we will enter for a short visit, after which we will head down Upper Lake Drive to the Temple of the Relic of the Tooth of the Buddha – Dalada Maligawe. We will see both the temple facilities, including the building erected in the late 16th century, which houses the most important object in Sri Lanka – the tooth of the last Buddha, as well as the exterior of the royal baths located on the shore of Kandy Lake, the royal castle and the adjacent temple complex with an Anglican church, a Protestant church, Hindu and Buddhist temples. A visit to Dalada Maligawe will be the last point of the program, after which we will drive to the hotel on the beach, which we will reach around midnight.