It is located 118 km northeast of Colombo at an altitude of 500 meters. Maha Nuwara, "the big city", as Kandy is also called, has more than 125,300 inhabitants. For the Sinhalese, this high place of the last Sri Lankan kingdom has remained the only capital of the island. It is in Kandy that one can better understand the distinction between the Sinhalese of the Highlands (the Kandyans) and those of the Lowlands (Colombo and its region). The former are the inhabitants of the latter kingdom, they are therefore the "purest" Sinhalese and belong to the highest caste in Sri Lanka. Kandy is listed as a World Heritage Site. Unfortunately, pollution and noise have considerably diminished the charm of a city that was still, twenty years ago, a haven of calm. A religious and sacred city, Kandy has a large concentration of sanctuaries around its main holy place, the Temple of the Tooth. The latter was the scene, in 1998, of one of the most deadly attacks committed by the LTTE. For a long time, the site has been impressively protected. While the security barricades and barbed wire friezes have disappeared, you may be required to undergo a routine security check before entering. In addition to the Temple of the Tooth and the surrounding area, be sure to visit the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya on the outskirts of Kandy. All in all, it will take you a good two days (maybe more if you are there in July-August, during the Esala Perahera festival) to fully enjoy a city that has many accommodation options

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Temple de la Dent Hugo Canabi - Iconotec
Rizière, Kandy Author's Image
Danseurs et musiciens lors d'Esala Perahera à Kandy Alamer - Iconotec
Fête de la Perahera, temple de la Dent illuminé Alamer - Iconotec
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