The hill capital, venue of the annual Perahera and a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka and finally ceded to the British in 1815. 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. Kandy is revered by Buddhists as a sacred city because of the (Dalada Maligawa) Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha. Temples shrines and monasteries keeping alive Buddhist traditions are everywhere. It was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. Historically the local Buddhist rulers resisted Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial expansion and occupation.

Kandy is the venue of the annual glittering pageant each August where the Buddha’s Tooth Relic in a golden casket is paraded on a majestic elephant accompanied by over 100 elephants, fire dancers, and ceremonial whip crackers, dancers and drummers.