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Kandy Highlights: Explore Cultural Gems
3.8
18 Ratings
Mawanella
Experience the best of Kandy on this day tour. Explore tea plantations, visit the sacred Temple of Tooth Relic, and discover local markets. Don’t miss out on this cultural and scenic adventure!
Experience the best of Kandy on this day tour. Explore tea plantations, visit the sacred Temple of Tooth Relic, and discover local markets. Don’t miss out on this cultural and scenic adventure!
Duration:
14 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
-
Mawanella - Guests will be collected from their hotel around 6 am and will head towards Kandy, stopping at the Spice Garden in Mawanella along the way.
For centuries, spices have been among Sri Lanka’s most renowned exports, utilized in medicines, cosmetics, and for enhancing food flavors. Visitors will experience the aromas and tastes of cinnamon,…
- Mawanella - Guests will be collected from their hotel around 6 am and will head towards Kandy, stopping at the Spice Garden in Mawanella along the way.
For centuries, spices have been among Sri Lanka’s most renowned exports, utilized in medicines, cosmetics, and for enhancing food flavors. Visitors will experience the aromas and tastes of cinnamon, ginger, pepper, vanilla, and cardamom. Batik, the ancient art of color mixing using wax, is a significant craft in Sri Lanka, known for its simple to intricate multi-colored designs.
- Pilimathalawa Tea Factory - Upon reaching Giragama, guests will tour a tea plantation situated 1,673 feet (510 meters) above sea level. Tea was first introduced to Sri Lanka in 1824 at the Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya with plants from China. Visitors will spend an hour exploring the plantation and factory before departing for Kandy, which is about 30 minutes away.
- Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic - Guests will visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa) in Kandy, a revered Buddhist site in Sri Lanka. They will admire its beautiful architecture, observe daily rituals, and learn about the relic’s historical and cultural importance.
- Kandy - Kandy, the picturesque hill capital of Sri Lanka, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the last bastion of the Sinhalese Kings before British rule in 1815. Today, it is a lively center for Buddhism, arts, crafts, dance, music, and culture. Guests will enjoy a guided tour of the city, including the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, a drive around the Upper Lake, a visit to the lively Market Square, and stops at a Gem Lapidary and Wood Carving Center.
What's Included
- Lunch at Oakray restaurant
- Hotel pickup and drop-off in air-conditioned comfort
- Sightseeing tours with an English-speaking chauffeur guide
- Lunch at Oakray restaurant
- Hotel pickup and drop-off in air-conditioned comfort
- Sightseeing tours with an English-speaking chauffeur guide
What's Not Included
- Any video / still camera fee to the monuments and places of visit
- Tips to guides and restaurants. Tipping is expected.
- Any others expenses which are not mentioned on Price Includes section
- Any video / still camera fee to the monuments and places of visit
- Tips to guides and restaurants. Tipping is expected.
- Any others expenses which are not mentioned on Price Includes section
Additional Information
This tour covers some very important attractions in Kandy city. 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. During this visit you will visit the Spice Garden at Mawanella, Tea…
This tour covers some very important attractions in Kandy city. 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. During this visit you will visit the Spice Garden at Mawanella, Tea factory in Giragama, Temple of Tooth Relic, Market Square, Upper Lake Drive, Gem Lapidary, and the Wood Carving Center in Kandy with Lunch at Oak-ray restaurant.
- Group discount price is available for group size 7 or more
- A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
Location
Mawanella
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
3.8
(18 Ratings)
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Kniques
Jan 4, 2019
Action Packed tour! - This tour included many stops and is well worth the money! I encourage anyone to ask questions, as there will be lots to see and experience. I was able to purchase tea, items from the spice garden and enjoy a local meal. I was amazed at the beauty I witnessed when visiting the temple. Our drive was punctual and on time. I would do another tour with this company for sure!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mark_r
Dec 31, 2018
Day trip - Excellent but long day trip Good driver and guide and amended itinerary to suit our requirements Kandy great small city
Review provided by Viator
Lowisd1
Nov 3, 2019
Good overview - Tour and arrangements are perfectly fine but as per my experience its overpriced for what I got. This tour more to shopping I'm suggesting to avoid Spice shop. Thanks kuma for drive me
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Solyy
Oct 20, 2019
Trip to Kandy - Awesome experience. Driver and the guide were very friendly. HIs name was Kumar . The drive was very tiring for us and well as for the drivers. I would certainly suggest using this company for the trip. Worth the money spent.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Christopher
Mar 28, 2018
This tour was ok but the journey is... - <p>This tour was ok but the journey is far too long to do in one day. Spent most of the time on the road in pretty heavy traffiic. Kandy is quite an interesting town with an attractive lake. Palace and temple visit was interesting. From start to finish the tour seemed to be one long sales trip.</p>
Review provided by Viator
Zach
Nov 1, 2017
Lots of Driving, Not much explaining - I would call this less of a guided tour, and more of a chauffeur to various attractions and shopping opportunities. The process that occurred was that the driver would take us to a location and hand us off to one of the employees at the place. While the employees were more or less informative and helpful, I was expecting to have a guided tour by a single person, not being handed off to multiple people throughout the day. Our driver was very nice and friendly, but I'm not sure that it was worth the ~7-8 hours of driving just for a few nice sights.The spice factory, tea factory, gem museum, wood carving store, and Buddhist temple were all nice, but it just seemed like too little payout for a whole lot of driving on slow, twisty, one lane roads for the entire day.
If you do end up booking this tour, I would suggest calling the driver the night before to confirm the pickup time. When I called, the driver had a different pickup time than what was stated by the tour company in the confirmation email.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Anette
Aug 8, 2017
Quite average. You get what is... - <p>Quite average. You get what is mentioned in the package. as you should, this is not a cheap tour. All very nice and delivered as expected. The only thing is the driver suggesting more tours only one hour into this one. It was ok and I am going to leave it with that.</p>
Review provided by Viator
Ilmar
Jan 24, 2018
The trip was very disappointing. The... - <p>The trip was very disappointing. The guide was more of a driver than a guide and although answered some of the questions that we asked of him, he didn't volunteer any information, at least for the first part of the day. The tour was one of commercial enterprises/shops with tips demanded in most places regardless of the performance or enthusiasm of the local shop guides. The guide asked us what our itinerary was and as we didn't have one printed out we couldn't tell him. As he didn't have one, and didn't volunteer any information we found out which factory we were going to only after arriving there. In Kandy we were stuck in traffic for an hour so only saw the main temple. The guide simply showed us the door, and didn't offer any explanation for the temple or what it's history or significance was except to tell us it dated from the last king, which meant nothing to us. The provided lunch was average.</p>
<p>The driver was courteous at all times and at the end of the day went out of his way to show us several gem shops which resulted in a good purchase. However, unless you are happy to see only spice, tea, batik etc shops and nothing of Kandy, best to avoid this commercial tour. It is long - 6am start and we got back to Colombo at 10.30pm.</p>
Review provided by Viator
Payaljugroop
Jan 2, 2018
Beautiful but overrated - Nearly a 3hr drive from Colombo. I think this is the only main attraction to see in Kandy, and the temple with the Buddha on the Hill... again, foreigners must pay 1500, were the locals enter for free. The main temple idol was closed-apparently it only opens on certain days. It is however beautiful, scenic and calm.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Geeta
Sep 19, 2017
Your tour guide is less of a guide... - <p>Your tour guide is less of a guide and more of a driver/wise guy shuffling you from one tourist trap to the next for his kick backs. Initially I was quite naive to this but toward the end of the day when taken to a tourist trap for traditional clothing that should have been inexpensive, I became alarmed and enlightenedno pun intended. The temple of the tooth is brilliant and I wish we had more time there. We ended up there toward the end of the day since we were delayed by all the traps and were too exhausted to enjoy it. The tea factory was actually just a shop and not a factory at all. The wood carving place was beautiful but also mainly a warehouse for shopping. The gem museum was also more store than museum. The buffet we were taken to was delicious. Our driver told us it was really cheap at 1000 rupees. If he only knew that our guide from the day before took us to a buffet for 200 rupees a person. After this tour my husband and I regretted traveling to Kandy at all and realized we actually did better shopping and touring on the days that we set out on our own or with the help of a local tuktuk driver. In fact, I probably won't use Viator again after this tour.</p>
Review provided by Viator
