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View all Kandy toursKandy City Highlights Private Day Tour: Temple, Viewpoints and Gardens
A private full-day loop of Kandy taking in the Bahirawakanda Buddha, the lake, the main viewpoints, the Commonwealth war cemetery, a gem museum and the workshops around the city.
Highlights
- The 27-metre Bahirawakanda Buddha and the best free view over Kandy
- Kandy lake, dug by the last king in 1807, and the walk around it
- The Commonwealth war cemetery — immaculate, moving and almost empty
- A gem museum and cutting workshop in a country that has mined sapphires for millennia
- Batik and wood carving workshops, plus the viewpoints above the valley
Kandy City Highlights Private Day Tour: Temple, Viewpoints and Gardens: Key Facts
| Price | From $26 per person |
|---|---|
| Duration | 8 hours |
| Languages | English |
| Tour type | Guided Tour |
| Booking | Direct with the local operator — no OTA markup |
Full description
Kandy is small enough to walk and spread out enough that you will miss most of it if you do. This is the full-day private version: a driver and guide, a fixed loop of the city's sites, and time at each rather than a drive-past.
The Bahirawakanda Vihara Buddha sits on the hill above the town — a 27-metre white statue with the best free view over the lake and the roofs. The lake itself was dug by the last king of Kandy in 1807 and is a flat, shaded 3.5-kilometre walk. The Commonwealth war cemetery, a little out of the centre, is quiet and beautifully kept, holding the graves of servicemen who died in Ceylon during the Second World War, and almost nobody visits it.
The rest is the working city: a gem museum and cutting workshop, since Sri Lanka has mined sapphires for two thousand years and Kandy is where a lot of them are cut; a batik workshop; a wood carving studio; and the viewpoints above the town that make sense of how the valley is laid out.
A private guide is what makes this worth a full day rather than an afternoon — the sites are individually short, and the value is in the connections between them.
Tour Itinerary
The schedule below is a suggested plan and can be adjusted to suit your preferences.
Pickup in Kandy
Collection from your hotel.
Bahirawakanda Buddha
The hilltop statue and the view over the city.
Gem museum and workshop
How Sri Lankan sapphires are mined, cut and graded.
Commonwealth war cemetery
A quiet stop on the edge of town.
Craft workshops
Batik and wood carving studios.
Kandy lake and viewpoints
The lakeside walk and the hill viewpoints.
Drop-off
Return to your hotel.
Detailed Itinerary
[{"time": "08:30", "title": "Hotel pickup", "description": "The order of the loop is adjusted to the weather and the traffic."}, {"time": "09:00", "title": "Bahirawakanda Vihara", "description": "Shoes off at the platform. The view is the reason to come up."}, {"time": "10:30", "title": "Gem museum", "description": "There is a shop attached. Nothing has to be bought and the demonstration is worth the stop on its own."}, {"time": "12:00", "title": "Commonwealth war cemetery", "description": "Free to enter. Around 200 graves, kept immaculately."}, {"time": "14:00", "title": "Batik and wood carving", "description": "Working studios rather than showrooms."}, {"time": "15:30", "title": "Lake and viewpoints", "description": "A walk by the water and a stop above the town for the layout of the valley."}, {"time": "16:30", "title": "Kandy", "description": "Drop-off at your hotel."}]
Includes
- Private vehicle with an English-speaking driver-guide, hotel pickup and drop-off in Kandy, all driving between sites, fuel and parking.
Excludes
- Entrance fees where they apply, including the Temple of the Tooth, meals and drinks, gratuities, anything bought at the workshops.
Important information
Meeting point
Hotel pickup in Kandy; the exact address and time are confirmed after booking.
Know before you go
- Free cancellation available up to 24 hours before the activity starts