Only 115 km inland from Colombo, but climatically a world away due to its 500m altitude, Kandy is Sri Lanka's second largest city and the capital of the hill country. Kandy was the capital of the last Sinhalese kingdom, falling to the British invasion of 1815, and it is world renowned for the great Kandy Esala perahara, the temple of tooth relic (Dalada Maligawa) and the famous Bogambara lake for which the city has been recognized as a world heritage by UNESCO. The tropical rain forest "Udawatte Kele" lies within the city limits of Kandy, making a floral hood to the temple of tooth relic itself. The famous botanical gardens of Peradeniya which is located in Kandy-Colombo main road is reachable within just fifteen minutes from the city.

The Kandy Esala Perahera is the most magnificent annual spectacle in Sri Lanka. Perahera is a parade or procession held to honor the sacred tooth enshrined in the temple of the tooth, peak is the time of the full moon in Esala (July/August). It is led by thousands of dancers and drummers, tracking whips and waving colorful banners. Fifty, sixty or more elephants take part in the procession out of which the brilliantly decorated Maligawa(Temple) tusker carries a huge canopy shelter covering a replica of the sacred relic cask.

At 1889 meters Nuwara Eliya (city of light) was the favorite hill station of the British, who kitted it up like some misplaced British village. The old pink-brick post office, the English country house-like Hill club with its hunting pictures, mounted hunting trophies, and the 18 hole golf course (said to be one of the finest in Asia) all cry out ''England''. Even today Nuwara Eliya is the summer destination of thousands of tourists both local and foreign. The pleasant Gregory's Lake lies in the middle of the town while the whole city is surrounded by lush green tea plantations. You can smell the sweet, pleasant aroma of tea intermittently at Nuwara Eliya. Hakgala gardens is another tourist attraction around the colonial Hill station.

At an elevation of 7200 feet on the Haputale range the Hill country is a saddle of rolling grassland and thick evergreen mountainous  forests known as the Horton Plains. The main attractions here are the two "World' s ends" from where one can see the escarpment fall vertically 900 feet from one and a dramatic 2900 feet from the other. Bakers Falls and slab-rock Falls are the eye- catchers of Horton Plains. As for the wild life on the Plains, magnificent specimens of leopards are met with rarely but Sambar (stag) can be seen daily.