Discover cycling tours in
Kandy and Around

For most who have landed on the coast and are looking for a respite from the heat and crowds, the culturally significant city of Kandy in the central highlands offers a significant number of sights to see in its regional area. The road begins to climb once you leave Colombo along the western coastline; as you rise from sea level into the tea plantations of the interior, the air begins to cool and the manicured hills are often covered in mist, adding to the scenic value of the area. The cycling might be steeper but the cooler temperatures can make it more tolerable throughout the year.

Kandy is the site of the last independent kingdom of Sri Lanka before the British took control in 1815, giving the city a distinct Sinhalese flair which may be most visible during its annual festival and the Temple of the Tooth, one of Buddhism's most significant sites. The tea-filled hills are meticulously maintained to the extent of looking like royal gardens, which is quite a contrast to some of the jagged peaks present in the landscape. This makes for terrific cycling as the temperatures are lower, the challenges are higher, and the landscape is beautiful. The central location of Kandy and its easy-going nature make it one of the more popular cities to be based out of for further adventures with close cycling distances to the sights to both the north and the south.

To the south lies the misty plateaus of the Horton Plains, and World's End, where the cool and wet landscape falls from over two thousand meters above sea level almost a thousand sheer meters to the lowlands below. There is a national park here where you can mainly see birds, monkeys, and deer. Further on are the cities of Ella, the Sinharaja Reserve, and Adam’s Peak, the last of which is home to an imprint of the Buddha's foot, which makes for a nice tour before heading on to the beaches of the southern coast. To the north of Kandy is Dambulla, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, and the Cultural Triangle, which is arguably the most popular bicycle tour route in all of Sri Lanka.