The stunning 60-hectare Peradeniya Botanic Gardens (entry Rs 4500), 6km southwest of Kandy, are Sri Lanka's largest and were once reserved exclusively for Kandyan royalty. They're home to 4000 indigenous and exotic plants, including over 600 endemics. Highlights include a stately avenue of royal palms, an equally spectacular cabbage palm avenue, the extraordinary cannonball fruit tree and 40m-high thickets of Burma bamboo. Other big hits are the giant Javan fig tree, with its colossal central trunk and umbrella-like canopy of branches, a fine collection of orchids, and an arboretum displaying hardwoods such as satinwood and mahogany. You'll be sharing the grounds with tour groups, hundreds of monkeys and thousands of Indian flying foxes.
Inside the grounds are an overpriced cafeteria (mains Rs 550 to Rs 1000), serving Western and Sri Lankan food, and a small cafe by the exit gate. A better option is to stock up on picnic items before you come. A bus from Kandy's clock-tower bus stop goes to the gardens. Many taxi drivers incorporate a visit to the gardens with the Kandy Three Temples Loop. Last entry to the gardens is 5pm.
