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Kandy holds a place in the heart of most Sri Lankans, whether or not they are from this region. It was where their forebears held out for centuries against foreign attempts at domination, and it is where Sri Lanka's most revered treasure – the Buddha's tooth relic – has been kept for some 400 years. Kandy's annual Perahara festival, which culminates in the casket containing the sacred relic being paraded on an elephant, is probably the country's most famous ritual. The World Heritage city is located in a large highland valley, vibrant and bustling, sprawling around a lovely lake on which the tooth relic temple, Sri Dalada Maligawa, is located.

The Kandy House was built as a walauwa (manor house), probably in the late 18th century. By 1804 it was owned by the aristocratic Ratwatte family whose descendents include the Bandaranaikes (two Sri Lankan prime ministers and a president). Still in Ratwatte family hands, the run-down walauwa was extensively renovated in 2005 by Geoffrey Bawa's protégée, Channa Daswatte. He turned it into an elegant boutique hotel with nine chic rooms, cool courtyards, bird-filled gardens and a pool perched on a terrace overlooking the Ratwatte family paddy fields.