Kandy in 4 days

Sri Dalada Maligawa holds a tooth attributed to the Buddha, brought here in the 4th century; whoever held it held the right to rule.

An artificial lake created in 1807 by Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, last king of Kandy, edged by a low scalloped parapet called the Clouds Wall.

A tradition born of healing rituals, led by the ves dance performed in silver headdress and beaded breastplate, driven by the hand-played geta bera drum.

A former royal forest just behind the Temple of the Tooth, protected since 1856 and now one of South Asia's few large urban forests.

A two-storey building round a courtyard, with stalls sorted by produce: fruit and vegetables from the hills, pineapples, avocados, jackfruit and bananas.

A 26.8-metre white seated Buddha completed in 1993 on the hill above town, whose terrace looks over the lake, the temple and the hills beyond.

Sixty hectares in a bend of the Mahaweli river outside Kandy, with over 4,000 species, a royal palm avenue, orchids and a giant Javan fig.

A 14th-century temple on a rock outcrop west of Kandy, mixing a Buddhist plan with South Indian Hindu features and shrines to Vishnu and Saman.