Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya

Kandy, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka

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Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya is Sri Lanka’s largest and best-known botanical garden, located about 5–6 kilometres west of Kandy in the country’s central highlands near a wide loop of the Mahaweli River.

It covers roughly 60 hectares (about 147 acres) at around 460 metres above sea level and contains more than 4,000 plant species, including an important collection of orchids, palms, spices, medicinal plants and a large arboretum of tropical and subtropical trees.

The site originated as a royal pleasure garden for the Kandyan kings in the 14th century and later, under British colonial rule, was developed into a formal botanical garden in the early 19th century to test and cultivate economically important tropical plants, a role now extended to conservation, scientific research and education through the attached National Herbarium of Sri Lanka. 

Today it is one of the country’s most visited attractions, drawing large numbers of local and international visitors who walk its avenues of royal palms, explore the Orchid House and other themed sections, and experience a landscaped setting that also supports diverse birds and other wildlife within an easily accessible distance from Kandy.