Sri Lanka’s last royal capital sits in the central highlands at the meeting point of the island’s cultural and spiritual identity – a city built around a lake, anchored by the Sri Dalada Maligawa, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which houses what is believed to be a tooth of the Buddha and has been the most sacred site in Theravada Buddhism for over fifteen centuries. The city’s Kandyan art, architecture, and ceremonial traditions were specifically maintained to resist cultural assimilation during colonial rule – which makes the living culture of Kandy not just beautiful but genuinely hard-won.