Making an evening of it
The dance show and the Temple of the Tooth: one Kandy evening
The show is a short walk from Kandy's holiest site. Here's how to pair the cultural dance with the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in a single evening.
Check dates and availability ↗Two essentials, side by side
Kandy's two most-recommended evening experiences — the cultural dance show and the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic — can be combined in one evening if the times line up. Check both times for your date and the map between the venues first.
The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
The temple, Sri Dalada Maligawa, houses a relic said to be a tooth of the Buddha and is one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in the world. It holds daily rituals — the puja ceremonies, accompanied by drumming, at set times including the evening — when the relic chamber is opened to worshippers. Visiting during a puja is the most atmospheric way to experience it, and dressing modestly (covered shoulders and knees) is required.
Timing the two together
The practical trick is to line up the temple's evening puja and the dance show, which can both fall in the evening. Depending on exact times on your date, many visitors do the show and then the temple's evening ceremony, or the reverse. Check both timings for your day and leave a comfortable gap — you don't want to be rushing between a sacred ceremony and a set-time performance.
Around Kandy Lake
Both sit beside Kandy Lake, an artificial lake built by the last king of Kandy, and a stroll around its edge links the two nicely. The lakeside is a pleasant place to walk off the evening, and the whole central area — temple, lake, dance venue — is compact enough to explore on foot, which is a large part of why an evening here comes together so easily.
Booking and dressing right
The dance show is bookable on GetYourGuide with the live price shown before you pay; the temple has its own entry arrangements on the day. For both, and the temple especially, dress modestly. Fix the show's slot first, then build the temple's puja timing around it — that order keeps the evening a considered plan instead of a last-minute dash between two events that both run to their own clock.