Embrace the sights and sounds of Kandy’s spectacular Esala Perehera festival, Sri Lanka

Visit Kandy in late July or early August and you may be in for quite a surprise. Sri Lanka is known for its ‘perahera’ processions: temple festivals to mark auspicious dates accompanied by dance, music, and elephants. The best and brightest of these is Kandy’s Easala Perahera, held over 10 days leading up to the mid-summer full moon, which pays homage to the sacred Temple of the Tooth. Over the course of the 10 nights the procession becomes bigger, noisier, and more colourful, culminating in a final night which sees hundreds of drummers, fire-breathers, acrobats, dancers, and dozens of giant bejewelled tuskers wading through the city centre streets.

When to go August

Where to go Sri Lanka