Udawattakele Forest Reserve
A 104-hectare protected cloud forest reserve directly above central Kandy, with 68 recorded bird species and multiple walking trails through bamboo groves and tropical trees.
Duration
1.5-2 hours
Entry Fee
$5 USD
Difficulty
easy
Budget
budget
About Udawattakele Forest Reserve
Udawattakele (meaning 'forest above the royal city') is a 104-hectare protected forest reserve on the ridge directly north of the Temple of the Tooth and Kandy Lake. It served as a forbidden royal grove for Kandyan kings and retains a dense, undisturbed canopy of mature trees. The forest has 68 recorded bird species including the Sri Lanka grey hornbill, orange-billed babbler, and white-faced starling, making it one of the better birding locations accessible from a Sri Lankan city. Walking trails range from 30 minutes to 2 hours, and the forest also contains a colonial-era bungalow, meditation hermitages, and a small reservoir. The reserve is an effective escape from Kandy's city traffic and is 10 minutes on foot from the town centre.
Highlights
- 104-hectare forest reserve above Kandy city centre
- 68 recorded bird species including Sri Lanka grey hornbill
- Former royal forbidden grove of the Kandyan kings
- Multiple walking trails from 30 minutes to 2 hours
- Bamboo groves, giant tropical trees, and small reservoir
Practical Tips
Entry fee is approximately LKR 1,500 for foreign visitors (USD 5) as of 2024.
Arrive at 7am for the best birdwatching — the forest is active for the first two hours of daylight.
The main trail circuit takes about 1 hour at a comfortable pace; bring water.
Do not feed the monkeys — grey langurs and macaques in the forest are bold around visitors with food.
Explore by Interest
Best Time to Visit
Best time of day: Year-round; January to April is driest; early morning for birdwatching
Location
Planning Info
- Crowd level
- Usually quiet
- Physical difficulty
- easy
- Setting
- outdoor
- Child friendly
- Yes
- Senior friendly
- Yes
- Budget level
- budget
- Photography
- ★★★☆☆
Plan Your Visit
Want to include Udawattakele Forest Reserve in your Sri Lanka itinerary? Our team builds personalised plans: no booking fees, no online payment.
ALSO IN THE AREA
Nearby Destinations
Temple of the Tooth Relic
Sri Dalada Maligawa houses the Buddha's tooth relic, in Sri Lanka since the 4th century AD and kept in Kandy since the city became the royal capital in 1592.
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Kandy Lake
Artificial lake built by King Sri Wickrama Rajasinha in 1807 at the centre of Kandy, encircled by a 3km walkway and flanked by the Temple of the Tooth.
Explore →
Bahirawakanda Vihara Buddha Statue
A 26.8-metre white seated Buddha statue on Bahirawakanda Hill overlooking central Kandy, visible from most of the city and accessible by a 30-minute walk or tuk-tuk.
Explore →LET'S EXPLOR™ THE
Tour Packages
from $0Kandy Esala Perahera Festival Tour
The Kandy Esala Perahera is a ten-night Buddhist and Hindu procession honouring the Sacred Tooth Relic, held each July or August in Sri Lanka's hill capital. Five Kumbal Perahera nights build in scale before the Randoli Perahera, when palanquins representing the four devale queens join over 100 elephants, whip-crackers, fire dancers and Kandyan drummers on the temple's torch-lit route through the city. This trip puts you in Kandy for four nights, with reserved gallery seats on two of the grandest Randoli nights. The festival sets the schedule, not us, which is why the days around it are deliberately light: a morning at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic before the road closures start, the palm avenues at Peradeniya, and a slow day among the 14th-century temples in the valley west of the city. Procession nights run late and the crowds are dense, so the recovery time is part of the plan. The route enters through Sigiriya rather than driving straight to Kandy. That costs nothing in extra days and turns what used to be a five-hour round trip from Kandy into a proper overnight, with the rock climbed at opening time and Dambulla's cave temple visited on the way south. Kandy's hotels sell out months ahead of the festival, so confirm your dates and book as early as you can.
6 days / 5 nights
from $450Serene Romantic Escape
Most short trips to Sri Lanka move you every night. This one moves you twice. Two nights in Kandy, one in Ella, two at Mirissa, and the rest of the time is yours rather than the road's. The shape is simple and it goes one way: inland to the last royal capital, up through the Ramboda Pass into the tea country, down into the Ella gap, then off the escarpment to the south coast. You never drive a road twice and you never backtrack to a place you have already been. What that buys you is unscheduled time, which is the actual point of a trip like this. Day two in Kandy is open. Day five at Mirissa is open. Between them, the one long drive is broken by a waterfall, a working tea factory and a hill station at 1,868 m, so even the travel day is not just travel.
6 days / 5 nights
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