Royal Kandy
Australian Cricket Tour To Sri Lanka 2022
The CONFIRMED Tour Schedule:
1st T20 | Colombo RPICS | June 07
2nd T20 | Colombo RPICS | June 08
3rd T20 | Kandy PICS | June 11
1st ODI | Kandy PICS | June 14
2nd ODI | Kandy PICS | June 16
3rd ODI | Colombo RPICS | June 19
4th ODI | Colombo RPICS | June 21
5th ODI | Colombo RPICS | June 24
1st Test | Galle | June 29 - July 3
2nd Test | Galle | July 8 - 12
Tour: Royal Kandy
When: NO TEST
Book:
Visit: Sri Lanka Tourism
Australian Cricket in Kandy
If you're flying in for the Test in Sri Lanka's glorious hill country, our iconic hotel will meet you at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport. No matter what time you arrive, it is a 2.5hrs drive to this ancient city in the hills and our ancient hotel on Kandy Lake.
You can't swim in the lake so thankfully Queen's Hotel Kandy has a swimming pool. Kandy's congestion may make you wonder where a pool is possible but the building has been there since the early 1800s when land was not so hard to come by.
Built as a house for King Sri Vickrama Rajasinha (c1798), after the British defeated the Kandyans in 1815 it became the Governor of Ceylon's residence. Through the years it served a variety of services and purposes until it became Queen's Hotel in 1869, and they have been trying to make the beer cold ever since!
Queen's Hotel is tired, creaky, sometimes creepy, but damn convenient, and we cannot stress this enough. Smack in the middle of Kandy, opposite the hotel are supermarkets, pubs, cafes, banks, ATM's, restaurants, take-away fast-foods, the railway station, attractions, pharmacies, and more. Not to mention the lake around which many of us have walked the early mornings since 1999. We accept her deficiencies for her pleasantries. As always, the hotel website is above for you to look at.
Understanding this 220 years old royal relic and her social and economic convenience is not for everyone, you can stay at the player's hotel if you prefer. The Earl's Regency was built to accommodate the game when Pallekele International Cricket Stadium was built, and is halfway from Kandy to the Stadium. Where Queen's Hotel has creaky convenience, Earl's Regency has plush isolation, at a cost.
Moving, on, arriving two days before the test, consider visiting the Peradeniya Botanic Gardens or ever-popular Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage (Read this opposing look at Pinnewela and be the judge).
Our favourite is the 3 Temple loop. A 7km walk of peace & harmony linking Embekke, Lankathilake and Gadaladeniya Temples. If kicking about town, opposite Queen's Hotel is 'Temple of the Tooth'.
Every day thousands of pilgrims & people undergo heavier security screening than at airports to see a shiny gold box holding Buddha's Tooth, a shiny gold box holding a replica of Buddha's Tooth or an empty shiny gold box. No one has ever seen the tooth, but thousands are happy to pay Rs500 for a processional glance at the box they believe it is in.
If not 'the tooth', take a long walk around Kandy Lake and then up to Vihara Buddha Temple for nice views over the city. A stroll through Kandy must include the old Test Cricket venue, Asgirya College Ground. We loved cricket there, but when you see it you'll know why Pallekele Cricket Stadium was built. With one grandstand and swathes of lush grass, Pallekele is a pleasant ground to enjoy any game of cricket.
The night before the Test Match we have dinner at Queen's Hotel to welcome everyone, and distribute match tickets and shirts. Match-day transfers are included but if you need to make your own way, we will let you know how to reach Pallekele.
We will be back after play for a 'cool beer' before dinner which is included nightly at Queen's Hotel and Earl's Regency. On Day 5 we will have a farewell dinner at Earl's Regency.
This should be a low-key soiree as the next day you could be up early for another adventure, with another day spare. Though not included, you may like to travel the 90mins each way to visit Dambulla Cave Temples and climb Sri Lanka's signature landmark Sigirya Rock. We may organise this as a group trip, or a train to Ella through the tea plantations and back should the game end early. Many of our guys have been to Kandy and seen and done everything, so if you haven't, we will certainly help.
If you are leaving us after Kandy, a train journey back to Colombo is included, from where you can get a taxi to the airport. Depending on when your flight is, it may be more convenient to book a car directly to the airport as you bypass Colombo on the roll down to the coast after what we trust was a splendid week in Royal Kandy.
If you've questions about our Australian Cricket Tour To Sri Lanka 2022, please ask!
Thank You!