Luxury hotel holiday Earls Regency Kandy

Earl's Regency is a five star resort hidden amongst the forests and mountains of Kandy, with good access to the key cultural sites of the town. This Aitken Spence hotel is renowned for its exceptional food, though its free-form pool and quirky building are equally worth of note. The deliberately regal air, paired with the stunning verdant views, make this a unique and intriguing stop on a Sri Lankan touring holiday, best accompanied by a few nights in a beachfront resort.
Included in your Expressions holiday
  • Accommodation in a double or twin room on bed and breakfast
  • Scheduled flights with Sri Lankan Airlines
  • Transport by private car with driver-guide
  • Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
  • Optional room, board and flight upgrades. Details on request

Luxury bespoke holidays and tours to Earl's Regency, Kandy

Earl's Regency a 5-star hotel in a beautiful natural location. Award winning cuisine and superb spa facilities offer guests a relaxing and restorative experience.

Facts in brief

Official star rating 5

Location On the banks of the Mahaweli Ganga in the village of Tennekumbura, approximately five miles from Kandy

Closest airport Bandaranaike International Airport

Distance from airport 74 miles

Hotel facilities and services

Swimming pool, Far Pavilion Restaurant, Royal Spice Indian Restaurant, Mountbatten Lounge, Bar, Ayu Spa, Gym, Shopping arcade, Currency exchange, Postal service, Children's pool, and Children's playground.

Complimentary

Bottled water, Toiletries.

Land sports

Tennis and badminton.

Out and about nearby

While staying in Kandy, ensure you have time to visit the old Kandy marketplace in town. This will give you a true glimpse into the everyday life of Kandy residents. Perhaps also visit the Temple of the Tooth Relic, which contains what is reputedly the tooth of Lord Buddha, which historically gives sovereign power to whoever possesses it. Near the Temple is the Royal Palace of Kandy, the former residence of Kandy's last king, King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, and now the city museum. The picturesque man-made Kandy Lake still sits at the centre of the city, with its island of palm and bamboo. The Royal Botanical Gardens contain more than 4,000 species, and display a great number of plants that have been intrinsic in Sri Lanka's 'spice' heritage. Active visitors may wish to plan a hike up the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Knuckles Mountains. This is also an excellent activity for flora and fauna enthusiasts. Perhaps also visit the rock temples at Dambulla, or the ruined medieval city of Polonnaruwa. Anuradhapura is the spiritual home of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, with its dagobas, ruins, and sacred fig tree mythically brought from India in the 3rd century.

Sports nearby

Victoria Golf and Country Resort is very nearby, to which the hotel can arrange transport.

We recently completed our second Expressions European driving holiday. Both excellent. Both greater than the sum of their parts.
Mrs B, Sep 2023

Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a Standard room for 7 nights

From about

£1,720

Holiday Code EXH1888

The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.

Call us on 01392 441245

Luxury bespoke holidays and tours to Earl's Regency, Kandy

High on a hillside, the five star Earl's Regency is owned by the Aitken Spence hotel group, and is reputedly the best hotel in Kandy. As you approach along the driveway and across the river, the hotel building emerges out of the trees, adorned by wooden beams, large windows, and ochre-coloured walls. Its style has both something Oriental and Colonial about it, and is made even more distinctive by the old wooden-framed, sheltered bridge, supported by vine-wrapped pillars, that links the main building to the rooms. Inside, the wooden beams are transformed into a modern feature, accompanied by marble floors, white walls, and rustic dark wood furnishings. The rooms themselves follow the same colour schemes, but with a more traditional approach. Textured fabrics are set beside regal furnishings and authentic Sri Lankan artworks. All steps have been taken, as the hotel name suggests, to blend the regal aspect of Sri Lanka's colonial history with the beauty of the island's landscape, so large windows in each room open out onto the sea of treetops below and the green mountains that score the horizon. In the evenings, three dining options are available, all to the high standard that has won the Aitken Spence group so many culinary awards: fine dining in the authentic setting of Far Pavilions, which serves a range of cuisines; delicious Indian dishes in the Royal Spice Restaurant, the first five-star Indian Restaurant in Kandy; or, a more casual atmosphere and snacks at the Mountbatten Lounge. After dinner drinks are served in Bars, a modern bar that still bears the regal twist of the rest of Earl's Regency. For a serene and pleasurable morning or afternoon, guests can enjoy the facilities of the Ayu Spa, which offers the relaxing, natural treatments that have come to be associated with five star resorts in Sri Lanka. The free-form swimming pool, moulded to the shape of the protruding rocks, and equipped with poolside bar, is a sunny alternative to the spa, and provides guests of all ages with refreshingly cool water. Stay at this rural retreat, high amongst the forests and mountains of Kandy and ideally located for visits to tea plantations, on your Sri Lankan touring holiday. Earl's Regency offers an interesting contrast when paired with seafront resorts and boutique villas.

Room descriptions

Earl's Regency Hotel has 134 rooms with air-conditioning, telephone, safe, hairdryer, tea and coffee machines, and laundry service.

Standard Room with balcony
Deluxe Room with balcony
Luxury Room with balcony
Family Room with balcony
Luxury Suite with separate living and dining area with terrace
Junior Suite with separate living and dining area with balcony
Mountbatten Suite with large separate living and dining area and large balcony
We recently completed our second Expressions European driving holiday. Both excellent. Both greater than the sum of their parts.
Mrs B, Sep 2023

Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a Standard room for 7 nights

From about

£1,720

Holiday Code EXH1888

The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.

Call us on 01392 441245

Luxury bespoke holidays and tours to Earl's Regency, Kandy

The journey and how you get there

For a holiday to Earl's Regency in Sri Lanka, our clients fly to Colombo, usually with Sri Lankan Airways on a direct flight from London Heathrow (or with Emirates from other UK airports via Dubai). This hotel is 3 hours and 30 minutes' drive from Colombo airport. However, it is usually stayed at as part of a tailor-made touring holiday accompanied by a driver-guide and you would often approach the hotel from a previous stay in the Cultural Triangle to the north, or from Yala or Galle to the south.

Additional information

Children: Interconnecting rooms, additional beds and cots are available.

We recently completed our second Expressions European driving holiday. Both excellent. Both greater than the sum of their parts.
Mrs B, Sep 2023

Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a Standard room for 7 nights

From about

£1,720

Holiday Code EXH1888

The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.

Call us on 01392 441245

Luxury bespoke holidays and tours to Earl's Regency, Kandy

About Tea and hill country

An Expressions tailor-made holiday to Sri Lanka’s Tea Country incorporates the best of this diverse and exotic region. Popularly known as the High Tea Country, the temperate highlands of southern central Sri Lanka are wonderfully scenic with stunning mountain and valley vistas almost everywhere you go, and of course, often carpeted in tea bushes. Thanks to the multitude of micro-climates, the landscape is constantly changing, and it is an incredibly beautiful mountain area, worth visiting for the scenery as well as the tea culture. It is also Sri Lanka’s heartland for market gardens and dairy products; endless rows of vegetables and strawberries hug the slopes, vying for space with the tea bushes. Kandy, the royal capital of the hill country is a UNESCO world heritage site, built beside a placid lake surrounded by hills. This is certainly a thriving cultural capital with its universities and centres for Buddhist learning and the arts. Kandy is home to one of Buddhism’s most sacred sites, the ‘Dalada Maligawa’ Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, as well as a number of other historical and cultural places of interest.

Highlights of Tea Country

Kandy market; Kandy area – handicrafts villages and workshops – brass, musical instruments, basket weaving, batik, painting; Kandy evening cultural show; Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage; Peradeniya Botanical Gardens; Mahaweli River and Victoria Dam; Tea estates; Drive to Nuwara Eliya and around the tea plantations, visiting a tea factory; Hantana mountain and Hantana tea plantations - walks and museum; Buddhist sites near Kandy – Gadaladeniya, Hindagala Vihara, Embekke Divale, Lankatilake; Mahiyangana – Rajamaha dagoba; Aluvihara Buddhist temple; Aluvihara Heritage Centre (Ena de Silva batik art and workshop and Sri Lankan rice & curry lunch); Knuckles Mountain Range - scenic drives and walking; Rubber plantations; Spice farms; Rail journey to Tea Country; Relaxing in the lush tropical hills; Treat your body, mind and soul to a programme of Ayurvedic massage and herbal treatments; Golf at the Victoria Golf course; Riding at Victoria Saddle Club; Walking and trekking; Cycling; White water rafting at Kitulgala.

Cultural highlights of Tea Country

Places of interest in Kandy include the Temple of the Tooth, the sacred Buddhist site which holds the tooth of Lord Buddha which is said to have been brought from India in the third century. The Temple lies within the Royal Palace complex along with the National Museum, the Audience Hall and a museum dedicated to the famous elephant, Raja. British legacies remain in central Kandy, in the form of grand old buildings and hotels, St Paul’s Church and Royal Palace Park. It is possible to walk most of the way around the lake besides which Kandy is built, where you can see the Royal Bathing Pavilion and the royal summerhouse which is on an island in the centre of the lake.). There is a lively market and a plethora of shops, gem showrooms and arts & crafts workshops. There are also several nightly cultural shows that showcase traditional Kandyan drumming, music and dance and the city boasts a fine international cricket stadium. Other highlights of the region include Pinnawela elephant orphanage where abandoned or injured elephants are cared for; Nuwara Eliya, a hill town with many British influences; the mountainous scenery and tea plantations around Ambewela and Bandarawela; the Highland Railway between Kandy and Badulla; and Tea Experience and Tea museums, an essential part of any visit to this part of Sri Lanka.

Festivals in Tea Country

Kandy - Esala Perahera Festival - July or August (depending on the date of the Esala full moon). This spectacular cultural pageant is held over 10 days with the processions and celebrations getting more elaborate and longer each day. Although in ancient times this was a procession to honour Hindu gods, during the reign of King Rajasinghe it was decreed that the procession should be in honour the sacred tooth relic of Lord Buddha. Each night, dancers, drummers, flute players, whip-crackers and elephants form a procession around the streets and Kandy lake. The ornately decorated elephants increase daily in number to 100 on the last night, the finest of them being the Maligawa Tusker which carries the Sacred Tooth Relic, led by the Chiefs of the Temple in traditional silver and gold ceremonial dress. The Nuwara Eliya season runs from April to June. Horse racing in High Tea Country (trotting) in January, February, April, August and December. Bandarawela Perahera on full moon day in June.

Climate in Tea Country

Climate in Kandy: The daytime temperatures in Kandy and the surrounding hills range from around 22° C to 31° C, with cooler evenings averaging 17° C. It is fairly humid and misty in the evenings with short outbursts of rain. Heavier rainfalls occur during the south-west monsoon from May to August. Climate in the High Tea Country: At an elevation of above 4,000 feet the climate is cooler and less humid with cool mornings, warm days and cool evenings. Daytime temperatures are in the low to mid 20s Celsius and at nights can drop to around 10° C. The driest part of the year is between December and April, and September is normally quite dry. The rainy season is May, June and July, and October and November due to the north-east, south-west and intermediate monsoons, and July is generally the coldest month. February and March are usually dry and around 20° C. Micro-climates exist from valley to valley. The weather at Warwick Gardens, for example, is around 16° C at night and can reach 26° C during the day, whilst the temperature at Bandarawela goes from 12° C to 20° C.

Call us on 01392 441245

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