Roughly two and a half hours from Kandy, in the cool hills near Nuwara Eliya, the Hakgala Botanical Garden carries two very different stories at once: a documented history as a colonial-era research station, and a local legend that ties it to one of Hindu mythology’s best-known tales. This piece covers both, what there is to see once you’re there, and what to know if you’re planning the trip up from Kandy.
A Garden Built for Science
The garden’s documented history starts in the early 1860s, when it was founded by Dr G. H. K. Thwaites, the British botanist who also directed the Royal Botanical Garden at Peradeniya, just outside Kandy. Its original purpose had nothing to do with roses. By the mid-1800s, coffee was Ceylon’s main export crop, and when a blight devastated the coffee estates, planters needed a replacement fast. Thwaites had cinchona ready: the tree bark used to produce quinine, at the time one of the only treatments for malaria, grown from seed brought over from Peru. Hakgala’s high, cool site was chosen specifically because its climate and terrain resembled the Andean slopes where cinchona grew wild.
Cinchona’s own commercial run didn’t last long either. Tea soon proved the more reliable crop, and Hakgala was turned over to experimental tea cultivation in its place. It wasn’t until 1884 that the site was formally developed into an ornamental botanical garden in its own right, a role it’s held ever since.
That layered history, cinchona giving way to tea, and tea eventually giving way to roses, is part of what makes Hakgala a working record of Sri Lanka’s changing plantation economy, as much as a garden to walk through.
What You’ll Find Inside
Today, at an elevation of around 1,745 metres and covering close to 28 hectares, Hakgala’s cool, temperate climate supports plants that wouldn’t survive in Kandy’s warmer lowland air. It’s often described as the second-largest of Sri Lanka’s five government botanical gardens, after Peradeniya. A short walk through the grounds typically takes in:
- The terraced rose garden, the best-known feature and the one most visitors head for first
- An orchid section, with a number of montane species endemic to Sri Lanka
- A bulb garden, opened in 1924, growing lilies, gladioli, and other imported bulbs
- Conifers, camphor, and English oaks, planted alongside native montane woodland
Where the cultivated garden ends, the Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve begins, home to monkeys, birds, and the occasional sloth bear. From the upper terraces, the views open out across the Uva Valley towards the Madulsima and Namunukula hills in the distance.
The garden takes its name from the rock that rises behind it, Hakgala, said to resemble the jaw of an elephant.
The Ramayana Legend
Alongside the documented science, Hakgala carries a much older story. Local tradition holds that this site is the Ashoka Vatika of the Ramayana, the pleasure garden where King Ravana is said to have held Sita captive. It’s a legend rather than a historical record, and no one claims otherwise, but it’s woven into how the site is spoken about locally, and it draws its own share of visitors.
The Seetha Amman Kovil, a temple built on the same legend, sits about a kilometre from the garden and is often visited alongside it. The surrounding area is even named Sita Eliya after the story. Whether or not the legend draws you in, it adds a layer of storytelling to a visit that a straightforward garden tour wouldn’t otherwise have.
Visiting Hakgala Botanical Garden from Kandy
Getting there takes some planning, since Hakgala sits well outside Kandy itself, close to Nuwara Eliya. A few practical points worth knowing before you set off:
- Travel time. Around two and a half to three hours’ drive from Kandy, mostly climbing through hill country and tea estate scenery.
- Entrance fee. Foreign visitors pay an entry charge, which has run in the region of LKR 3,500 for adults; rates change from time to time, so it’s worth checking the current fee before you go.
- Opening hours. The garden is generally open from early morning until early evening, seven days a week, though ticket sales usually stop somewhat earlier than closing time.
- Best season. Some of the best blooms tend to show between April and August, though the garden’s cool climate makes it a pleasant stop through most of the year.
- Getting organised. Public transport between Kandy and Nuwara Eliya takes considerably longer than driving, so most visitors arrange a private car or a hired driver for the day rather than relying on buses.
A trip to Hakgala Botanical Garden takes the better part of a day, so it’s worth treating it as its own outing rather than squeezing it between Kandy sights. Many visitors combine it with other stops along the same road, such as a waterfall or a tea factory, to make a fuller day of the drive.
Make It Part of a Wider Kandy Stay
A day given over to Hakgala is worth building around a longer stay in Kandy rather than a single overnight stop, particularly given how much of the day the drive itself takes up. On the days you’re not on the road to the hill country, there’s plenty closer to hand: temples, lake walks, and colonial-era streets all sit within the broader list of places to visit in Kandy, giving a fuller sense of the city before or after the trip up to the hills.
A Storied Base to Return To
Queen’s Hotel sits directly across from the Temple of the Tooth, overlooking Kandy Lake, in a building with a long and genuine history of its own. For anyone drawn to Hakgala’s own story, a stay somewhere with real history behind it, rather than styled to look historic, makes a fitting match on either end of the day trip. The hotel’s concierge can also help arrange a private car or driver for the trip up to the hill country.
Among the hotels in Kandy town, Queen’s holds the most central and storied position of all, a short walk from the lake and the temple, and a comfortable base for a day spent further up in the hills.
Explore our hotel rooms in Kandy and current offers, or contact Queen’s Hotel for help planning your stay. Wherever the day takes you, from Kandy’s temple to a legendary garden in the hills, there’s a quiet pleasure in coming back to a room that’s seen its own share of history, in a city with just as many stories to tell as the one you’ve spent the day exploring.