Sri Lanka’s cultural capital and the last seat of the Kandyan kingdom, a highland city built around a man-made lake and defined by the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, whose three daily puja ceremonies have continued without interruption for centuries. The city’s extraordinary Esala Perahera festival in July and August, a candlelit procession of elephants, drummers, and dancers that runs for ten consecutive nights, is one of the most spectacular traditional events in Asia.