Hotel Suisse Kandy

Hotel Suisse is the classic old-world stay in Kandy, and its story is as layered as the city’s. According to its owners, Ceylon Hotels Corporation, the site was the seventeenth-century residence of the Chief Minister of the Royal Granary under the Kandyan kings. The British acquired it in 1818 and an officer named it Haramby House; it was later sold to a Swiss lady, Madam Burdayron, who ran it as a guest house, which explains the name. From 1943 to 1945 it served as the headquarters of the South East Asia Command during the Second World War, and the present hotel grew from there. Today the colonial-styled building sits right beside Kandy Lake on nearly four acres of landscaped gardens, with about ninety rooms, a swimming pool and a children’s pool, a restaurant and a bar. It is a comfortable mid-range base with real character rather than polish, and its lakeside position is hard to beat.

Location and getting around: the hotel is at 30 Sangaraja Mawatha on the lake front, about a twenty-minute walk along the water to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, and a few minutes from the forest trails of Udawattakele Sanctuary. The walk round the lake is one of the pleasures of staying here. Tuk-tuks wait nearby for the town centre and Peradeniya’s botanic gardens, and free parking makes it easy if you travel with a driver.

The rooms: rooms are spacious and traditional, with colonial furniture; ask for a lake-view room. Some guests find the décor and fittings dated, so set expectations for heritage charm rather than modern luxury.

Who it suits: history lovers, families who want a pool and gardens, and travellers with a driver who value easy parking and a quiet lakeside setting over a central street address.

Good to know: breakfast is a buffet that may cost extra depending on your rate. The pool is open in daytime hours. Trains from Colombo were restored to Peradeniya in October 2026 after cyclone repairs; check current services, or come by road.