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Sri Lanka Sri Lanka scenic viewpoint

Arthur's Seat, Kandy

You can see 66 km from here, looking south-east.

51Viewyas Score

Viewpoint360°

Calculating the panorama…

Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.

The view

Up to 66 km away.

Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.

51out of 100

Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).

  • 66 kmFarthest ridgelooking south-east
  • 96%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
  • 1Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
  • 616 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint

The 1 peaks you can name from here

From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.

Bible Rock670 m · 25 km · south-west

From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.

The sun

The best sunsets are from February to March.

When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.

  1. Janwest4 min before the sea-level sunset36%
  2. Febwest4 min before the sea-level sunset44%
  3. Marwest8 min before the sea-level sunset45%
  4. Aprwest6 min before the sea-level sunset32%
  5. Maywest4 min before the sea-level sunset26%
  6. Junnorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset20%
  7. Julwest6 min before the sea-level sunset18%
  8. Augwest6 min before the sea-level sunset19%
  9. Sepwest8 min before the sea-level sunset25%
  10. Octwest4 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  11. Novwest6 min before the sea-level sunset23%
  12. Decsouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset26%
  • Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
  • Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
  • %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).

The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.

The place

Arthur's Seat, Kandy.

Lookout spot

Arthur's Seat, Kandy is a scenic viewpoint in Sri Lanka, 616 m above the sea.

On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 66 km away, looking south-east.

1 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Bible Rock (670 m), 25 km away.

The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 96% of the circle.

The skies are clearest from February to March.

Arthur's Seat, Kandy
AntanO · CC BY-SA 4.0

Get there and stay

Plan the visit

A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.

Tours, cable cars and tickets for Arthur's Seat, KandyGetYourGuideSee prices Stays with a view near Arthur's Seat, KandyBooking.comSee prices Car hire at CMB airport (Colombo)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The viewpoint and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.

Arthur's Seat, Kandy seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 14other viewpoints within 5 kmArthur’s Seat, Viewpoint of Asgiri Maha Vihara Pirivena and 12 more
  • 4named peaks within 5 kmKodimale Peak, Hantana 2, Primrose Hill and 1 more
  • 3marked trails within 3 kmPekoe Trail - Stage 01 - Hantana to Galaha
  • 9shelters and huts within 5 km
  • 42car parks within 3 km
  • 3visitor centres within 5 kmKandy Tourist Information Centre, Tourist Information Center
  • 132restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • 2campsites within 10 km
  • 404places to stay within 10 kmSenani, Nathashiya Holiday Inn, Lakshmi and 401 more
  • cable car and funicular stations within 5 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

What you see from Arthur's Seat, Kandy, and what is near.

Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.

Peakyas28 mountains within 25 km
Randles Hill · 2.7 kmAtikehelkanda · 9.5 kmMudakirigala · 12 kmAlagala · 19 kmKitulgala · 21 kmIngurugala · 22 kmEtapola · 23 kmKallumadura · 24 km
Islandyasthe island
Sri Lanka67,655 km²
Forestyas1 forests and trees within 15 km
Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya · 5.3 km
Cascadyas1 waterfalls within 15 km
Hunnas Falls · 14 km
Riveryasthe river nearby
Mahaweli River335 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The view, as people saw it.

Kandy Buddha statue, Sri Lanka
McKay Savage from Chennai, India · CC BY 2.0
Kandy, Sri Lanka - panoramio (33)
Daibo Taku · CC BY 3.0
Kandy, Sri Lanka - panoramio (35)
Daibo Taku · CC BY 3.0

Other viewpoints nearby.

Arthur's Seat, Kandy

Sri Lanka

  • 51Viewyas Score
  • 66 kmFarthest ridge
  • 1Peaks in view
  • 616 mAltitude

Adam's Peak

Sri Lanka · 56 km

  • 86Viewyas Score
  • 200 kmFarthest ridge
  • 11Peaks in view
  • 2,163 mAltitude

See the guide

Pidurutalagala

Sri Lanka · 35 km

  • 74Viewyas Score
  • 202 kmFarthest ridge
  • 6Peaks in view
  • 2,500 mAltitude

See the guide

World's End

Sri Lanka · 59 km

  • 67Viewyas Score
  • 176 kmFarthest ridge
  • 2Peaks in view
  • 2,110 mAltitude

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q55604250) · CC0
SunJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms
Peaks in viewPeakyas (Wikidata, CC0)
Panorama and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
CloudsNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Forestyas, Cascadyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit