Peradeniya, about 6 km west of Kandy along the main road to Colombo, is the university town — the University of Peradeniya occupies a large campus on a bend of the Mahaweli River, and the Royal Botanical Gardens are immediately adjacent. The area has a quieter, more academic character than central Kandy, with good guesthouses and restaurants catering to students and researchers.
The concentration of the Botanical Gardens, the university campus (which can be walked freely), and the riverside landscape makes Peradeniya a pleasant half-day from Kandy. Several of the antique fourteenth-century temples — Gadaladeniya, Lankatilaka, Embekke — are within a short tuk-tuk ride of Peradeniya.