Matale is a mid-sized hill-country town in Sri Lanka's Central Province, lying in a broad valley about 25 km north of Kandy on the main road to Dambulla and the Cultural Triangle. Surrounded by the Knuckles Mountain Range foothills, it is the heart of Sri Lanka's spice-growing region, famous for cinnamon, pepper, cardamom and the roadside spice gardens where visitors can tour plantations and sample Ayurvedic products. The town itself is known for the colourful Sri Muthumariamman Thevasthanam Hindu temple, the gilded Aluvihare Rock Cave Temple where the Pali Buddhist canon was first committed to writing, and as a gateway to Nalanda Gedige and Riverston. Nearby Kandy, the last royal capital of the Sinhalese kings and a UNESCO World Heritage city, adds the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, a scenic lake and the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, making the Matale–Kandy corridor one of the most visited inland regions of the island. The climate is warm and humid with cooler evenings, and the area is easily reached by road or by the scenic Kandy–Matale railway line.
Matale is a mid-sized hill-country town in Sri Lanka's Central Province, lying in a broad valley about 25 km north of Kandy on the main road to Dambulla and the Cultural Triangle. Surrounded by the Knuckles Mountain Range foothills, it is the heart of Sri Lanka's spice-growing region, famous for cinnamon, pepper, cardamom and the roadside spice gardens where visitors can tour plantations and sample Ayurvedic products. The town itself is known for the colourful Sri Muthumariamman Thevasthanam Hindu temple, the gilded Aluvihare Rock Cave Temple where the Pali Buddhist canon was first committed to writing, and as a gateway to Nalanda Gedige and Riverston. Nearby Kandy, the last royal capital of the Sinhalese kings and a UNESCO World Heritage city, adds the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, a scenic lake and the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, making the Matale–Kandy corridor one of the most visited inland regions of the island. The climate is warm and humid with cooler evenings, and the area is easily reached by road or by the scenic Kandy–Matale railway line.