Gampola – Hotels in Gampola

Gampola is a town located in Kandy District, Central Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. Gampola was made the capital of the island by King Buwanekabahu IV, who ruled for four years in the mid-fourteenth century. The last king of Gampola was King Buwanekabahu V, who ruled the island for 29 years.

Gampola, or so-called Gangasiripura because of the Mahaweli (Mahaweli Ganga) flowing by its side, is a beautiful town that stands 300 – 500 m altitude, situated in a valley surrounded by hills and located near to Kandy. Geologically the region belongs to the Highland Complex of Sri Lanka and major rock formation is Precambrian charnockite gneiss with strips of quartz and biotite gneiss here and there. Soil profile of the region could identify as Red Yellow Podzolic soils and Mountain Regosols. Mean annual rainfall is in between 3,000 and 3,500 mm (120 and 140 in) and mean annual temperature is in between 20 and 25 °C (68 and 77 °F). Due to the geomorphology of the Gampola and its vicinity, which characterised by steep hills stand from plain, it was declared as a landslide prone area. However, with its flat terrain with being a catchment area of River Mahaweli, our region has become highly used in agricultural purposes both in traditional (paddy, chena, home gardens) and industrial plantations (majorly tea). Tea, natural forests, mixed home gardens, steeply dissected hilly and rolling, soil profile with the prominent A1 horizon and lithosol soils can be considered as its unique ecological background. Administratively, Gampola is an urban council belongs to the Kandy district of Central Province.[1] In traditional administration region system, it once belonged to the Maya rata before the 13th cent. AD and in Kandy period to the Ganga Pahala Koralaya of Uda Palatha of Kandy district.[2]