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Cúcuta, officially San José de Cúcuta, is a city on the Colombian border with Venezuela. It was founded by Juana Rangel de Cuellar on June 17, 1733. Cúcuta is the capital of the Norte de Santander department and one of the most important cities for commerce in Colombia. It’s not a tourist destination.
Because it’s a large border city, we were expecting it to be unfriendly, seedy, and dirty. Instead, we were pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness, the people, and the amount of high-quality shopping. There are much worse border cities to be stuck in than Cúcuta, which typically has very hot weather.
Norte de Santander Museum (Permanently Closed)
We arrived by car from Pamplona in just under two hours. First, we parked the car and tried to visit the Norte de Santander Museum (Museo Norte de Santander), which is near Parque Colón. It’s a history museum that tells the story of Cúcuta and the department of Norte de Santander. Unfortunately, the museum had closed permanently at least a year before we arrived.
Parque Colón
From the former museum, we walked a block to Parque Colón, which is one of the main plazas in the city. It’s a nice green space with plenty of trees, a gazebo, and a monument in the center.
Three important buildings sit on Parque Colón. The largest and most prominent is the Julio Pérez Ferrero Public Library (Biblioteca Pública Julio Pérez Ferrero). It opened in 1919 in what was once the Hospital San Juan de Dios. It’s often recognized as one of the best libraries in the country.
Next to the library is a small church, Carmen Chapel (Capilla del Carmen), which was closed. It’s one of the few buildings that survived a devastating earthquake in 1875.
Another church, Our Lady of the Forsaken (Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados), sits across Parque Colón. It was also closed when we walked by.
Clock Tower
Just off Parque Colón is the Clock Tower (Torre del Reloj). Now a cultural center, it was built in 1923 as an office building. We didn’t visit, but when we walked by we noticed there was a photography exhibit.
Parque Santander
From there, we went to Parque Santander, the main plaza in Cúcuta. We were impressed at how nice and clean the plaza was, with several trees and a statue of Francisco de Paula Santander in the center.
Surrounding Parque Santander are several banks and currency exchange offices as well as retail stores. The Cúcuta City Hall (Alcaldía de Cúcuta) is also located there.
Cathedral of San José de Cúcuta
The most important building on Parque Santander is the Cathedral of San José de Cúcuta (Catedral de San José de Cúcuta). The parish dates back to 1734, and construction of the current church began in 1905 after the original church was destroyed in the earthquake of 1875.
Conclusion
Again, there’s no real reason to visit, but we were surprised at how nice Cúcuta was and were happy we took the time to walk around the city. Our main purpose for visiting, however, was Villa del Rosario, a historic area just 15 minutes south of the city.
