Manizales, a university city in the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia, isn’t very touristy but does have a few sites of interest, including a few nature parks just outside of the city.
Manizales is one of the three major cities located in Colombia’s Coffee Region and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia. It’s mainly a university city and is home to one of the most important festivals in Colombia, the Manizales Fair (Feria de Manizales), which includes bullfighting events and an international beauty pageant. It also has a slightly more European feel to it than other Colombian cities.
A large town in the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia, Caicedonia is located in the department of Valle del Cauca. It sits only 45 minutes from Armenia.
Alcalá is a small town in the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia. It’s located in the department of Valle del Cauca.
All my life I’ve been used to jam packed churches for Greek Orthodox Easter, no matter where I’ve lived. In Northwest Indiana and Chicago, the churches are so full it’s nearly impossible to find a spot if you don’t show up super early. It was the same in Melbourne and Istanbul where I even had to stand outside of the church. In all these places, the familiar smell of burnt hair from someone’s stray candle was always in the air. This Easter, my first in Colombia, was completely different.
PANACA is an agricultural based theme park in the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia. It features several different species of domesticated animals and many that are exotic to Colombia.
Supía is a small town with a pleasant plaza, just a half hour from Riosucio. It’s part of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia.
Riosucio is a town that is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia. It is better known for its biennial carnival, the Carnival of the Devil (Carnaval del Diablo). It’s one of the most popular and important carnivals in all of Colombia and takes place every January of odd-numbered years.
Covering 519 km² of area of Colombia’s western Andes Mountains is Tatamá National Park (Parque Nacional Natural Tatamá). This lesser-known park is spread out over the departments of Risaralda, Chocó, and Valle del Cauca and is one of the more inaccessible national parks in the country.
The small town of Pueblo Rico, located about three hours from Pereira, has almost nothing to offer. I visited on a short trip with my girlfriend Marisol and spent about an hour there.