VALLE DE CÓCORA

Salento sits atop the VALLE DE CÓCORA, which contains a thick forest of the skyscraper wax palm, Colombia’s national plant, which grows up to 60m high. The valley, which offers picturesque hikes, is easily explored in a day-trip from Salento. The hamlet of Cócora, with a handful of restaurants, small shops and hotels, lies 11km east of Salento. From Cócora a well-trodden path leads into misty, pristine cloudforest, scattered with the remains of pre-Columbian tombs and dwellings. Orchids, bromeliads and heliconias are just some of the plant species that thrive here, and the fauna includes spectacled bear, native deer and puma, along with hundreds of bird species such as toucans, eagles and motmots.

A five- to six-hour loop walk starts from the blue gate in Cócora; the muddy track passes a trout farm and runs through farmland for around 45 minutes before reaching the park entrance, after which you’re following an uneven, slippery trail through cloudforest. The trail eventually branches, with one track leading up to the extremely worthwhile Reserva Acaime(entrance COP$3000), home to eighteen species of hummingbirds that flock to its bird feeders. The price includes a large mug of revitalizing hot chocolate and a chunk of locally produced cheese. You then retrace your steps to the main trail that crosses nine rickety wooden Indiana Jones-style bridges over the Río Quindío before the Finca La Montaña branch culminates at a mountain-top viewing platform with exhilarating valley views. The way down along a wide gravel road takes you past a cluster of wax palms – Colombia’s national tree.

 

Salento

In the heart of coffee country, the adorable village of SALENTO is one of the region’s earliest settlements, and its slow development means the original lifestyle and buildings of the paisa journeymen who settled here in 1842 have barely been altered since. Rural workers clad in cowboy hats and ruanas (Colombian ponchos) are a common sight. The colourful, wonderfully photogenic one-storey homes of thick adobe and clay-tile roofs that surround the plaza are as authentic as it gets.

Salento is a popular destination for weary backpackers who linger here to soak up the town’s unpretentious charms and hike in the spectacular Valle de Cócora or to use the town as a base to explore the rest of the Zona Cafetera. Salento is also the second most popular weekend destination in the country for Colombians, and on Saturdays and Sundays the main plaza hosts a food and handicrafts fair. Salento’s annual fiesta falls in the first week of January, when the town kicks up its heels for a week of horse processions, mock bullfighting and folk dancing.

From the top of Calle Real, steps lead to Alto de la Cruz, a hilltop mirador offering unbeatable vistas of the Valle de Cócora and, on a clear day, the peaks of snow-clad volcanoes in Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados.

 

TERMALES SAN VICENTE

These lavishly landscaped hot springs, 35km northeast of Pereira via the town of Santa Rosa de Cabal, feature a selection of steaming medicinal thermal pools scattered across some five square kilometres of cloudforest, river, waterfalls and luxuriant countryside. At 2330m, it gets pretty chilly up here, so it helps that the average pool temperature is 38°C. A variety of spa treatments is offered, including massage (COP$40,000) and mud therapy (COP$20,000). If you want to spend the night at the springs, the most cost-effective option is camping (COP$85,000 including entrance fee and breakfast). Further up the accommodation ladder are cabañas (COP$180,000).

These lavishly landscaped hot springs, 35km northeast of Pereira via the town of Santa Rosa de Cabal, feature a selection of steaming medicinal thermal pools scattered across some five square kilometres of cloudforest, river, waterfalls and luxuriant countryside. At 2330m, it gets pretty chilly up here, so it helps that the average pool temperature is 38°C. A variety of spa treatments is offered, including massage (COP$40,000) and mud therapy (COP$20,000). If you want to spend the night at the springs, the most cost-effective option is camping (COP$85,000 including entrance fee and breakfast). Further up the accommodation ladder are cabañas (COP$180,000).

Termales Santa Rosa

Sitting at the foot of a 25m-high waterfall and surrounded by lush greenery, these attractive hot springs consist of four thermal pools and a visitor centre with cafeteria and massages on offer, and you can also take a dip in the natural pool directly beneath the waterfall. Just a little further down the dirt road are the thermal springs attached to the Hotel Termales, which resembles an alpine chalet, with one large pool and two thimble-sized hot tubs available to non-guests, set against a spectacular backdrop of three tall waterfalls. There’s also a lavish spa on site.

PARQUE NACIONAL NATURAL LOS NEVADOS

Indisputably one of the crown jewels in Colombia’s national parks system, the PARQUE NACIONAL NATURAL LOS NEVADOS (entry COP$57,000, including guide), 40km southeast of Manizales, protects some of the last surviving snowcapped peaks in the tropics. Three of the five volcanoes are now dormant, but Nevado del Ruiz – the tallest at 5321m – remains an active threat, having killed 22,000 people and buried the now extinct town of Armero when it erupted in 1985. Sadly, though, for a park whose name, Nevado, implies perpetual snow, climate change has lifted the snow line to almost 5000m on most peaks. The best months to visit are January and February – clear days make for spectacular views of the volcanic peaks. March, July, August and December can also be ideal, while the rest of the year sees a fair amount of rain.

The park’s northern sector is the more touristy and is easily accessible from Manizales. Though it’s of little compensation, because of the severe melt, it’s now possible for even moderately fit armchair adventurers to reach Nevado del Ruiz’s summit in a long day’s journey from Manizales. Although not technically difficult – with good weather you can climb in regular hiking shoes – a guide (see Tour operator) is required to navigate the confusing path and assist in the event of altitude sickness.

At the time of writing, the Nevado Del Ruiz volcano was showing some activity, so the park was off-limits. Instead, Mountain House offers an alternative: hiking down through stunning mountain scenery, past mountain villages. The hostel arranges for its guests to meet a milkman’s cart at an assigned point at 4.30am; the milkman then drives up the mountain road to the starting point of the hike and picks up the hikers further down the road a couple of hours later, having finished his rounds. The outing costs around COP$50,000. Wear warm clothing as you’ll be going up to a high altitude in the middle of the night.

The dramatic southern end, where a dense wax-palm forest slowly metamorphoses into páramo near the cobalt-blue Laguna del Otún (3950m), can only be accessed on foot. Reaching Laguna del Otún from Manizales involves an initial four-hour drive, taking in park highlights such as the extinct Olleta crater, Laguna Verde and Hacienda Potosí, before culminating in a two-hour trek to the trout-stuffed lagoon (fishing permitted). You can also approach from the Valle de Cócora in Salento.

There is no public transport to the park. Many visitors come as part of a day-trip, which doesn’t allow a great deal of time for hiking. To explore the park at your leisure, it’s possible to sign up for a day-trip and then arrange to stay overnight, to be picked up by the same tour company the following day.

 

Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco

Around 3km northeast of Manizales, the Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco is home to 362 bird species, 350 butterfly species and more than forty mammals. Tranquil orchid-lined uphill hikes through impressive cloudforest reveal dense jungle flora entwined in a battle for a place in the sun; if you are lucky, you may catch a glimpse of the reserve’s endangered spectacled bear. There is also a hummingbird farm.

Torre al Cielo

In the northwest suburb of Chipre, on a high bluff at the end of Avenida 12 de Octubre, the 45m-tall Torre al Cielo is the town’s best lookout. On a clear day you can see seven departamentos and three mountain ranges. Buses run to Chipre from the Cable Plaza along Avenida Santander every minute or so.

Plaza de Bolívar

In the centre of the city, the main square is dominated by the vast Catedral de Manizales, made of reinforced concrete and featuring a virtigo-inducing, 106m-tall tower that you can ascend with a guide; tours start on the hour. In the centre of the plaza stands an obligatory statue of Simón Bolívar, but with a twist – Bolívar-Cóndor, the creation of Rodrigo Arenas Betancur, is half-man, half-condor.

MANIZALES AND AROUND

Founded in 1849 by migrating paisas, MANIZALES developed in the late nineteenth century with the growth of the coffee industry. One legacy is the numerous Neoclassical buildings in the city centre, which has been declared a national monument. This high-mountain city (altitude 2150m) sits at the base of the snowcapped Nevado del Ruiz volcano, which, on a clear day you can sometimes see burping vapour from the bridge in front of the Teatro Los Fundadores. Manizales owes its hilly topography to the geologically volatile earth beneath it, and earthquakes occur with some frequency.

Much of the town’s charm lies in its large student population, who help create a festive atmosphere, with night-time entertainment centred mostly on Cable Plaza. The party comes to a head in the first weeks of January during the Fería de Manizales, when there are colourful parades, a beauty pageant in search of a new Coffee Queen and bloody bullfights staged in the Plaza de Toros (C 8 and Cra 27). Manizales also makes an excellent base for exploring the surrounding coffee farms and the Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados.

 

• Plaza de Bolívar
• Torre al Cielo
• Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco