Manizales guide
Mountains, viewpoints, coffee, hot springs and balcony towns. A selection to fill your stay with unhurried plans.
Photo: The NASA Expedition 23 crew · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Façades, viewpoints and streets to explore slowly.
Must see
Manizales rose, burned and rose again, and all of it can be read in its streets. Between 17th and 25th streets more than a hundred Republican façades survive, best explored on foot: wooden balconies, corner cafés and squares where the city stops to talk. A relaxed walk to start understanding where you are.
The tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary reaches about 113 meters, and from the top the city unfolds in 360°: rooftops, mountain canyons and, under a clear sky, the snow-capped volcanoes. You go up in groups and with a small entrance fee. Choose an hour of good light and let the silence of the heights do the rest.
Chipre is the balcony of Manizales. From its lookout you can see the mountain range, the Ruiz and Santa Isabel snow-capped volcanoes and the Cauca and Risaralda valleys, and Luis Guillermo Vallejo's monument honors the muleteers who founded the city on muleback. Stay until sunset: when the lights come on, the place changes its skin.
Photo: EnBrazosDeLaFiebre · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Riding the cable car is the calmest way to look at Manizales: the city passes below, rooftop after rooftop, while the mountain grows larger. It connects the El Cable area with Villamaría and is also a practical way to leave the city without traffic. A short trip with plenty of scenery.
Forest, coffee, zip lines and mountains minutes from your door.
Nature and adventure
Must see
A 179-hectare reserve where the visit starts in the air: an 860-meter cable that crosses the forest. Below you will find the hummingbird lookout, the butterfly house, the Japanese garden, the orchid forest and the Zeri Pavilion, a piece of guadua-bamboo architecture. Tours leave every hour on the hour and need no reservation, according to official information.
Nature and adventure
Adrenaline with a mountain view, inside the city: five zip lines, a 105-meter hanging bridge, rappelling beside a waterfall and a climbing wall. If you prefer calm, it has a natural science museum and trails. Ideal when the group wants different things.
Nature and adventure
Five minutes from downtown, 34 hectares of humid forest with trails to walk without hurry. It is the easiest escape to the forest in Manizales: you arrive, breathe deeply, listen to the birds and are back in time for lunch.
Created in 1974 in the heart of the Coffee Region, it protects volcanoes, páramos and the few glaciers Colombia has left. Nevado del Ruiz has been on yellow alert since 2010, so access is limited: before leaving, check the entry status and bring warm clothes, sun protection and patience with the altitude.
Photo: The NASA Expedition 23 crew · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
A coffee farm with nearly a hundred years of tradition. On the tour you follow coffee from bean to cup (about two and a half hours), and in the chocolate workshop you roast and grind your own cacao to take your recipe home. Book in advance; it is worth it.
Nature and adventure
A family farm with more than 840 orchid species, more than 200 bird species and water springs among the green. Visits are by prior reservation and at the pace of someone who comes to look slowly.
Nature and adventure
A tour through eight rural districts of Villamaría to experience the coffee countryside: waterfalls, horseback rides, sport fishing, agritourism and community tourism, with families who welcome you into their land.
Nature and adventure
About 15 km from Manizales, in the San Peregrino district, a place to learn by creating and in a group, with no classrooms or hierarchies. For anyone who wants to leave the routine and reconnect with the land.
Hot water born from the volcanoes, to let your body let go.
Hot springs
Must see
A hot-spring hotel at about 3,500 meters, in the buffer zone of Los Nevados Park. Sulfurous water springs from the volcano and fills two pools, with cold mountain air all around. It has about 20 rooms and one suite. Bring a coat for getting in and out of the water.
Hot springs
A few minutes from Manizales, in Villamaría, among dense vegetation. The thermal water springs from the "Mina de Hierro" thanks to the activity of Nevado del Ruiz volcano and reaches the pools with that earthy smell that goes with good hot springs.
Hot springs
Three plans in one place: a hotel, Ecotermales with a three-temperature pool, restaurant and trails, and the Acuaparque with thermal pools, slides and a pool bar. Prices change between weekdays and weekends; confirm them before you go.
Hot springs
A family-run hacienda reached on horseback, about a 25-minute ride. The rate includes lodging, meals, a visit to the thermal spring and the pool. Total disconnection, with mountain scenery.
Sunrise among hundreds of bird species.
Birdwatching
Must see
About 20 minutes from the city, 4,900 hectares of high-Andean forest and subpáramo between 2,250 and 3,800 meters. It is the source of Manizales' water and a refuge for some 350 bird species, as well as white-tailed deer and other mammals. Get up early: the best hours for watching are at sunrise.
Birdwatching
30 minutes from Manizales on the road to Bogotá, between 2,800 and 3,900 meters above sea level. High-Andean forest and páramo protected for decades, with more than 120 bird species. Dress warmly and bring binoculars.
Birdwatching
Reserva Kairi, Ecohotel La Juanita and Paraíso Verde offer trails and gardens for birdwatching, with recorded sightings of 127 to 192 species, just ten minutes from downtown. For an early start without going far.
Birdwatching
A 15-hectare dry-forest reserve in San Peregrino, home to birds, butterflies, reptiles and centuries-old trees. It offers full-day birdwatching tours for small groups, an experience made for photography and unhurried observation.
Birdwatching
In Villamaría, at about 1,450 meters and with a warm climate, this 100-hectare farm combines birds, hikes, horseback rides and a coffee tour. A place to spend the whole day among green landscapes.
Heritage, panela sweets and coffee landscapes outside the city.
Must see
Only 7 km away, reached by the Pan-American Highway or by cable car. One municipality holds the snow-capped volcano, waterfalls, hot springs and coffee farms: hiking, mountain biking, camping and birdwatching a few minutes from the city.
The "friendly gateway to northern Caldas", about 22 km away. Here you try the corcho, the panela sweet made in its traditional mills, among coffee landscapes. For a short and sweet excursion.
A Heritage Town of Colombia, from where the colonizing campaigns of northern and western Caldas set out. Cobblestone streets, balconied houses, a lookout over the La Samaria valley, a wax-palm forest and coffee tours.
About 126 km away, the first town founded by the Paisa settlers in Caldas and also a Heritage Town. Traditional architecture, hand-woven iraca-palm hats and the National Festival of the Colombian Pasillo.
Founded in 1819, it is a land of Indigenous heritage, tradition and varied climate in the Western Cordillera. Known for its carnival, it is worth visiting for its people and customs.
Nearby towns
About 77 km away, in warm lowlands and surrounded by canyons such as Arcón. Every two years it celebrates the Feria de la Colación and offers the Ruta de la Dulce Cultura.
About 68 km away, known as the balcony of the landscape. The classic plan: climb to Cristo Rey, walk through the historic center and visit the Las Heliconias eco-technological park.
About 80 km away, on the banks of the Risaralda River with a warm climate; it is called the tourist paradise of Caldas. It has the Túnel de los Samanes, sport fishing and horseback rides.
Photo: Alejandro Bayer Tamayo from Armenia, Colombia · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Areas and places to sit down for a meal in Manizales.
Where to eat
Must see
La Beautiful in La Francia, and downtown El Dauntaun, Rooftop La Cúpula and La Azotea: terraces and high places to eat with the city at your feet.
Where to eat
Paisa cooking and grills in Chipre (La Mazorca Paisa, Asados Chavita, El Colmado Cocina) and food with a view on the Cuchilla del Salado (Café Snack La Terraza, Picnic Bar La Camelia).
Where to eat
A nightlife district of burgers, poke and sushi (La Milagrosa Burger House, Ono Poke, La Shiraka, Sushi Time), grill in Belén (A la Leña) and variety in La Estrella: Doyo, Danta Pizzería, Teckel FoodCo, Komo, Spago and Bretton.
Where to eat
The areas with the most variety: El Jardín de las Delicias, Inkú (Peruvian), Padrísimo, La Luna de Valencia and Ednia in Palermo; and in Milán, Buffalo Republic, Un Lugar de La Mancha, Helénica, Sakura Teppanyaki & Sushi Bar, Porkos, L'Angevin, Ozul, Místico, Las Redes, La Patatería, L'Atelier, Cortesana and Vino y Pimienta.
Where to eat
Al Barril (Alta Suiza), Sushi Fusion and Krabbies (Kevin Ángel), DCC Ahumados (Enea) and Fogata Familiar on the road to Neira.
For rainy days.
Shopping
Must see
Fundadores (2009), Cable Plaza (nightlife district, near the universities), Mallplaza, Sancancio (the oldest) and Parque Caldas (downtown, from 1986) bring together shops, cinemas and restaurants for rainy days.
Reference content written by Casa 1982 based on what is published by Visit Manizales. Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons and are credited to their author and license. Hours, prices and access status may change: confirm them with each place before you go.
