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| Other sites of interest |
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 Coffee Foundation Park
This park to acquaint tourists with coffee production was created in Montenegro Municipality in the Department of Quindío, 25 kilometers from Armenia, by the National Federation of Coffee Producers. Step-by-step, visitors are shown the benefits of coffee, the national and international varieties of coffee and the plants native to the region. The park also contains the Coffee Museum, the Ecological Path, the Legendary Forest, a cable car, a roller coaster, the muleteers’ way, the giant bamboo bridge, the train station, and the orchid show.
For further information call 096-753 6095 or visit the website www.parquenacionaldelcafe.com.
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 National Park for the Knowledge of Agriculture
The park was created as a new integral program model in which man, the environment and agrotourism interact.
The mission of this theme park is to spread the knowledge and adoption of agricultural practices, combined with the holding of camps to allow both young people and adults to enjoy different recreational activities developed on the basis of 7 fundamental pillars: education, enjoyment, technology, research, culture, tourism and marketing.
For more information communicate by e-mail at panaca@panaca.com or consult the website www.panaca.com.
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 Cocora Valley
Located in the Salento Municipality of the Department of Quindío in the foothills of the Central Cordillera, the Cocora Valley’s main attraction is the Palma de Cera del Quindío, Colombia´s national tree. This majestic tree, which grows up to an altitude of 3 300 masl, can reach a height of up to 60 meters.
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Daring settlers crossed Colombia’s Western and Central Cordilleras and settled on their slopes in an effort to boost the progress and development of a region that one hundred years later is considered the country’s most traditional. Its towns stand as an example to the architecture of the period, which, intermingling giant bamboo, wood and coffee, distinguishes it from the rest of the country.
Tourists travelling its roads are invited to savor the aroma of the world’s best coffee and enjoy the tales of the muleteers who, with their stories, revitalize the love and respect for the land. The Coffee Circuit covers the Departments of Caldas, Risalralda and Quindío, which witnessed the prosperity that coffee brought to the country in the last century. In periods of crisis, thanks to the perseverance of their people, these Departments have turned to tourism and have lavished their proverbial hospitality on their visitors. The route offers tourists the opportunity to lodge at coffee plantations and starting at daybreak, participate in the region’s normal everyday activities, starting with a visit to the coffee growing areas, then on to the harvesting, and finally the preparation of the delicious typical Colombian coffee.
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The coffee route, which has one of the country’s best maintained and interconnected roads, can be reached from several points, such as the cities of Pasto, Cartagena, Cúcuta and Bogotá. Visits can be made to the towns of Chinchina, Palestina, Neira, Salamina, Santa Rosa de Cabal, Filandia, Salento, Circasia, La Tebaida, Montenegro, Quimbaya, Córdoba, Pijao, Calarca and Cajamarca, which make up the well-known tourist route.
It is also possible to fly into the area from Bogotá.
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Tourist Attractions |
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 Manizales
Antioquian settlers founded Manizales, capital of the Department of Caldas, in 1849. The city enjoys a mild climate of about 15°C. Its streets are steep and afford a view of the imposing Nevado del Ruiz.
Manizales’ tourist attractions include the Chapel of Enea, built in 1876 and declared a national monument; the Metropolitan Basilica; the Gold Museum, which houses a large collection of ceramics and gold and silver articles fashioned by the Quimbaya Culture, one of the most representative of Colombia’s pre-Colombian art; the Bull ring where the traditional Manizales Fair is held at the beginning of the year and the Railroad Station, which has been restored as an example of the architecture of the period.
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 Pereira
Capital of the Department of Risaralda, it was founded in 1863 by Antioquian and Valluno settlers over the remains of a town of the Quimbaya, a pre-Colombian culture that inhabited the area before the Spaniards’ arrival. Pereira is considered to be a burgeoning city, whose garment and heavy engineering industries make it a center of industrial development.
El Bolívar Desnudo, the Naked Bolívar, Rodrigo Arenas Betancur’s masterwork, is the city’s most representative symbol. Others of its attractions include the Gold and Ceramics Museum; the Viaduct: the Monument to the Founders and the traditional Matecaña Zoo located in front of the airport.
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 Armenia
Jesús María Ocampo founded Armenia, known as the Miracle City, capital of the Department of Quindío, in 1889. Nature lovers can admire the majesty of the mountainous landscape from the Quindío lookout. Its main attractions include the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the Cultural Center, the Quimbaya Museum and the Bolívar square.
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 Los Nevados National Natural Park
Rivers that cross the country and make Colombia’s lands fertile were born as impetuous torrents on the slopes of the snow-covered Tolima, Quindío, El Cisne, Santa Isabel and Ruiz volcanoes.
Covering an area of 58 000 hectares, the park offers tourists the enchantment of a mountainous landscape with heights of up to 5 400 masl, where they can walk, trek, climb and practice winter sports under the direction of a park guide.
The highest points in the park are the snow-capped volcanoes: the Cisne at 4 800 meters, the Santa Isabel at 4 950 meters, the Quindío at 4 800 meters, the Tolima at 5 215 meters and the Ruiz at 5 400 meters. The latter can be reached by road from Manizales, which ends at the Refuge, where food and lodging are available and the climb can be started. For all of these activities, it is necessary to obtain the permission of the Ministry of the Environment’s Special Administrative Unit for National Natural Parks. For further information call the following telephone number in Bogotá: 243 3095.
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