Enjoy Salento

What is truly stunning about the Coffee Cultural Landscape is, in fact, the warmth and kindness of the inhabitants of the many towns that comprise it. When you pass through Salento, you will realize that the secret ingredient of one of the best coffees in the world is something that Colombians easily communicate: pure love.

Salento is the oldest town in this region, located very close to the towns of Armenia (twenty-five kilometers), Calarcá (twenty-six kilometers), Circasia (fifteen kilometers), and Filandia (twenty kilometers). Adorned with the national tree “The Wax Palm,” it stands out for its wide variety of tourist destinations whose experiences attract thousands of tourists each year.

With an average temperature of 18ºC, Salento is known for the colorful architecture of its houses made of bahareque; a mixture of cane, wood, and earth that reminds us of the construction methods of our ancestors. Its colonial houses catch the eye with the joy of their color combinations and their balconies overflowing with pots of flowers and ferns.

What to do in Salento?

As you walk around, you will surely pass by the Main Park, where you will find the Town Hall, the temple of Our Lady of Carmen, numerous restaurants, shops, and cafés. Its square is adorned with many benches and gardens, centered around a statue of the Liberator Simón Bolívar. The “yipaos,” traditional vehicles from the region, appear on the streets filled with markets, flowers, and cargo, weaving the cultural landscape.

The “royal street” or sixth race will take you from the Bolívar Square to the Alto de la Cruz Hill. At the end of the walk, there is a staircase that leads to one of the best views of the region. From there, you can observe not only the town but also the Cocora Valley and the Natural National Park of the Nevados.

Cocora Valley Park and its wax palm in Salento
Cocora Valley. Photo: Charly Boillot


Nature lovers have the opportunity to learn on coffee farms about the mystical universe of this star product, whose aroma changes and can be perceived from the moment it’s on the bush until it’s served in a hot cup. You can take a tour of the coffee plantations, where they will teach you about its peculiarities: its varieties, production, and preparation process.

You might also be interested in: Visit Filandia

On these farms, you can stay and share by the light of a good campfire with tourists from various parts of the world.

Another nearby destination to Salento is the La Patasola Reserve, an ecosystem of humid forest covering one hundred fifty hectares that is open for ecological hikes. There you will find exotic flowers, waterfalls, and enjoy the singing and birdwatching in the region.

And a sought-after destination for the world’s most adventurous travelers is a visit to the Natural Park of the Nevados, whose mountain landscapes await you to show you thousands of frailejones, varieties of moss, arnica plants, and many other plant varieties from the páramo that conserve water and provide food for numerous unique animal species of this climate.

As you climb up to four thousand seven hundred meters high in these areas, you will encounter rocky varieties and springs of green and blue waters until you finally discover the ice of the Nevado. You can visit the Paramo de Santa Isabel on a one-day tour or the Nevado del Tolima on a three-day tour.

The Yipao is also experienced in Salento
Photo: Courtesy of Carlos Hurtado

Visit the beautiful Cocora Valley

To interact deeply with nature is the sole objective of those who pass through the Cocora Valley. You can choose from several trails to explore the landscape filled with The Wax Palms that can reach up to 60 meters in height. There are mountain biking trails, hiking paths, and you can also choose to view the beauty of the landscape from a paraglider. The mountain slopes will guide you along a unique trail filled with authentic treasures of flora and fauna until you finally reach the clouds.

Finally, you can delight in the typical dishes of the region, which include trout, mountain stew, sancocho, bandeja paisa, and cochinillo a la Cocora. What are you waiting for to travel and try them?

Photographs of our visitors

Salento

 

Salento

 

Salento