Manizales Travel Guide

Manizales is built on a fairly straight stretch at the foot of one of the Cordillera Central mountains. This typical Colombian city is dominated by the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, is not overrun by tourists (yet) and can be reached easily from Bogota. There are several direct flight daily. One can connect easily witht the rest of the world through Bogota.

 Several fires and a devastating earthquake in 1878 ruined a great part of the old buildings. Nowadays, it bears a rather modern character and it has many universities, attracting students from all over the area. The Cathedral de Manizales, located at the central square, is an impressive architectural piece of art and a must for visitors. Besides this, Manizales is known for its annual festivals, such as the Manizales Fair in January, the International Theatre Festival in September and the Bullfighting competitions.

The nearby Parque de los Nevados (snow-peaks and thermal baths finished off with some astonishing views) can be easily explored from Manizales.

Nightlife in Manizales is vibrant, especially Thursday through Sunday. There are many outdoor restaurants and coffee shops. These fill up with students from the seven universities scattered about the city. One can admire the typically beautiful colombianas. Manizales has more than it's share of them.

Manizales has about 400,000 people, but is blessed with a small town atmosphere. However there are  shopping malls, a wide variety of food, movies, theater, live music (a fine music school is located here), and the concommitant famously beautiful Colombian girls to complement it all. perhaps one drawback at this writing is a lack of upscale lodging.