Santa Cruz de la Sierra Things to Do

3 more images

You have to visit "La Plaza". It is situated in the middle of the town, it's a pretty garden with a lot of things to do. There's many restaurants and pubs, you can visit the beautiful cathedral ant many other things. You can do some shopping at the "shopping bolivar."There's always people there, it's a clean place with policemen. But you can do what you want. you can have a drink, an ice, an old pic with a very funny old camera, you can dance and sing etc...All what you need can be found there!

A little past the Lagoon you will stumble upon a whole new world, inhabited by market stalls. Its mental!!! They sell everything here I swear! Rows upon rows of stalls with smattering of food vendors and chicken restaurants. We went to a place that outside looked like a shopping centre, but instead of shops inside, there was just more stalls! We had our first siting of the Ye Olde German (I think) immigrants, cant remember the cultures name but the traditional dress certainly stands out. Imagine old world quaint farm dress, but really elaborate.
Needless to say this area left us speechless.

There are marble chess tables situated all around the Plaza 24 Septembre which is so cool! The area is beautiful, clean and safe (Lots of guards nearby). The plaza is a great way to while away an hour or so when the weather is warm, and if youre getting a bit nippy sitting there in the evening there are plenty of guys wheeling around trolleys full of thermos`containing sweet, hot coffee to chase away that chill! I never liked coffee up until now. Oh P.S bring your own chess pieces, most tourist shops sell cheap boards that have a set inside for about a quid.

You can hire a paddle boat on the Lagoon for roughly 80p (8 bs). Its fun but hardwork as the boats have seen better days :) There will usually be people on the shore offering to take your picture with a polaroid if thats your thing.

3 more images

It is around Santa Cruz is where the more interesting places can be found. The village of Samaipata, 120 kilometres away from Santa Cruz, on the foothills of the Cordillera at 1600 metres is a pleasant little town that is near to the Pre-Inka ruins of El Fuerte. El Fuerte was a ceremonial site, there is not much left of it, but the ruins still merit a visit. The small village of Samaipata is cute and a nice place to relax.
There are also some smaller waterfalls in the vicinity that are worth visiting.

About 50 kms of Santa Cruz, near Samaipata and El Fuerte (you can easily combine the 3 sights for a pleasant day around Santa Cruz), there are 3 nice cascades you can visit. The access is on a private property, and you have to pay 5 Bolivianos to access. It is worth, as the cascades are nice, and the landscape is really nice as well.

In a city where there is no much to see, September 24th square is the center of the city life. You can buy in the market in the center of the square, or just sit and see people wandering, or admire the mixture between european catholic and indigeneous culture influences.

You can not miss it when being in Santa Cruz. Admire also the view ont the Basilica Menor de San Lorenzo church, as seen on the picture.

Santa Cruz de la Sierra has a very important zoo, where you can see South American fauna, in a well-kept environment.
The picture shows a couple of macaws (Ara macao).

Santa Cruz de la Sierra tiene un zoológico muy importante, en donde se puede ver fauna Sudamericana, en un ambiente cuidado. La foto muestra una pareja de guacamayos (Ara macao).