Armenia Things to Do

I took a day tour with a good English guide and we visited this site near Salento. It is a park dedicate to preserving the famous Quindio wax palms which are able to withstand freezing temperatures. Just had time to get some good pics there, hike a little, and take in the views.

This is a large amusement park dedicated to the glories of coffee. Truth be told, the hosts at my hotel had to talk me into going here but I was glad I did. There are acres and acres of beautiful gardens and a cultural show that is a cut above what you would see at an amusement park in the U.S. There are rides but you can get a ticket that doesn't include them. It still fills a day pretty easily.

More pictures of this park are in the travelogue.

Recuca is a finca (coffee farm) about 20 minutes from Armenia where they patiently take you through the steps of making coffee in about 90 minutes. They even let you pick the beans and drink the final product. If you come to this region, you likely have some interest in coffee and this place is a great way to learn about it.

very beautiful colonial town of Salento
and amazing valley of Cocora famous for its wax-palms
The Cocora valley is the valley of the upper reaches of the Quindío River, the principal river of the department of Quindío, located at an altitude between 1800 and 2400 meters. The valley is approximately 24 km north-east of the departmental capital Armenia, and accessed via a turn-off from the Armenia-Pereira highway, running via Boquia to the town of Salento. Vehicles (either private cars or jeep taxis from Salento) can then travel 11 km further on up into the valley as far as "Cocora", a collection of campsites and restaurants - other parts of the valley can only be accessed either by hiking on the numerous trails or on horseback.

The Cocora valley is part of a larger national park, the Los Nevados National Natural Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Natural de Los Nevados). The Park covers an area of 58,000 hectares (580 km2) in total,[2] including the north-eastern part of Quindío

El Parque Nacional del Café, fue fundado por la Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia y el Comité Departamental de Cafeteros del Quindío, pertenece a la Fundación Parque de la Cultura Cafetera y es una entidad sin ánimo de lucro destinada a la preservación del patrimonio cultural e histórico del café en Colombia, a la promoción de actividades culturales, recreativas, ecológicas y al impulso del ecoturísmo en la región.



Es un parque temático y de atracciones lleno de todo el esplendor del paisaje quindiano donde encontrará toda la magia y la historia de la cultura cafetera.

PANACA - Parque nacional de la cultura agropecuaria: Parque interactivo, recinto cultural y hotelero, campamentos de verano .Ubicado en el Municipio de Quimbaya, es un gran parque temático en el que podrá disfrutar al máximo la belleza de la vida en el campo. Entre otras atracciones disfrute del asombroso mundo de la ganadería, el fascinante mundo de la avicultura,el sensacional mundo de la porcicultura, el amigable mundo del perro, el curioso mundo de la sericultura, el novedoso mundo de los biorganicos, el espectacular mundo del caballo y el interesante mundo de la agronomía. (Consulte nuestros programas turísticos del Quindio)

The Botanical Gardens are located outside a little town about 20 minutes from Armenia, and can make for a nice way to spend an afternoon. The gardens are full of all sorts of different trees and plants, including, our guide told us, the oldest variety of tree on earth. There is also a model of the Quidio department, including towns and villages.

It is only possible to visit through a guided tour, which I think may also be available in English, I am not sure.

The Mariposaria, or butterfly sanctuary, is included in the botanical gardens tour. You are first able to see it from the top of a viewing platform, where you see that it is a greenhouse in the shape of a butterfly.

When you do go in, there are hundreds or thousands of butterflys of all shapes, colours and sizes flying around. Our guide told us about that if you lick your finger and put it next to a butterly, it will hop on and lick your finger, as they are atracted to something in our saliva.

It has been called the Disneyland of the coffee bean, and in a sense it is, complete with roller coaster and other such rides. The real attraction however (unless you are with children ofcourse) are the sections of the park showcasing the growing of coffee and the paisa lifestyle.

When you first enter the park, there is, on the right-hand side, a small museum on coffee. Then there is a teleferico that can bring you down to the lower level of the park, which is where the roller coaster and other rides are. As well as a mock 'pueblo paisa', complete with a central plaza, church and surrounding buildings which serve as a foodcourt.

The real atractions are on the slopes between the upper and lower levels of the park. Here you will find a garden showcasing the different varieties of coffee grown in different parts of the world. There is a typical paisa house, complete with epoque furnishings and a paisa guy who was very friendly and lent me his (much too small) hat and bag for a me-as-a-paisa photo. Behind this was, in my opinion, the greatest attraction in the park. We got a free guided tour (Spanish only) that showed us through the different stages of coffee growing, from plantation to harvest, fermentation to drying in the sun to roasting and the segregation of beans, all done by had, for eventual export to different parts of the world. Very interesting tour, I had no idea so much work went into coffee production. Also in this area are a guadua (type of bamboo) forest and a recreation of a Quimbaya Indian cemetary.

The other highlight of my visit was the Show Del Cafe. It is an amazing live performance telling the paisa and coffee story through song and dance. An absolute must see.

The Plaza de la Alcaldia is a large square on which sits Armenias alcaldia, or mayors office. There is a large open space in front of the alcaldia, which is paved and has trees, many shoe-shiners and such folk hang around here. Behind the alcaldia is a small food market of sorts.

On the north end of this large plaza is the Iglsesia de San Francisco.

Armenias Plaza Bolivar is probably one of the more unique ones in the country, as it does not have a single historic building surrounding it, not even the church. The church, Catedral de la Inmaculada Conception, was described by one guidebook as a 'tentlike hunk of concrete'. That is a pretty good way to describe it, in my view. Also on the plasa is a giant statue, named Monumento al Esfuerzo.

On the side opposite the church are some small coffee and newspaper stands. Beside the church is a little cafe. This part of the plaza (beside the church) is a little elevated and has nice views over the city below and the hills beyond.