Manizales
Manizales is a city in central Colombia.
Manizales is a city in central Colombia. It is the capital of the Department of Caldas, and lies near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Manizales
4 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Estadio Palogrande
Estadio Palogrande is a multi-purpose stadium in Manizales, Colombia with a capacity of 31,611. It is currently used mostly for football matches as home venue of the Once Caldas, winners of the 2004 Copa Libertadores.
2.6 km · football stadium · Wikipedia - 02Catedral Basílica Metropolitana Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Manizales)
The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Manizales Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral located in front of the Plaza de Bolívar in the historic center of Manizales, Colombia. At 119 m, it is the tallest cathedral in Colombia and Hispanic America, and the tallest Neogothic church in the Americas.
800 m · national monument of Colombia · Wikipedia - 03Torre de Herveo
Torre de Herveo, also known as Torre del Cable, is a wooden Colombian lattice tower which was the tallest of the support towers of the Manizales - Mariquita Cableway. The Torre de Herveo was in service from 1922 to 1961.
2.9 km · national monument of Colombia · Wikipedia - 04University of Caldas
The University of Caldas, is a public, coeducational, research university based in Manizales, Caldas, Colombia. It is the most important higher education institution in the Department of Caldas.
2.3 km · Colombian university · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Chipre is a district in the west of Manizales with Manizales' highest altitude. On top of a hill you find a beautiful park called 'Los Colonializadores' with some human-sized sculptures from 2002, representing the colonists who set up Manizales. The same hill serves as viewpoint as well, where you can overlook the city and beautiful coffee rich valleys down below.
From Wikivoyage: Manizales, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
The city has a municipal auditorium and theatres where you can attend concerts, operas, and listen to symphonic music. There are lots of night clubs, discos, and bars that serve up lively house, trance, rock, salsa, and tango music. The Zona Rosa is where most of night clubs, discos, restaurants and coffee bars are located, and 'Luker Plaza' is the city's newest, ultra modern commercial development.
From Wikivoyage: Manizales, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
The traditional food comes from Antioquia, the region to northwest and famous for the city of Medellin. Lunch-time meals usually consist of a soup made from plantain (a variety of green bananas), followed by a plate of rice and selection of fried pork, beef, or chicken, with small cabbage salad in vinegar dressing.
From Wikivoyage: Manizales, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Manizales
- Airports
- Jose Maria Córdova (MDE), 122 km · El Dorado (BOG), 156 km · Alfonso Bonilla Aragon (CLO), 195 km
- Stations
- La Nubia Airport, 6.7 km
- Medellín → Manizales131 km · quickest by road, 3h 34m · COL$37,250–49,650
- Bogota → Manizales166 km · quickest by road, 6h 34m · COL$50,350–67,150
- Cali → Manizales214 km · quickest by road, 4h 59m · COL$45,400–60,550
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Manizales
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Manizales. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inis a modern facility next to the lower cable car station.
- Get inThe cable car can take you to the city centre for COP$2300 (great views).
- Get inColectivos to Chinchiná cost COP$7300 per person and take about 40 minutes (May 2026).
- Get inCali: COP$30,000, 5 hours Bogotá: COP$77,000, 8 hours (Expresso Bolivariano) Medellín: COP$38,000, 5 hours Pereira: COP$12,000 (May 2026), 1 hr 15 min every 15 minutes with a minibus Armenia: COP$17,000, 2 hr 15 min every 15 minutes with a minibus Some common bus companies in Colombia that are found in this Terminal are: Expreso Bolivariano Expreso Bolivariano- This company has one of the most extensive networks.
- Get aroundBy cable car There are two operating cable-car lines, both meeting at the main bus station.
From Wikivoyage: Manizales, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-06.
- 01445 km
- 021,322 km
- 031,818 km
- 041,898 km
- 051,929 km
If you know how people move in Manizales – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Manizales
Manizales is 35 km from Pereira, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- VillamaríaColombian municipality of the department of Caldas2.5 km