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Manizales
Municipality and city in Andean Region, Colombia

Manizales

Manizales is a city in central Colombia.

Plan a trip to Manizales→From Medellín

It is the capital of the Department of Caldas, and lies near the Nevado del Ruiz volcano.

Get in

Getting to Manizales

  1. 01
    La Nubia Airport
  2. 02
    Manizales Bus Station
See

Worth seeing

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.

Do

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.

Eat

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.

How locals move

Getting around Manizales the local way

  • 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.
  • Get aroundTypes of buses range from large buses to smaller vans, and Willys jeeps are also available for side trips to outlying areas including local mountains and valley floors, prices vary depending on destination, but are cheap.

From Wikivoyage: Manizales, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-06.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0), Wikimedia Commons.