Bucaramanga

Bucaramanga sits at around nine hundred metres on a terrace above the Rio de Oro, which gives it a warm but not oppressive climate year round and the nickname la ciudad bonita. It is called the city of parks for the number of green squares through the older districts. The terrace it stands on is geologically unstable - erosion at the escarpment edge produces landslides and the city has long-running engineering works to hold the slopes, which is a real constraint on where it can grow. Girón next door is a preserved colonial town of whitewashed streets, and Floridablanca and Piedecuesta complete the metropolitan area. The Chicamocha canyon and its cable car are about an hour south.

History

Bucaramanga was founded on 22 December 1622 as an Indigenous town where gold was washed from the alluvial deposits of the La Rosita ravine, and only in 1779 did it become a parish; neighbouring Girón remained the more important town until the early 19th century. German merchants, Geo von Lengerke the best known, came in the 1860s and 1870s, and in 1886 Bucaramanga replaced Socorro as the capital of Santander; it is known as the city of parks for its more than 160 parks (Wikipedia, Bucaramanga).

What to look for

• A city on a terrace above a river - warm year round at nine hundred metres.
• Green squares through the old districts - the city of parks.
• Slope engineering at the escarpment - holding unstable ground.
• Colonial Giron next door - whitewashed and preserved.

When to go

Year round; the climate is even. A full day.

Before you go

It is a working city rather than a tourist one - the attractions are around it. Traffic is heavy. Landslide works affect some edge districts. Most visitors use it as a base for Santander rather than a destination.

Nearby

Giron is south-west; the Chicamocha canyon is about an hour south.

Key facts