Jardin

Jardin was laid out in the middle of the nineteenth century and has kept its shape. The square is planted with tall trees and ringed by hundreds of wooden tables and chairs painted in strong colours, with the grey neo-Gothic Basilica Menor on one side; the streets running off it are lined with two-storey houses whose balconies are painted and carved. Two old cable systems, the garruchas, cross the valley to viewpoints in open cabins that are more agricultural than touristic. Outside town are the Cueva del Esplendor, a waterfall falling through a hole in a cave roof, and a reserve where male cocks-of-the-rock display at dusk.

What you actually see

• The painted square - coloured tables and chairs under tall trees below the basilica.
• The Basilica Menor - the grey stone neo-Gothic church that dominates the town.
• The garrucha cable cars - open cabins crossing the valley to hillside viewpoints.
• The cock-of-the-rock lek - orange males displaying at a reserve near town at dusk.

When to go

December to March and July to August are the least wet windows, though this is a green, damp corner of Antioquia and afternoon rain is normal in any month. Weekends and Colombian holidays fill the square and the guesthouses, so midweek is calmer and cheaper. The birds display in the first hour of light and again around dusk, which fixes the shape of the day.

Honest expectations

The road in is long and winding, and buses take four hours or more on it. It rains a great deal. The square is genuinely pleasant but small, and on a busy Sunday it feels like a set. The Cueva del Esplendor trip is a muddy horse or jeep ride plus a scramble, and it closes after heavy rain. Prices have climbed steeply in recent years.

Nearby

Jerico is a couple of hours north; the Farallones del Citara rise behind the town.