Puente de Occidente

The bridge was completed in 1895 to a design by Jose Maria Villa, an Antioquian engineer who had worked on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York before coming home. Its deck hangs from wire cables strung between masonry towers, two on each bank, and crosses the Cauca in a single span of a little under three hundred metres, which made it one of the longest of its kind in the Americas when it opened. For decades it carried the main road west out of the province. Traffic is now restricted and runs one direction at a time, and the planked deck flexes and rattles noticeably when a vehicle crosses.

What's there

• The single span - cables and deck crossing the Cauca in one run.
• The masonry towers - the stone pylons anchoring the cables at each end.
• The wooden deck - planks that shift and rattle as traffic passes.
• The river below - the Cauca running fast and brown between dry, cactus-dotted slopes.

When to go

Any dry morning. The valley is exposed and by mid-morning the heat is serious, so early or late in the day is far better, and December to March is the driest stretch. The visit takes an hour at most, which means it pairs with Santa Fe de Antioquia rather than justifying a trip of its own. Weekend afternoons bring day trippers and more vehicles onto the deck.

Things to know

It is a single object and the visit is short. There is no shade, no interpretation and nothing beyond a couple of drinks stalls at the western end. The walk out from town in the heat is genuinely unpleasant, so take transport. Vehicles still cross, so it is not a quiet promenade, and the setting is dry scrub rather than dramatic gorge.

Nearby

Santa Fe de Antioquia is fifteen minutes west; Medellin is a ninety minute drive.

Key facts