Santa Fe de Antioquia

Founded in 1541, Santa Fe was the capital of the province until Medellin took the role in the 1820s, and losing it is the reason the town still has its colonial grid intact. It sits at around 550 m in the Cauca valley, so it is far hotter than Medellin an hour above it. The streets are lime-washed, narrow and lined with tall studded doors; the Catedral Basilica takes one side of the main square and the older Iglesia de Santa Barbara has the better stone front. The Museo Juan del Corral covers town history in a colonial house. Tamarind sweets are sold around the square.

What you actually see

• Plaza Mayor and the cathedral - the wide square with the basilica along one side.
• Iglesia de Santa Barbara - the older church with the worked stone facade.
• The carved doors - street after street of studded colonial doorways.
• Museo Juan del Corral - town history in a courtyard house off the square.

When to go

December to March is the drier season, but heat is the real constraint and it applies all year: walk early in the morning and after four in the afternoon, and do something indoors in between. Weekends and Colombian holidays bring families down from Medellin, which fills the rooms and lengthens the drive considerably in both directions.

Honest expectations

The heat is punishing and there is almost no shade in the streets, which catches out visitors arriving from cool Medellin. The town is small and a full day is generous. Most colonial houses are private and shut. The strip of pool hotels on the edge of town is aimed at weekenders from the city rather than at travellers, and weekend traffic can double the journey time.

Nearby

The Puente de Occidente is fifteen minutes east across the Cauca.