Travel guide: Risaralda

Hot springs, mountain coffee and the gateway to the Coffee Region

• Almost all fincas are in rural Pereira.
• Cerritos is warmer; La Florida, up in the mountains, is cooler.
• Hot springs in the mountains of Santa Rosa de Cabal.

Pereira and around

Pereira (about 1,400 m above sea level) is the city with the most air connections in the Eje Cafetero (the Coffee Region): Matecaña airport is inside the city. The fincas are mostly toward Cerritos, in the Cauca River valley, which is warmer, and toward La Florida, in the mountains, which is cooler.

Santa Rosa de Cabal and the hot springs

Santa Rosa de Cabal (about 1,700 m above sea level) is about 25 minutes from Pereira. Its hot springs are up in the mountains, another 20 to 30 minutes on a mountain road, and some resorts have hot-water waterfalls. In town, people eat chorizo santarrosano, the local sausage.

The west: Marsella, Apía and Belén de Umbría

Marsella (about 1,600 m above sea level), about 40 minutes from Pereira, has the Alejandro von Humboldt Botanical Garden. Apía and Belén de Umbría are coffee towns with less tourism than Quindío.

Getting there

From Bogotá there are direct flights to Pereira of about an hour; Avianca flies the route and other airlines add flights depending on the season. By road it is 6 to 8 hours via Ibagué, the Túnel de la Línea and Armenia. From Cali, 3.5 to 4 hours via Cartago. From Medellín, 4 to 5 hours. Direct buses to Pereira leave from Bogotá's Terminal Salitre, the main bus station.

What they won't tell you

Cerritos and La Florida are twenty minutes apart and have different climates: the first is hot, the second cool and rainy. Check on the map where the finca actually is before you book, not just that it says Pereira. And the Santa Rosa hot springs fill up on holiday weekends (Colombia moves most public holidays to a Monday, creating long weekends): go on a weekday if you can.