Travel guide: Santander

Adventure, colonial towns and the Chicamocha Canyon

• Mesa de los Santos: cool weather and views of the Cañón del Chicamocha.
• San Gil and Barichara: adventure sports and a colonial town.
• Lebrija, next to Bucaramanga’s airport, is warmer.

Near Bucaramanga: Mesa de los Santos and Lebrija

Mesa de los Santos (about 1,500 m above sea level) is a plateau above the Chicamocha Canyon, 45 minutes to 1.25 hours from Bucaramanga. It has fincas with canyon views and a cool climate. Lebrija, next to Palonegro airport, is warmer.

San Gil, Barichara and the Chicamocha

San Gil (about 1,100 m above sea level) bills itself as the capital of adventure tourism: rafting on the Fonce River, paragliding over the Chicamocha Canyon and the Cueva del Indio cave, in Páramo. Barichara (about 1,300 m above sea level) is a National Monument, with cobblestone streets and rammed-earth houses. The camino real, an old stone trail from Barichara to Guane, takes about two hours on foot, downhill. The Parque Nacional del Chicamocha (Panachi) has a cable car that crosses the canyon.

Getting there

From Bogotá, San Gil is 6 to 7 hours via Tunja and Socorro. From Bucaramanga, 2.5 to 3 hours. There are direct Bogotá-Bucaramanga flights with Avianca, LATAM and other airlines, and from there you continue by road. The Bogotá-San Gil route passes through Boyacá, so you can combine it with Villa de Leyva.

What they won't tell you

Mesa de los Santos is genuinely dry. In the dry season, between December and March, water runs short and several fincas depend on tanker trucks. Ask before you book. And the Bucaramanga-San Gil road skirts the Chicamocha with tight curves and heavy traffic: allow more time than the map says.