There are many things to see. This is a beautiful university city, famous throughout Colombia for the numerous private and public universities. It's reported that 1/4 of city (pop. 300,000) residents here are students, females seem to outnumber males by margin of 3 to 1. So students can be seen everywhere, either walking to classes along Avenidas Las Americas, 30 de Agosto, Circunvalar, or sitting in the myriad cafes along Avenida Santander after class while chatting with friends and watching others strolling along the avenue.
The city has a real European, small city feel to it, like being in Switzerland or the Alps. In winter season it rains a lot (almost every day, but not for too long), but you can find very dry days on summer season. The air is always fresh, good temperature, and can be balmy depending on which part of city you're visiting.
Pereira is also famous for being one of only with 8 separate micro-climates in world, depending on which elevation and barrio you're in. For example, it's possible in just 10 minutes to go from a spot that's cool and foggy to one that is warm and balmy (like La Olympic Villa)
Cathedral "La Pobreza", In this city it's easy to see why the Spanish would choose locations high up for planting cities, and why the later Colonialists from Medellin and State of Antioquia who founded this city choose this relatively high location to mount a new city 130 years ago. The climate is moderate and very healthy, and nothing like the humidity and heat you'll find in valleys down below!
There is a beautiful park called 'Olaya Herrera' on a mount overlooking the city and beautiful coffee rich valleys down below. The view is 360 degrees, and to east, north and south are views of city that's nestled up against the western side of central Cordillera (Colombia, in the western part of country, is basically divided into sections by three large, wide mountain ranges) and to west are views of the valleys, rivers and coffee plantations down below which contain the famous coffee cities of Santa Rosa de Cabal and La Virginia.
The city has a important eco-park called El Cedral. It contains beautiful views overlooking the city and affords views of mountains. There are many hiking trails and nature walks, and city just completed a new indoor ice skating rink, which has a great music system! Also, there is also a large conference center and restaurants.
There are two main plazas�: Plaza Bolivar and Ciudad Victoria, where people can go to sit and to chat with friends, or to shop and to watch others in afternoon and evening. Plaza Bolivar contains the Municipal Palace administration buildings, as Pereira city is also the seat of Risaralda state.
Zoo Matecaña�: located near the airport. Includes the Museum of Natural History.
Museum of Modern Art.
Orchids and Catleyas Garden.
Bolivar Square (Plaza de Bolivar).
Museum of Technology in the Univeersity U.T.P.
Museum Gilberto Toro García.
Gold Museum at the Republic Bank Building.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Pereira
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Pereira - updated May 2024
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Pereira Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
