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Bucaramanga is the capital of Santander Department in northeastern Colombia, founded on 22 December 1622 on a plateau in the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes. Together with Floridablanca, Girón and Piedecuesta it forms a metropolitan area of about 1.3 million people, one of the largest in the country, and it is a busy commercial hub for the northeast.
The city is nicknamed "the City of Parks" for its many green squares, and also "Colombia's Beautiful City". Its old center keeps the colonial Capilla de los Dolores and the house where Simón Bolívar stayed in 1828, while the regional kitchen is famous for roasted big-bottomed ants, the hormigas culonas, in season in March and April.
Many visitors use Bucaramanga as a base for the surrounding landscapes: the colonial town of Girón next door, paragliding over the Mesa de Ruitoque, and the deep Chicamocha Canyon, crossed by one of the longest cable cars in Latin America.
The Cathedral of the Holy Family stands on Parque Santander in central Bucaramanga. Work began in 1896, its two towers opened in 1922 and the interior decoration was finished in 1934. Inside are a Carrara marble altar, stained glass and paintings by Luis Alberto Acuña and Óscar Rodríguez Naranjo.
Parque García Rovira is a square in central Bucaramanga named for Custodio García Rovira, a hero of independence born in the city. His bronze statue, ordered by law in 1896 and cast in Berlin, carries a relief of the Battle of Cachirí, and the Iglesia de San Laureano stands on one side.
The Iglesia de San Laureano, beside Parque García Rovira in Bucaramanga, is the parish church of Chiquinquirá and San Laureano, begun on 1 January 1779 when the town became a parish. Its dome was completed in 1866 and its doors in 1893, and it became a Bien de Interés Cultural in 2009.
The Capilla de los Dolores is the first church built in Bucaramanga, a small chapel whose structure dates from the 17th century and is well preserved. Simón Bolívar heard mass and prayed here in 1828 while awaiting the Convention of Ocaña, and it is a national monument and a favorite for weddings.
The Casa de Bolívar in central Bucaramanga is the colonial house where Simón Bolívar stayed in 1828 during the Convention of Ocaña. Now a museum and home of the Santander Academy of History, it keeps clothing and objects linked to him and Guane archaeological finds, including mummies.
Parque del Agua is a park in Bucaramanga, opened in 2003 on the grounds of the metropolitan water company and built around its old water tanks. It mixes learning and recreation, is lit with decorations at Christmas, and its design has won national and international awards.
The Viaducto Provincial, known as the Viaducto de la Novena, is a 550 meter cable-stayed bridge in Bucaramanga linking Calle 45 and Carrera 9 with Ciudadela Real de Minas, opened on 9 April 2015. Its LED lighting makes it a night attraction, and an obelisk on Calle 45 serves as a viewpoint.
The Ecoparque Cerro del Santísimo, on a hill in Floridablanca in the Bucaramanga metropolitan area, is crowned by a 35 meter statue with lifts to a viewing deck 40 meters up. A 1,380 meter cable car climbs from Hacienda La Esperanza in 5 minutes, and the park opened in June 2015.
Girón, founded in 1631 just 9 kilometers from Bucaramanga, is a colonial town of cobbled streets, white walls, dark wooden doors and clay tile roofs whose old quarter is a national monument. Highlights include the Basílica del Señor de los Milagros, a pilgrimage site, and a museum of religious art.
Chicamocha National Park, known as Panachi, sits on a slope of the Chicamocha Canyon 54 kilometers from Bucaramanga on the road to San Gil. Opened in 1992, it combines canyon viewpoints and a monument to Santander culture with zip lines, trails, paragliding and the Museo Guane.
The Mesa de los Santos is a mild plateau about 1,700 meters high, some 40 minutes by road from Bucaramanga, linked to Chicamocha National Park by a 6.3 kilometer cable car opened in 2009. Weekend visitors come for canyon viewpoints such as the Salto del Duende, hiking and over 80 climbing routes.
The Mesa de Ruitoque is a plateau in Floridablanca, about 15 minutes by road from Bucaramanga, known as the area's base for adventure tourism. Its Voladero Las Águilas launch site is the place to go paragliding near the city, with flights out over the valley that lies below the plateau.
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