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Mérida, officially Santiago de los Caballeros de Mérida, is the capital of Mérida state and one of the main cities of the Venezuelan Andes. It sits on a plateau in the valley of the Chama River at about 1,600 m, and on clear days Pico Bolívar, the highest mountain in Venezuela, can be seen rising above it.
The city was founded in 1558 by Juan Rodríguez Suárez, who named it after his hometown of Mérida in Spain, and it was regularized by royal officials in 1560. It belonged to New Granada until 1777. A seminary set up when Mérida became a bishop's seat grew into the University of Los Andes in 1811, and today Mérida is the largest student and tourist center of western Venezuela.
The Mukumbarí cable car, one of the highest and longest in the world, lifts visitors from the city to Pico Espejo at 4,765 m. Beyond, the Trans-Andean road crosses the páramo past the glacial lakes of Mucubají and Laguna Negra, while colonial villages such as Jají lie in the hills nearby.
Plaza Bolívar de Mérida is the main square of the city, laid out as the colonial Plaza Mayor in 1559 and made a garden in the early 1900s. An equestrian statue of Simón Bolívar stands among royal palms planted in 1930, with the cathedral, government palace and university rectorate around it.
The Basilica Cathedral of Mérida, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, faces Plaza Bolívar and was rebuilt to plans by Manuel Mujica Millán from 1945, opening for the city's 400th birthday in 1958. Inside are stained glass, a 14th-century stone Virgin from Germany and paintings by Ivan Belsky.
Mérida Botanical Garden was founded by the University of Los Andes in 1991 on 44 hectares at the northern edge of the city, at about 1,850 m. Open to the public since 2002, it has themed gardens, ponds and paths among Andean plants, and offers guided visits and even tree climbing.
Chorros de Milla Zoo is a small zoo founded in 1952 on 10 hectares of cloud forest at the northeastern edge of Mérida, crossed by the Milla River. Its paths lead past Andean animals such as the Andean condor to a pretty waterfall at the top of the park, among some 2,000 kinds of plants.
The Mérida Cable Car, officially the Mukumbarí system, climbs 12.5 km from the city to Pico Espejo at 4,765 m, making it one of the highest and longest cable cars in the world. First opened in 1960 and rebuilt to reopen in 2016, it stops at five stations, with hiking and birdwatching along the way.
Pico Espejo is a 4,765 m peak in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida, close to Pico Bolívar, with the top station of the Mérida cable car on its summit. This makes it the easiest of Venezuela's great peaks to reach, with wide views over the high rocky summits and the valleys far below; bring warm clothes.
Pico Bolívar is the highest mountain in Venezuela at 4,978 m, rising above Mérida in the Sierra Nevada National Park. Named after Simón Bolívar in 1934, it can only be climbed on foot, often from Pico Espejo, and on clear mornings its rocky summit can be seen from the city's Plaza Bolívar.
Los Nevados is a mountain village founded in 1591 inside the Sierra Nevada National Park, high on the steep slopes of the Andes below the snowy peaks. Most visitors reach it on horseback or by mule from the Loma Redonda station of the Mérida cable car, and tourism is now its main activity.
Laguna de Mucubají is a glacial lake high in the páramo of the Sierra Nevada National Park, on the Trans-Andean road north-east of Mérida, with a car park and visitor center by its jetty. Ringed by frailejón plants, it has been a Ramsar wetland since 2007, and a trail leads up to Laguna Negra.
Laguna Negra is a glacial lake in the Sierra Nevada National Park, lying about 150 m lower than Laguna de Mucubají and reached in about an hour and a half on foot or 40 minutes on horseback. Up to 24 m deep, it is one of the deepest lakes in Venezuela, and local legends say goblins live in it.
Jají is a colonial village about 34 km from Mérida at 1,780 m, first founded in the 1580s and later refounded as San Miguel de Jají. White adobe houses with tiled roofs line its steep cobbled streets around Plaza Bolívar and the church of San Miguel, and it is known for crafts and Andean food.
Los Aleros is a theme park near Mérida that recreates a typical Andean town of the 1930s, created by Alexis Montilla in 1984. Visitors stroll its streets past an old school, a chapel, a bank and craft workshops in period style, and it makes an easy and fun half-day trip for families.
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