If you are that kind of person who wants to know Barichara, the most beautiful town in Colombia, you are in the right place. If you want to do it but you don't know which route you could take , in this article we are going to tell you everything you need to know to travel to Barichara, Santander.

First, you have to know some curious facts about this amazing place; then we are going to tell you what to do and see in Barichara. Here, we are going to mention the most important places to know in Barichara, and to facilitate the trip, you will have two routes. The first one is going to take in account the places that you are going to know through the streets, and the second route is going to take in account the culture activities in Barichara. Finally, we are going to tell you how you can go to Barichara, some recommendations and useful information.

Curious facts of Barichara that may be are going to surprise you

To start this adventure we would like that you could know curious facts of Barichara that deserve to be reminded of them, and that are going to make you feel at home.

Let’s start, do you know this about Barichara

• Barichara means “Place to rest” in Guane, the local indigenous language.
• Denonyms: During the years, they have been known as the “Patiamarillos or Picapiedras” (person who lives in Barichara)
• In 1863, It was recognized as the capital of the republic.
•  In May, 1975, Barichara received the name of "The most beautiful town in Colombia" and also, it was named a "National Monument".
• People who live in Barichara is called "Patiamarillos" because of the earth tone color.
• The architectural identity of Barichara is because of the geography location. During the years they just had an unpaved road; this road made the access of the materials like the iron, cement and glass, difficult to build.
• Today, Barichara is that place where people build with "Tapia pisada", which is a type of wall.
• This municipality is honored to be the cradle of the only "Santandereano" (a person who lives in Santander), "Mr Aquileo Parra Gómez" who became the President of the republic, from 1876 to 1878.
• Do you know that Barichara derived from a picture of a Virgin that appears in a stone, next to the stream that is near the village in 1702?

What can you see and do in Barichara?

Let's know Barichara in the streets: When you arrive to Barichara, you are going to appreciate the silence and peace, characteristics of this place, the houses built in "tapia pisada (a type of wall)" also their doors and windows are the perfect combination with the front of their houses, churches and chapels. In this route, we are going to tell you some places that you have to visit.

The famous views of Barichara on Instagram.

Calle Real and Calle 5

All the streets of Barichara have a special corner. But, there are two that you should not miss. One street is “Calle Real”, full of artisan shops and beautiful houses, and the second one is “Calle 5”. At the end of this street, at the crossroads with Calle 1, you are going to see the most beautiful view.

Union of Calle 5 with Carrera 10

If you are looking for a typical photo of Barichara that is usually seen on Instagram, the exact point is at the junction of Calle 5 with Carrera 10.

El salto del Mico

 You can’t miss the iconic photography in El Salto del Mico, which is one of the viewpoints of Barichara, where you can see the Suárez River Canyon, the Serranía de los Yariguies National Natural Park, and the municipalities of Galán, La Fuente and Zapatoca.

1. Tour around Barichara

• Churches and chapels

Barichara has four churches, all of them have been built in stone and you will be delighted with its unique architecture. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the central park, also, the Chapel of Jesus, near the cemetery; the Chapel of San Antonio, which is located to the south of the main park; and the Chapel of Santa Bárbara, located in the upper part of town.

• Church of the Immaculate Conception

It is the main church and emblematic for its architecture.

•  The Chapel San Antonio

The Chapel San Antonio was built in 1823, and it still stands.

• Chapel Santa Barbara

This chapel was the first church in Barichara; diagonal to the Chapel, you will find the family tree, a ceiba tree, approximately 208 years old.

•  Chapel of Jesus

This is a tiny chapel, but its architecture makes it big. Here, you will know the details of this dream town.

• The House of Culture "Emilio Pradilla González"

Each place in Barichara is perfect to explore. You have to visit the House of Culture, an old restored mansion, where the artistic and cultural are shown in all their expressions. This is a place where local traditions and history are mixed. This is Barichara! Value COP $ 2,000

•  Moncora Biopark

A place you must visit is the Moncora Biopark, which is located on a hill on the east side of Barichara, a few meters from La Capilla Santa Bárbara. It covers 7 hectares of different species of trees, plants, cacti, flowers and of course birds.

• Jorge Delgado Sierra Park of the Arts

Next to the beautiful chapel of Santa Barbará, you will find an open-air museum with a view of the Suárez river canyon; it is the Jorge Delgado Sierra Park of the Arts. In this place you can walk a path, surrounded by twenty-two sculptures carved in stone. Each sculpture pays tribute to the artists who preserve the heritage of their ancestors. In addition, it is a good place to contemplate the town and the mountains.

• Barichara Cemetery

Following the route through the upper part, you will find the Barichara cemetery, which, as in the village, the carved stone, is the protagonist.

• Barichara viewpoint

If you want to be surprised you should go to the Mirador. There, you will observe the Suárez River canyon, the Yariguies National Park, the municipalities of Galán, La Fuente and Zapatoca. The topography of the mountain range, its majestic sunsets and the roads that surround the mountains, is made up of a view that seduces each one of its visitors.

• Touring Barichara by the Tuk tuk

This is an attractive alternative to know the history of this beautiful town. The tuk tuk's drivers are native people that know the complete history of their region. If you don't want to walk you would have to take a Tuk Tuk.

2. Route Cultural Barichara

• Do you want to know the traditions and jobs of the Patiamarillos (nickname of a person from Barichara)

Would you like know the traditions and jobs of people from Barichara called "Patiamarillos"?

Barichara is the town of Santander that we recommend to visit, to those people who are in search of new experiences of cultural tourism. To start, on this tour of Barichara I will mention the places you can visit in Barichara. Let’s start:

• Natural fiber paper workshop.

Have you ever wondered how vegetable fiber paper is made? This is made in the paper workshop. The foundation of mothers head of family, will learn and participate in the manufacture of handmade paper from fique and other vegetable fibers, through the process of crushing, casting of fiber, pressing and drying will obtain soft paper with beautiful natural dyes. In this beautiful house you can also explore a garden with all the plants. With these plants the paper is made. At the end of the tour if you want to carry a beautiful piece of paper you can buy it in the craft shop. Ticket value COP$ 3,000 per person.

• The Barichara Workshop School

This place is located in a beautiful house. There, you will be able to appreciate and acquire handmade works made in ceramics, apparel and paper. Also, you can delight yourself with typical dishes or enjoy a delicious coffee. This is definitely a place to share and appreciate the typical art of this beautiful region. The best thing is that it is free.

• Painting with earth of the region and workshops of tapia pisada

Barichara is a town that loves art and culture. For this reason, we present you this painting workshop with lands of wonderful colors that have been extracted directly from the mountains of Barichara and nearby towns. The best part is you don’t have to know about art or painting. You just need to open your imagination to have a creative time, having a glass of wine and a good conversation. Finally you can take home an original souvenir of Barichara made by you with the most intimate of territory: their lands.

With this workshop you can understand how Barichara and all the villages of the colony were built. In this experience you will understand the technique used, building a small wall step by step. Finally you will be able to understand the benefits of building with land, of preserving the heritage, and best of all, you will take it as a testimony of your experience.

@delatierraturismo

• Ceramic Workshop Terracotta Barichara

After painting, you can learn to make unique ceramic pieces, made 100% by hand with the help of Sebastián Rueda, a young ceramist with experience in the trade for more than 10 years. There, you will learn to make pieces with the millenary technique of "Los Guanes" Indians who inhabited this region. Actually, you should just really want to experiment and learn about the versatile craft of ceramics. you will not forget this experience and as you see in the photo you will be very happy.

Here, we recommend you the following tour in the rural area of Barichara, we will tell you a few experiences to be inspired:

• Tejas el alfarero

If you want to know about the history of Santander, this is the place you should go. Ramón Atuesta, its owner, is passionate about his region. He will teach you the process of making tiles step by step with the same techniques of more than 300 years ago. ¡ You can even make your own tile, sign it and date it!

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• Tour del Café Alfanía Barichara

Barichara has an experience you will never forget and even more if your favorite drink is a delicious cup of coffee. This place is just 15 minutes from Barichara. There, in the middle of the dry tropical forest, you can take a tour through a coffee plantation and learn about the coffee process in general. At the end you can have a typical coffee and have a pleasant moment.

• Tour del Tabaco Barichara

Barichara Tobacco Tour After having a cup of coffee, you can go and get to know one of the most traditional economic activities in our region "tobacco". There is a place called Finca Maribel, Barichara, where a family of farmers offers a complete Tour of tobacco. During the tour you will have the opportunity to know everything related to the cultivation of tobacco, from the seedbed, collection process, cured in cinnamon and subsequent selection of leaves for the production of cigarettes and tobacco. At the end you can dine a typical dish of the tobacco families of Santander.

• Caminata caminos reales

Traveling the royal road between Barichara-Guane, named National Monument, offers the opportunity to interact with the fauna and vegetation of the area, as well as the imposing views of the canyon of the Suárez River and the towns of Galán and La Fuente, on the other side of the river. This tour has a distance of 5.5 kilometers, medium difficulty and takes approximately two and a half hours.

You can also do the following activities:

• Tasting of the exquisite sabajón made in small family factories.
• Sale of crafts elaborated in small artistic workshops.
• Visit to the Chapel of Saint Lucia.
• Visit to the Paleontological and Anthropological Museum of Guane.

The options for walkers are varied; there is another walk between Barichara to Cabrera, the real road is 8.5 kilometers, medium difficulty and three hours and a half of time approximately. This rural landscape will make you fall in love. Important, do not forget to bring enough water, the temperature and vegetation is typical of the Canyon.

• Bike tour in Barichara

Do you like challenges? In Barichara, Santander, in the middle of the mountains, you will find the most amazing landscapes, history, culture and customs of the region. Invite your favorite person to ride through the nicest little town in Colombia, with a journey of 19 kilometers and four hours approximately through the rural area of Barichara and its surroundings. During the route you will be accompanied by professionals and all security measures. We will have different stops which will be loaded with stories, typical food and surprises. Finishing the tour in Barichara, we will have visited its essential places and we will have the best photographic shots.

Foto: @regionesbike

• Location of Barichara

Barichara, Santander, Colombia is a beautiful town of Santander that is located just 120 kilometers from Bucaramanga, about three hours by road.

How to get to Barichara?

From Bucaramanga to Barichara take a direct bus with the company Cootrasangil in the only schedule 4:50 pm for a value of COP $22,000. Also, there is another option. You have to board a bus to San Gil for a COP value of $18,000 and in San Gil take the route to Barichara, this route is more frequent.

From San Gil to Barichara you must board a bus at the San Gil terminal. This tour will take approximately 45 minutes and will cost COP $5,000. Every hour a bus will go to Barichara.

Here we will give you some bus routes depending on where you are:

* Bogotá to San Gil: 6 hours and COP$70.000

* Medellin to Bucaramanga: 8 hours and COP$60.000

* Cali to Bucaramanga: 18 hours and COP$160.000

* Bucaramanga to San Gil: 2.5 hours and COP$22.000

Distance and toll

¿Qué debe saber si va a viajar a Barichara?

⛰ Altitude (m a .s.l) 1.340

🌡 Year-round temp: 17°C – 27°C

👥 Population: 7.063

⛪ Founded in: 29-01-1705

👫 Denonyms: Baricharas or Patiamarillos.

🛵 Calling a Tuk tuk (Mototaxi) Phone (7) 7267474 Phone 321 2586116

🚌 Bus stand: Phone(7) 7267132 – Phone3138762278

Where can you stay in Barichara?

You have to live the experience in Barichara from the comfort of its hotels and hostels. This complements the journey through the streets and immersion in culture, because traditional architecture is preserved. In the options you will find special hotels to share in couples, family and even to do business for everyone taking into account your preferences and budget.

What to eat in Barichara?

One of the regions of Colombia that is characterized by its gastronomy is Santander, where the food is delicious, abundant and varied. Here we will tell you about the most representative dishes of this region that you will find in the restaurants of Barichara: goat, pepitoria, traditionally cured meat, arepa santandereana, mute, roasted ant and tamal. You have to try at least one typical dish. How about a roasted ant?

What to do around Barichara?

• Guane: Real road, archaeological and paleontological museum, indigenous pictograms, cemetery.
• San Gil: Gallineral Park and diversity of extreme sports.
• Cabrera: Real road through the canyon of the Suárez River.
•  Villanueva: Real road along the sidewalk the Rubber and handmade palettes of exotic flavors.
•  Juntas: Confluence of the rivers Suárez and Chicamocha - Talco Mines- Hidrosogamoso - Gálan - La Fuente.
•  Zapatoca: The Yariguíes National Natural Park.
•  Curití: Pescaderito River- Weaving processes of fique.
•   Chicamocha Canyon: Populations Cepita, Umpala and Jordan.
•  El Páramo: Cascada de Juan Curí.
• El Socorro: Historic center.
• Charalá: High of the river Fonce - Historic center - Cotton industry and community insurrection.

To travel to Barichara, you have to consider the following things:

• Most places are pet-friendly.
• Water is scarce for this reason it is important to ration it, especially in high season.
• It is important to wear comfortable and fresh clothes for the day. The nights are cold
• so it is advisable to also include a jacket.
• Include items such as hats, glasses, sunscreen and staying hydrated.
• Comfortable shoes for the cobbled streets.

Let’s go to Barichara! Why are you staying at home this weekend, if there are many nice and nearby destinations to know?

We hope this guide will be of great help to those travelers who are planning to visit Barichara and still don’t know what places to see. The most important thing is that, no matter what route you decide to take, make sure to include at least one of these tourist sites in your travel plan; Barichara will be one of your best memories for your life. ¡Happy journey!

In this way we conclude our article called What to see and do in Barichara, the nicest town in Colombia. If you have any questions or comments you can leave us a message in the space enabled below.