From bustling metropolises to tiny villages, the Explore My City series invites you to discover new favorite places around the world. Today’s interview is with Colombian native Juan Manuel Giraldo Ramírez. You can find his local business for artisanal soap here.

Where is Manizales?

Manizales is located near the middle of Colombia, a little to the east. It’s the capital of the departamento of Caldas, which is what we call states in Colombia. Caldas is one of the smallest departments in Colombia. Manizales is in the middle of the mountains, and it’s the main center for the production of Colombian coffee. It’s an important hub for higher education as well. It’s a very industrial city and has a lot of companies. It has around 450,000 people so it’s not as big as other cities in Colombia. It has a lot of development and aids with competition in Colombia.

What can you do there? 

You can do a lot of different things. If you’re a coffee lover, you can learn about the coffee production process. The state is known for this kind of product. 

We also have the Nevado del Ruiz, which is a volcano. It’s about two hours or so from the city. Right now you can’t visit because it’s in a yellow alert due to seismic activities. However, you can get very close to it, look at the beautiful snow, and see a lot of nature because it’s part of a national park. There are lakes, mountains with snow, forests, and different types of plants and animals. 

Another activity you can do is visit the hot springs. You can find lots of different places where they’re located. It’s awesome to go with your family, friends, your partner or company. 

In the city, you can visit downtown. You can find lots of things to do there, and you can see the architecture and the main cathedral. You can go up in the church and view the entire city since it’s the highest point in the city. It’s like being in New York, going to the top of the Empire State Building but on a much smaller scale. 

You can go to the main street and walk up and down the city, visit the shopping centers, and local shops and markets. You can visit the soccer stadium of the team that won the South American National Cup (Copa Libertadores) in 2004. You can also take a cable car and explore around the city. You can see the old cable cars from maybe 80 years ago. There’s an old cable car station that is lit up at night. 

At night, you can go to different bars or coffee shops that offer very good food and drinks. The people are pretty nice as well. 

What was your favorite place you went?

The Nevado del Ruiz is pretty cool. You can see the mountains and nature. The environment is completely different, and it’s a natural park with caves and snow. There’s another ecological park called Los Yarumos where you can go hiking and visit some waterfalls. The hot springs are also amazing. And overall, there are a lot of places to do sports. You can also eat a lot of amazing food. 

What foods do you recommend trying in Colombia

It depends on your tastes, but I would recommend the Bandeja Paisa: it’s beans, rice, chicharrón (which is a type of pork), it also has sausage (like chorizo) and plantains. You can try different kinds of food like hand-crafted hamburgers that are very good. Anything with plantains is amazing for visitors to try. We also have different kinds of arepas, like arepa with meat or with cheese or corn. 

What’s the best way to get there? 

If you are an international visitor, I think the best way is to fly to Bogota and then take an airplane or bus. An airplane would be easier, but sometimes it’s hard for the planes to arrive because the plane has to go around the mountains, and if the weather is bad, it’s difficult. But it’s about 45 minutes from Bogota by plane and eight hours by car. There are a lot of mountains, and there’s only one path so it takes a while. The bus is not necessarily recommended, but it would work, and it’s cheaper.

Do you have any other tips for places to visit or things to do? 

There’s a fair in Manizales that was started in the ‘50s. It is celebrated at the beginning of January and it lasts a week and the whole city has things to do and tourists come to celebrate. It includes different activities, a lot of concerts, drinking, eating. There are also events like the running with the bulls in Spain. There’s a lot of cultural and musical things to do, and the whole city enjoys the fair.