Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [183]
Bar C ( 886 7103, barcmanizales@hotmail.com, Via Acueducto Niza, 10pm-3am Thu, to 4:30am Fri & Sat) When all the bars in Manizales close at 2am, anyone left standing comes here. Set up on a mountaintop about 3km east of Cable Plaza, there are great views of the city and the stars. A neighboring restaurant serves food until late. DJs play mostly Colombian crossover to please the late-night student crowd. Good selection of top-shelf liquor.
Bar La Plaza ( 885 2515; Carrera 23B No 64-80; 11am-11pm Mon-Wed, to 2am Thu-Sat) This is the place to start your evening. A delicatessen by day, at night it fills up fast, and by 9pm you’ll have to wait for a table. The music isn’t too loud, so you can converse. There’s a young student vibe, and it also offers gourmet sandwiches (COP$10,000) and snack platters of quality salami and cheese to help line your stomach. Does good cocktails.
Puerto Rico Salsateca ( 883 7935; Av Centenario No 24-132; cover COP$10,000; 8pm-1am Wed & Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat) This swish salsa joint is one of the grooviest we’ve ever seen. The hollow dance floor fills up with water, the numbered tables have buttons that light up a board on the wall (to call the waiter over), the back window has great views of the city lights, and the English-speaking ex-cruise-ship bartender mixes a mean manhattan. There are even drums and maracas you can borrow to play along with the music.
VIP ( 886 3578; Carrera 23 No 63-122; cover COP$5000) The biggest nightclub in town, when VIP packs them in, it seems like half the population of Manizales is here. Two large bars will keep you well lubricated until late. Plays classic dance tunes and remixes, and some techno. On night’s when it’s popping, this is the place to see and be seen. Huge dance floor.
There’s also a couple of old-style tango bars on the so-called Calle de Tango (Calle 24). Check out Los Nuevos Faroles ( 884 6912; Calle 24 No 22-46; 8pm-2am Thu-Sat) and Reminiscencias ( 320 326 3924; Calle 24 No 22-42; 7pm-2am Thu-Sat), just next door.
The Teatro Los Fundadores ( 878 2530; cnr Carrera 22 & Calle 27) is Manizales’ leading theater; it also has a cinema.
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Getting There & Away
AIR
Aeropuerto La Nubia ( 874 5451) is 8km southeast of the city center, off the road to Bogotá. Take the urban bus to La Enea, then walk for five minutes to the terminal, or grab a cab (COP$8000). Avianca, ADA and Aires offer frequent service to Bogotá, Medellín and Armenia.
A new international airport near Palestina, an hour west of Manizales, is in the works, but won’t be opening until at least 2012.
BUS
A new bus terminal was under construction outside Manizales on the highway when we visited, and should be finished by the time you read this. Two cable car lines are in the works to shuttle travelers from the new terminal to Cable Plaza and the city center, but we saw no signs of construction as yet.
Buses depart regularly to Bogotá (COP$25,000, eight hours), Medellín (COP$8500, five hours) and Cali (COP$11,000, five hours). Minibuses to Pereira (COP$4000, 1¼ hours) and Armenia (COP$7000, 2¼ hours) run every 15 minutes or so.
The old bus terminal (Av 19 No 15-04), if it’s still open, is a short walk northwest of Plaza de Bolívar.
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AROUND MANIZALES
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Recinto del Pensamiento
elev 2100m
Set in the cloud forest 11km from Manizales, this nature park ( 887 4913, 874 4157; www.recintodelpensamiento.com; Km11 Via al Magdalena; admission COP$8000; 9am-4pm Tue-Sun) boasts a fine mariposario (butterfly enclosure), several short walks you can do through an impressive orchid-populated forest, a medicinal herb garden and a mature bonsai garden, plus there is good bird-watching in the morning. You’ll also see big plantations of guadua and chusqué (two kinds of Colombian bamboo); note the enormous convention center in the shape of a shitake mushroom built of guadua. Several pens showcase deer, ostrich, zebras, llamas and sheep, and the fish pond contains some