ROUTE BY CAR ALONG THE COFFEE AXIS OF COLOMBIA

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Do you plan to make a route by car along the coffee axis? It is a very good idea 🙂 Next we tell you our experience: good trip!

The Quindio is one of the three departments that form the Coffee Axis, and the heart of the PCC (Coffee Cultural Landscape) from Colombia. It was declared a cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO both for its natural wealth and passages, as for its traditions and sustainable production systems. Everything in the Coffee Axis moves around its star product, and whether or not you are a coffee maker, you cannot miss a car trip through some of its most beautiful locations. We made a circular tour with departure and arrival in Salento, passing through the towns of Buenavista, Pijao, Circasia and Filandia, among others. Here we tell you all about our route by car along the Coffee Axis of Colombia.

* Note: this is the route we took through the department of Quindío in a day. The next day we follow the route to the north, visiting a coffee farm, Filandia (which we left on the first day for a matter of time) and arrived at Santa Rosa de Cabal.

U.S we rent a car at Pereira airport and we deliver it in Manizales. We made the reservation with AutoEurope

Total distance: 175 km.
Tolls: the entire route does not pass through any tolls.
Estimated time: 7 hours (without visiting the Botanical Garden or the Coffee Museum).
Villages we visited: Buenavista, Pijao, Córdoba, Río Verde, Tapao Village, Montenegro, Circasia and / or Filandia.

In Salento we put our first headquarters to discover the Coffee Axis of Colombia. One day we dedicate it to trekking through the Cocora Valley, for us the best of this area of Colombia. And another of them to the route by car through the most beautiful villages.

And the first one, obviously, Salento. It is a good place to settle down and discover especially with the ambient of the night, starting at the Plaza de Bolivar (where markets are mounted when the power goes out), and from there traveling the Calle Real (Carrera 4), flanked by lots of restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops. Until you reach the viewpoints over the Cocora Valley.

From Salento we start the day towards Botanical Garden of Quindío, and its butterfly garden. They say that it is one of the best in all of Colombia, we are left with the desire: upon arrival they told us that you could only do the guided tour, and that the next one would be in more than half an hour. In addition, the visit lasts 2.5 hours and we prefer not to spend the whole morning in one place. Another factor that did not help was the cost of admission: 32,000 pesos! The last visit is at 16:00 by the way ...

Upon entering the car again, we both looked at each other and sighed in relief. The truth is that none of us wanted to walk through gardens for hours, after the kick of the previous day, the body today asks us for a car! So we follow the route along the Coffee Axis towards Good view. This is one of the smallest but most charming villages on the route, the reason you can imagine it in the same name: its views. It is perched on top of one of the countless hills that form this mountainous terrain and, saving its main square with its beautiful colorful church, the rest of the town is on the slope. The typical thing here is to keep going up to the San Alberto Terrace (Thanks to Tragaviajes for the tip!) and have a coffee with an unbeatable panoramic view. It is a cafeteria where they prepare the coffee they grow in their farm in different ways. We did the "Guirada ” to drink frappé coffees, but your thing here is to order some of the special filtering methods. Of course, cheap is not!

We continue to enter between coffee plantations, banana trees and bamboo forests until Pijao. The road winds through a panoramic route that sometimes takes us to New Zealand. And it is that every new landscape reminds us of places we visited in the past: in one day we have traveled to Coromandel in New Zealand, to the highlands of Sri Lanka, to Queensland in Australia, or to the heart of Bali ... But Pijao does not know It seems like nothing we have known, Pijao deserves each of the kilometers we have traveled. And especially on Sunday: the town square was a hotbed of people, full terraces, crowded bars, music coming out of the windows, ice cream, fruit stands, children playing ... Pijao is known for being the first “slow town ”From Colombia, but on Sunday they take a break and climb a march to match the rest of their neighbors, so the movement is assured!

The next stop was Cordova, the really interesting part of this part is the road that joins these two towns. Driving here is a real joy, too bad that the panoramic points where you can park are scarce. The last km, from the turnoff to the right, the state of the road is a little worse, when we went we had just cut down and there were enough remains on the sides of the road, but nothing of importance. Take your time and enjoy the views. We only drove through Córdoba without stopping, although we thought it was a pretty town. We were struck by the amount of people prepared for trekking that crossed it, it must be in the middle of some famous hiking route.

The first part of our route by car along the Coffee Axis, and specifically by El Quindío, ends in Green River, which is nothing more than a crossroads with a few restaurants specializing in grilled meats, ideal if you're already hungry. Another plan is to imitate local families and take a dip in the Santo Domingo River.

We return to Armenia, the capital of the department, but without getting in. Before our next change of direction we see the signs that indicate the deviation towards Recuca (Coffee Culture Tour), a farm where several coffee experiences are offered. And if you visit the Coffee Axis you can not leave without visiting a coffee farm and know the whole process of coffee production. We planned to go to the El Ocaso farm the next day, so we passed by.

The road changes, and with it the landscape. We are in the so-called “tourist corridor” that connects Montenegro with Circasia. Before we have gone through the curious Tapao town, with certain airs from the far west town, low houses and wooden porches. On this route is the Coffee Park, a theme park with attractions for the whole family, including a coffee museum. If you have time, we doubt it, and you win, it can be interesting.

Montenegro We found the most chaotic town of all we visited on our tour today. In contrast to the previous ones, we found a lot of traffic, overwhelm and nothing that would especially catch our attention to make a stop. So we decided to continue towards Circasia.

This last stretch of route between Montenegro and Circasia was one of the most beautiful. Coffee plantations and farms have mutated in perfectly maintained green meadows and country houses very similar to those we saw in stories when we were little. It is one of those places where you wouldn't mind having a little house, with your dogs, your kittens and your books (vaaale, and your fiber optic).

The day is already ending, but first we enter the town of Circasia, to know its viewpoint and its cemetery. The viewpoint is a platform, in our opinion quite poor, in the middle of the town, and the truth did not give us any impression that the views were wonderful (considering that the viewpoint of Filandia is much better), so we do not climb. And about the Circasia Free Cemetery, the project began as a cemetery for everyone, regardless of class or situation (hence the name) It was subsequently destroyed during the Violence period and rebuilt with beautiful architecture, becoming one of the tourist claims of the town. Unfortunately, when we went it was closed.

If being in Montenegro you only had time to visit a town, in this case we recommend the alternative of going to Filandia. We visited him the next day, but if this is the only day you have for the roadtrip, we have no doubts. The people of Circasia don't have much charm, and Filandia is much more attractive. In fact, along with Salento, we think it is the prettiest town on the entire coffee axis. It also has one of the most iconic places in the area: the Quindío Viewpoint (or Illuminated Column). It is a huge observation tower made entirely of wood, divided into 9 levels, with great 360º views of the entire environment. In each level there are informative panels with details of each town of Quindio and curious data. The price is 8,000 pesos (plus the will for parking).

The tower is on the outskirts of the town, but you can't miss a walk back through the center of Filandia. It is distributed, like every Colombian town, around the Plaza de Bolivar, where there is no better plan than to settle in one of its terraces to drink a coffee or a natural juice. There is one of the most beautiful churches in the entire Coffee Axis: the Immaculate Mary Parish. But it is also the architecture of all the houses, in Antioquia style, is wonderful.

Curiosity: do you wonder where the name Filandia comes from? You will have already realized that this whole area is full of small towns and farms with names like Barcelona, Montenegro, Seville, Algeria, Genoa or Armenia itself ... So the first thing that comes to mind is that it was called Finland, and lost the N for any reason. But it actually comes from the Latin wordrow (daughter) and the Andes: daughter of the Andes.

Tired but with the camera and the mind full of beautiful images, we come back to Salento, where we end our route by car along the Coffee Axis of Colombia. It has been a long day with lots of visits, but it has certainly been worth visiting the villages of Quindío by car and delving deeper into the local life of the most famous coffee producers in the world.

Here we leave you a map with all the points and towns we visited in the Coffee Axis, and the route by car.

This was ours route by car along the Coffee Axis, visiting the most beautiful villages of the department of Quindío. Do you have such a trip in mind? Which is your favorite place?