Trip report for Quindio.
My girlfriend and I arrived in Pereira last week for a few days and liked it but agreed it´s too big for us. We prefer a village but within one hour of the city. We decided to spend a week around Armenia, Quindio.

On Friday we took a 45 minute bus ride from Pereira, Risaralda terminal to Alcala which is near Quimbaya, Alcala is in the state of Valle del Cauca.

Our experience in Valle del Cauca near Cali was that it was hot and dry, but Alcala is perched up on a small mountain with cooler air. We were only there for a few hours and found it to be friendly enough but not very appealing as a place to stay.

In the afternoon we took a 15 minute bus ride to Quimbaya in Quindio department to spend the night. Quimbaya is a nice pueblo, bigger than Alcala and has a central park that has a lot more activities and there were plenty of little bars and restuarants spread around the square and the nearby side streets.

We had dinner in a little family restaurant and it was good, costing 10,000 pesos each for bandeja paisa which is fried pork fat chicharron, pork sausage chorizo, fried egg, brown beans, white rice, tiny salad, fried plantain, sliced avocado. It came with a really good bowl of vegetable soup and a delicious mango juice. The meal was delicious but definitely not a weight watchers delight.

After dinner we wandered around the park and watched the kids playing on the several little cars and trampoline and what not .Very festive atmosphere. Then we found a bar not too crowded that was playing old time music and we had a couple beers and enjoyed watching the couples and families having a good time.

We spent Saturday night in Quimbaya in a hotel about 5 blocks off the square. Our room had wifi, a double bed, a circular fan and light in the ceiling, a balcony and a bathroom with hot water. Cost was 50,000 for the two of us. It was on a quiet street so we slept well. I could definitely see a possible future retirement in Quimbaya. Its small enough to be cozy but big enough to have some interesting things to do and the several people we asked about apartments or houses for rent said there were some to look at but we didn´t go look at any of them.

After breakfast on Sunday we caught a 20 minute bus ride to Filandia. I was pretty excited to visit Filandia after all the write ups on this forum. When we got there I was surprised to see its a tiny little village perched on the crown of a small mountain. I can really see why some people are arguing there are only a thousand or so people living in the village.

The little central park is small but nice and there are bars and bakeries and mom and pop restaurants. We walked around a while to get a feel for it but didn´t feel anything special. We stopped at a hotel two blocks off the square to find out a room for two was 100,000 pesos. It looked clean but we decided there really wasn´t enough of interest to keep us in Filandia overnight so we went back to the park to find a restaurant for lunch.

Most of the restaurants we saw were just a few tables with a sparse menu. About a block off the park we found a nice mom and pop restaurant with a decent looking menu. The restaurant is in a old family house with tables in the living room where we sat with a window view of the street.

I saw trout on the menu and ordered that, my girlfriend ordered a fried chicken fillet. I was pretty disappointed because the trout was planked and fried. It tasted similar to her fried chicken filet. The meal included soup and a tiny salad and rice and a small glass of watery juice. Cost 30,000 for the two of us and not very good.

We hung out in the park for a couple hours chatting with passers by. Everyone was friendly but nobody knew of any houses or apartments for rent. Its pretty easy to get bored in Filandia so we went to the bus stop at the corner of the park and boarded a ratty little bus to go to Circasia which is on the way to Armenia. We thought we would check out Circasia for a couple hours then go on to Armenia for the night.

When we got to Circasia we were surprised to see its a very pretty village and about the same size as Quimbaya. There are several things of interest in Circasia so we decided to spend the night, but wound up actually spending two nights. The hotel was clean and quiet with hot water and wifi and cost 50,000 per night for the two of us. The central park is very nice, much bigger than Filandia but not as big and festive as Quimbaya. There are lots of little restaurants and bars and discos. There is a church under construction because the old one burned down. We went for evening mass and enjoyed it. I´m not catholic but my girlfriend is and she said it was a nice mass. I followed most of it, my spanish is intermediate so I got the gist of it. Because I was the only gringo lots of people stopped to chat with us and made us feel welcome.

We had a really good dinner in a family restaurant a block off the square. No more trout for me, I ordered beef filet and my girlfriend had pork fillet. The meal was very tasty and cost 20,000 for the two.

Everything in Quimbaya and Circasia seems to be much less expensive than Filandia. We spent Monday enjoying Circasia and saw a couple nice apartments for rent and some people told us there are casa fincas for rent around Circasia. I could definitely see retiring there.

On Tuesday morning we caught the bus to go to Salento but we had to first get off as the bus entered Armenia then wait for a different bus going to Salento. The ride to Salento was very pretty through the valley with plenty of nice vistas and climbing up the mountains. Along the way we crossed a really nice looking river and I wandered if they do float tubing or kayak rentals. It looked like it would be fun to float through the valley. There were also horse stables offering trail rides but we weren´t in a mood for that. Maybe go back another time to do it.

Salento is a good sized village with a central park that is pretty dismal because its small and is being repaired. Most of the activity is along a main street that goes about 4 blocks from the park to the base of a high stairs that leads to an overlook with fantastic vistas. It really was worth the climb up the stairs. The main street is crowded with little restaurants and souvenir shops, some offering junk and others offering decent merchandise. All the buildings on that main street are brightly painted and the atmosphere is very touristy.

We had lunch in one of the little restaurants and it was typical Colombian lunch, meat, beans, rice, tiny salad and watery juice. Cost 14,000 for the two of us. After about 3 hours we had seen all we cared to see so we caught the bus back to Armenia.

I want to go back and spend more time in Circasia and my second choice would be Quimbaya. I think either would be an excellent place to retire. Definitely not Filandia or Salento, both are too small, too expensive and too touristy. Nice to visit for a day but thats all.

I also want to visit Seville and Caicidonia in Valle del Cauca. They are pueblos in the coffee region about three hours from Cali but only an hour from Armenia, up in the mountains.

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