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Street · Salento, Quindío
Calle Real de Salento
Salento’s main street, with taipa and bahareque houses painted in bright colors, wooden balconies and doors, craft shops and cafés, stretching between the square and the viewpoint.
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Discover
About Calle Real de Salento
Salento, founded in 1842, is considered the oldest town in Quindío. The center preserves the architecture of Antioquian colonization: one- and two-story taipa and bahareque houses (a technique of bamboo and mud walls), with wooden doors, windows and balconies painted red, blue, green and yellow. The Calle Real, the Carrera Sexta, is the main and busiest street.
The street starts at the Plaza de Bolívar, with the church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen and the Willys jeeps parked and ready for the Valle de Cocora. It continues toward the mountain with craft shops, cafés serving regional beans, trout restaurants and patacón stands. At the end, a stairway leads up to the Mirador Alto de la Cruz.
On the parallel streets, the houses are the same style but quieter. At night, the bars in the square and on the Calle Real often have music and tejo games, a traditional Colombian sport in which a metal disc is thrown at a board with gunpowder.
Salento is walked on foot and fills up on weekends and holidays.
Before you go
Practical information
Cidade Turismo reviews its information regularly, but something may have changed. Check with the place before planning your trip.
How much time to set aside
1 to 2 hours.
Best time
Early in the morning, before the groups arrive, or late in the afternoon, when the colors of the houses stand out. The street gets crowded on weekends.
How to get there
It's in the center of Salento; from the Plaza de Bolívar, where the buses from Pereira and Armenia stop.
Tip
Try a single-origin coffee at one of the cafés on the street and a trout with patacón for lunch. In the evening, try a game of tejo in a bar on the plaza.
Get your questions answered
Frequently asked questions about Calle Real de Salento
What is bahareque?
Construction technique using a bamboo or timber frame and clay walls, used in the houses of the Antioquian colonization in the Eixo Cafeeiro.
What is tejo?
Traditional Colombian sport: a metal disc is thrown at a clay box containing small charges of gunpowder that explode on a hit. There are tejo bars in Salento.
Does Salento get crowded?
On weekends and holidays, yes. On weekdays the town is much quieter.