Villa de Leiva Overview

By Lorraine Caputo

The road to Villa de Leyva winds downhill 39 kilometers (23.5 miles) from Tunja through sparsely greened hills of spellbinding rock. Those incredibly folded strata tilt almost vertical, revealing a fascinating geological history. The road is good blacktop, with some parts subject to flooding and rockslides. Along the way you will pass Cucaita, a village with a 450-year tradition of art and culture.

Villa de Leyva is big on the destination list for Colombian and foreign vacationers alike. The town, a national historic monument, beautifully preserves colonial buildings built with the tapia pisada (rammed earth) technique. White washed buildings hugging cobblestone lanes, the many shops and cultural attractions aren’t the only things drawing many here. The entire region is steeped in history, from fossils of Mesozoic sea denizens to the museum-homes of important independence leaders. Villa de Leyva has excellent services and fine restaurants for the holidaymaker. Some visitors might find it a bit too touristy. Attractions outside the village, though, are definitely worth several days of exploration with a bit of everything for any type of explorer, including indigenous and colonial ruins, vineyards and horseracing, desert and páramo landscapes.

(Altitude: 2149 m / 7149 ft, Population: 12,000, City Code: 8)