Cochabamba sits in a broad valley in central Bolivia at around 2,500 metres — low enough that the climate is genuinely pleasant year-round, which is why locals call it the "City of Eternal Spring." It's Bolivia's third largest city and its gastronomic capital: Bolivians from La Paz and Santa Cruz make the trip just to eat here.
The city is sprawling and not conventionally beautiful, but it has real energy. La Cancha — one of the largest open-air markets in South America — is a full-sensory experience, and the Plaza 14 de Septiembre gives the city a human-scale colonial centre worth lingering in. The Cristo de la Concordia statue looms over everything from the Cerro de San Pedro hill, visible from almost anywhere in the valley.
Cochabamba is also a practical base for getting into the Bolivian countryside. The Chapare region to the north — humid cloud forest giving way to Amazon lowlands — is a half-day bus ride away, Torotoro National Park's dinosaur footprints and canyon landscapes are three hours south, and the colonial town of Sucre is reachable by road or a short flight.