Sitting on the rim of the Chicamocha canyon about 50 kilometres south of Bucaramanga on the road to San Gil, this theme park and lookout is the single most visited attraction in Santander. The draw is the canyon itself: the rock walls drop almost vertically into a chasm more than 2,000 metres deep, and the cable car that crosses it — one of the longest in Latin America at around 6.3 kilometres — gives views that are genuinely breathtaking. The park also has a water park, monument to Santander culture, restaurants, and zip lines, but the cable car ride is worth the trip on its own. Plan for a half-day; the park fills up on weekends and Colombian public holidays. There is a separate entry fee for the cable car beyond the park entrance fee.
Parque Nacional del Chicamocha
A story
The Chicamocha canyon reaches depths of over 2,000 metres — deeper than the Grand Canyon in many sections. The Guane people who inhabited its walls before the Spanish arrived were renowned warriors who resisted conquest for decades; their descendants still live in the villages above the canyon rim.