Buga's colonial centre is one of the better-preserved in the Valle del Cauca — a grid of streets lined with whitewashed single-storey houses and occasional 19th-century civic buildings, all converging on the Parque Cabal at the heart of town. The scale is human and the pace is slow. On weekday mornings, when the pilgrimage crowds thin out, it has the feel of a genuinely functioning provincial Colombian town rather than a tourist destination.
The streets between the basilica and the central plaza are worth walking at least once: they show how thoroughly the pilgrimage economy has shaped the town, with every second building selling candles, rosaries, religious figurines, and the local confectionery (brevas con arequipe — figs stuffed with caramel — are the traditional Buga sweet). A couple of hours on foot covers the whole centre.