Filandia, and the carts in the square

Filandia is a small town in the Andean coffee region, and it does the thing that the well known Colombian destinations have mostly stopped doing. It is a place where people live, which visitors are welcome to walk around in, rather than a place arranged for visitors.

The streets are cobbled and the buildings are painted in the full range, balconies in colours that would look garish anywhere with less light. The centre has a market selling produce, crafts and clothing, and the local food to try is the obvious and correct one, empanadas and arepas.

The detail that fixes the town in your memory is the carritos. They are small open carts, painted and decorated, pushed by hand around the square. They move tourists and locals alike, they run on nothing but somebody leaning into them, and they have been part of the town long enough to be a genuine piece of its culture rather than a novelty put on for the buses.

It is also a gateway rather than a destination on its own. The Cocora Valley, which holds the tallest palm trees in the world, is close. So is a lot of walking, with waterfalls and forest and enough wildlife to make a guided morning worthwhile.

Getting into the forest

Guided walks go out into the forest around the town and the wildlife list is better than you would guess from the size of the place: monkeys, a lot of birds, butterflies in quantity.

The monkey walks are the ones we would prioritise. Guides who know the ground take you far enough in to see several species behaving normally, and with some luck the more retiring ones, capuchins and howlers among them.

Eating

La Bodega de Filandia in the town centre is the traditional option and the one to start with. Arepas, empanadas, tamales, local coffee and fresh juice, in a room that is genuinely cosy rather than styled to look it.

La Loma does pizza and pasta out of a colonial house, which sounds like a compromise and is not. It is a good room and a good evening.