Valledupar is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia, capital of the Department of Cesar founded Lies between the mountains of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serrania del Perija to the margin of the Guatapurí River and Cesar River. It tends to be left off the itineraries of tourists, but those who make the effort to travel to this charming city will find warm people, shady, tree-lined streets and a pretty colonial centre.Valledupar’s Plaza Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo (photo, right) contains the city’s most attractive buildings including the Iglesia de la Concepcion. The plaza is frequented by locals both during the day and in the evening.Nightlife in Valledupar is quite limited and only really caters to people who have a taste for vallenato or, er, vallenato. It is hard to walk more than 10 metres without hearing this music being pumped out from a bar, shop, hairdressers etc. It really is everywhere, not that that is necessarily a bad thing, it of course depends on your taste. To be fair though there are a few places that offer something ever so slightly alternative. There are one or two bars along carrera 19 that offer some electronic music, soft rock and salsa.Valledupar has one of Colombia’s most modern maximum security prisons.Valledupar’s cultural background comes from three different major cultures; the European settlers, the Amerindians and Africans brought by the Europeans as slaves during the colonial time.The bus terminal is located in the south of the city on Avenida Salguero (carrera 7A) from where you can catch buses to the coast (about 4 hours to Riohacha) and also south towards Santander and the city of Bucaramanga.
The Alfonso López airport is a short distance west of the bus terminal. If you’re flying to or from Santa Marta or Barranquilla take a peak out of your window at the stunning snow-capped mountains of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.