Salento

For far too long, Salento's picturesque charms have been the secret stomping grounds of the well informed and adventurous. But that's changing as the region sees a massive influx of visitors who are drawn to this charming town by its colorful colonial facades, rich emerald riverine valleys, and sunshine. Salento and the surrounding Eje de Café—the Coffee Triangle—has become a darling of Colombian tourism. It offers visitors a chance to immerse themselves in the coffee-producing heartland of Quindío, an area dotted with brightly painted wooden haciendas that balance precariously on hillside ridges surrounded by rows of coffee bushes. Enjoy locally caught trout, take a hike among the mighty wax palms—the national tree of Colombia—of the Valle de Cocora, towering above you, and settle down with a tinto, the everyday dark, sweet coffee brewed from locally grown and roasted coffee beans.