Bucaramanga is in Colombia in the Santander region.

Understand

Bucaramanga is a medium sized city, home of nearly 1 million people (all of the metropolitan area). It's a major commercial hub in the northeastern Colombia, playing a significant role in trade between Colombia and Venezuela. It's not a huge destination spot just like Cartagena de Indias or Santa Marta, nonetheless It is surrounded by beautiful landscapes, and ancient towns with a lots of history, which overall makes the visit to Bucaramanga worthwhile.

Get in

As always in Colombia, foreigners are NOT advised to travel by car alone. You can go out with your family, your friends or with a guide with no problem. They will take you to their farms, nearby towns and resorts without problem.

By air

Bucaramanga has a domestic airport, Palonegro Airport (BGA), and It has connections with some cities in Colombia (Bogotá, Medellín, Cúcuta, Yopal and others), and It's located about 45 minutes away from Bucaramanga, near the town of Lebrija.

By bus

The city offers a clean, modern and nice bus station (La Terminal de Transportes de Bucaramanga) from where you can take busses to almost any destination around Colombia, even you can take buses from here that will take you to Venezuela, Perú and Ecuador.

Get around

By bus

There are many public and private transportation companies that offer bus services and cover almost all of the metropolitan area (Bucaramanga, Girón, Floridablanca and Piedecuesta). It's a cheap and a rather safe way (ticket costs around US$ 0.45, but it will cost more depending on the bus, the route and the day) to travel around Bucaramanga, and they offer nice and clean vehicles that you will feel comfortable with. If you dislike loud music a lot this transportation option could be a problem for you, since most of the drivers enjoy putting their music very loud, but this doesn't happen in most cases.

As stated above, foreigners should not take buses if they are traveling alone, especially to some 'hot' (dangerous because of the conflict) places like Villavicencio and Barrancabermeja, and are advised to use air services instead. The road that links Bogotá with Bucaramanga is safe, and you can freely travel on this road or take buses with no concern. This road also offers some excellent spots worth checking out, like the Chicamocha Canyon, the town of San Gil and Barichara, among others.

By taxi

This is by far the best way to travel around if you don't mind spending a bit more for transportation. The cabs here are very clean, safe and they will take you to anywhere you want.

Talk

Most of the people in Bucaramanga speak spanish only, and you will probably have a hard time trying to get addresses and other information from people on streets, but if you go to big hangout places like malls, parks or supermarkets, english speaker people will certainly be found around.

See

There are plenty of things to sight seeing in Bucaramanga, starting from the east side via "Cucuta" you can find nice and large balconies and enjoy a panoramic view of the city. The center of Bucaramanga (Like any downtown in the world) gets really crowded on weekends and peak hours, however you can enjoy lots of bargains and sales in the shops, nice quality of clothes and shoes of course. In the south of Bucaramanga you can find different resorts or clubs where you can play golf, futbol, swim, or just chill out with your friends.

Generally the most popular zone in Bucaramanga is Cabecera, this is the most modern area in the city with lots of malls and entertainment like cinemas, restaurants and shops.

Do

Learn

Universities

• Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) [1] - This is a public university, and It's regarded as one of the top ten universities in Colombia. This place offers a wide range of engineering schools, and a very reputable medicine school.

Buy

To buy shoes, there is not a better place than Bucaramanga, due to the many shoe factories the prices are inexpensive. Good leather and excellent manufacturing.

Pineapples are an excellent buy. The best pineapples in the world, with only competence of the Hawaiian pineapples.

Eat

Traditional Santanderean dishes include:

Cabro: Goat meat.

Mute: A thick soup made with beans, corn, garbanzos, potatoes, various meats (including fresh pig feet, pork loin chops, beef spareribs).

Fritanga: If you don't mind some grease and fried food, you should try fritanga. It consists of an assortment of different kind of sausages, yuca, potatoes, corn, steak, and others, all deep-fried. You can find a traditional Fritanga market in the town of Girón located about 15 minutes from Bucaramanga.

Culonas: Short for 'Hormigas Culonas' which literally translates 'big ass ants', is a traditional dish, found nowhere else in Colombia, and maybe around the world. The Culonas are 'leaf-cutter' ants (big ones!). Their heads, wings and legs are removed and the rest of the body is toasted and salted.

Caldo: It's a light soup. It contains water (of course, but sometimes milk is added), potatoes, cilantro, tostados (traditional flat round toasted bread). Additionally it may contain rib meat (with bone) or 1 or 2 eggs. It's accompanied with Santanderean Arepa.

Don't forget to try all the fresh fruits you can find at either the traditional markets, or at the supermarkets. Pineapple from Lebrija (Located 35-40 minutes from Bucaramanga) is famous for it's size, and sweetness. Oranges, tangerines, and limes are traditional crops, and can be found all year round (like most of the other fruits). Mango, Papaya, Watermelon, Maracuyá (passion fruit), Guava, Curuba, Pitahaya... the list is very extensive.

(More to be added)

Drink

“Masato” - fermented beverage prepared from corn and sugar cane. "Chicha" - fermened beverage prepared from corn and sugar.

Sleep

Get out