The directors of Disney movie Encanto drew inspiration from various trips to Colombia to set the film in typical Colombian landscapes!
A great deal of research was carried out by the film’s teams to capture the essence of what makes Colombia so beautiful.
Join us in discovering which Colombian landscapes feature in the film, and where you can go to see them in real life!
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Disclaimer: we apologize in advance for any grammatical or syntactic errors, as our native language is not English (we're a Colombian-French couple), so we hope you'll forgive us and still enjoy the information we share with you! Please note that all the information on our blog is based on our own experience, and is checked and updated regularly.
Colonial houses
Where to see Disney’s Encanto in Colombia
The architecture of the houses in the village of Encanto is typical of the colonial houses found in Santander and Boyaca, particularly in the sublime villages of Barichara and Villa de Leyva !
These villages feature exactly the same architecture: tiled roofs, whitewashed walls, bougainvillea and beautiful wooden doors and windows.
As for the “Casita”, which you can see in more detail, it’s a real mix inspired by the colonial houses of Cartagena with their flower-filled balconies, Barichara with its typical stone, Villa de Leyva and the coffee region, with the villages of Salento, Filandia or Salamina and their colorful windows.
The “casita” in the film Encanto is filled with flowers, most of them bougainvillea! One of Colombia’s emblematic flowers, they can be found almost everywhere in the country, from the Caribbean coast to the Andes mountains. These sublime flowers adorn wooden balconies, but are also often used around the gates of houses, to embellish walls and so on.
Destinations to visit to find Encanto’s colonial houses
Cocora Valley and Zona Catefera
Where to see the landscapes of Disney’s Encanto in Colombia
Surely one of the main characters in the Disney cartoon, these immense palm trees perched in the mountains do exist in Colombia!
The filmmakers were inspired by the landscapes of the coffee-growing region, particularly the Cocora valley in the Quindio department. These palm trees are endemic to Colombia and are typical of the landscape of the coffee region.
Wax palms
Endemic to Colombia, these palms can reach heights of over 60 m and are found in various mountain departments of the coffee region. They grow at altitudes of between 1.500 m and 3.000 m.
While the Cocora valley is the best-known tourist site, there are other wax palm forests, some of them far more impressive than Cocora! We’re thinking of the Carbonera and Tochecito valleys in Tolima department, Samaria in Caldas department, or Pijao in Quindio department… and there are surely other sites we haven’t even heard of yet!
The coffee region
The magical landscapes to be seen in Encanto are clearly inspired by the landscapes of Colombia’s coffee region, a World Heritage Site! The coffee region extends over 3 departments between the city of Pereira and Medellín: Caldas, Risaralda and Quindio, where you’ll find the village of Salento and the sublime Cocora Valley.
Destinations to visit to rediscover the cafetero landscapes of Encanto
Santander
Where to see landscapes from Disney’s Encanto in Colombia
Another sure reference from the Disney film is the department of Santander, with its colonial villages and traditions.
Maribel’s dress is totally inspired by the traditional dresses of the Santander department, and in particular those of the village of Velez, considered to be the place where the tradition of these dresses is best preserved. Every year, the village celebrates the Festival de la Guabina, the traditional dance for which these dresses are used.
Santander is a magnificent department located around the large city of Bucaramanga. You’ll find typical architecture, using the local ochre stone, and houses with tiled roofs, as in the village of Barichara. No multicolored houses as in the coffee region, but rather warm, uniform colors of wood, ochre, etc.
Destinations to visit for Encanto landscapes in Santander
Snow-capped mountains
Where to see landscapes from Disney’s Encanto in Colombia
Maribel’s adventures take her over mountains, and some of the landscapes feature snow-capped mountains..
Indeed, despite its location close to the equator, Colombia boasts a number of snow-capped peaks, whether in the Andes , in the Los Nevados Natural Park or the El Cocuy Natural Park, or on the Caribbean coast, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, home to Colombia’s highest peaks (5.730 m).
And it’s precisely Colombia’s two highest peaks, Pico Colon and Pico Bolivar, whose silhouettes are clearly visible on the landscape around the village of Encanto.
As you’ll have gathered, Encanto’s filmmakers have in fact blended inspirations into a single image. The result is a house in Santander, set in a landscape of the coffee region, with the Sierra Nevada de Santa Martamountains on the horizon!
Destination to see the snow-capped Encanto mountains in Colombia
Caño Cristales
Where to see the landscapes of Disney’s Encanto in Colombia
We discover it at the very beginning of the film, when the Madrigal family is forced to flee after their village is attacked. Caño Cristales is located in the department of Meta, one of the departments most affected by the armed conflict in Colombia.
Caño Cristales is a little jewel of nature, a multicolored river that amazes and fascinates travelers. Its color is due to the presence of an algae (macarenia clavigera) which, depending on the season, takes on its extraordinary orange-red hues.
Once again, it’s important to note that this algae is not only found in Caño Cristales, but throughout the Serrania de la Macarena region, particularly in the rivers around San José del Guaviare.
Destinations to discover the coloured rivers in the film Encanto
The birds
Where to see the animals from Disney’s Encanto in Colombia
Colombia boasts one of the greatest biodiversities in the world, and Disney’s animated film made no mistake when it came to showing Colombia’s emblematic animals!
They’re everywhere in Colombia, and they’re everywhere in the Disney cartoon! Colombia is the country with the greatest variety of birds in the world, and the makers of Encanto understood this. Among the stars of the film are the Toucan, the Hummingbird and the Guacamaya, three emblematic birds of Colombia.
We were lucky enough to see hummingbirds in Minca, Silvia, Pijao, the Cocora valley and Casanare, in short, everywhere. Toucans can be seen everywhere too, but our most beautiful toucans were on the Pacific coast of Choco.
Where to see Encanto birds in Colombia
Chiguïro
Where to see the animals in Disney’s Encanto in Colombia
Several scenes in Encanto feature the wild animals of Colombia, and in particular the funniest animal in the film: the Chiguïro!
Chiguïros live between land and water, and most of the species found in Colombia can be found in the Orinoquia region, los llanos, with its flood plains. We were lucky enough to see them up close during our stay in San Luis de Palenque in Casanare.
Chiguïros have many different names, depending on the region and local dialect: Bocaeburro, Capibara, Culo-pando..
Destinations where you can see Chiguïros in Colombia
The Jaguar
Where to see the animals from Disney’s Encanto in Colombia
The king of animals in Colombia, and a totem animal for many of the country’s indigenous communities, the Jaguar in the film Encanto is the protector of little Antonio, who possesses the power to talk to animals.
The Jaguar is the third largest cat in the world (behind the tiger and the lion). It’s a wild animal that’s very difficult to “meet”. They have understood that it’s better to live hidden from the human race… They tend to hunt at night, and their favorite territory is the deep forest.
The Jaguar can be found in almost all low-lying areas of Colombia, close to the sea, near the Venezuelan border and in deep forests.
