We stopped off in Popayan for a few days on our journey along the southern route between Bogotá and Cali. After spending a week in San Agustin, it was nice to be back in a slightly larger city. Especially as Popayan is one of Colombia’s most beautiful cities!
Known as the “Ciudad blanca” (the white city), Popayan was for a long time one of the most important cities in the country. It has lost some of its influence with the modernization of the country, but Popayan remains a must-see for anyone visiting southern Colombia.
We knew what we wanted to do in Popayan, and had already identified three projects we wanted to discover: Get Up and Go Colombia in Popayan, a women’s silk-producing association in Timbio and an indigenous community tourism project in Silvia.
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.
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General information Popayan
- Nickname: La Ciudad Blanca
- Founded: 1537
- People: Payanés
- Region: Andes
- Department: Cauca
- Population: approx. 320.000
- Average altitude: 1760m
- Climate: temperate and humid
- Average temperature : 18°C
- Rainy season: October, November, December
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Popayan the white city
Best things to do in Popayan
We disembark in Popayan on the bus from San Agustin to Popayan, which passes through the Puracé natural park. The road is long and bumpy, but we can confirm that it’s a smooth ride.
We kicked off our stay with a guided tour of Popayan’s historic center with Miguel, a young man from the Get Up and Go Colombia project, about whom we’ll tell you more later. We learned a lot about the city and its history.
According to the stories, the name Popayan comes from the name of the indigenous Cacique Payan, chief of the Pubenense people who lived in the area before the arrival of the colonists.
Popayan is known for having seen many famous figures in Colombian history, the first of whom was Francisco José de Caldas. A great intellectual to the point of earning the nickname “el sabio” (the scholar), from the privileged class of “criollos” (Colombians born of Spanish parents), Caldas is considered one of the fathers of Colombian independence in 1810.
Popayan has long been one of Colombia’s cultural centers. It is home to one of the country’s oldest universities. Catholic tradition is still firmly rooted in the town, so much so that Popayan’s Holy Week processions have been listed as Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
During the tour, you’ll learn, among other things, why Popayan is nicknamed the “white city”, or rather why the city has white walls… According to legend, in the 19th century, during an epidemic of “nigua” (tropical flea) which attacked the feet of the inhabitants, the town council decided to cover the walls with lime in an attempt to disinfect the city. Today, the city walls are repainted white every March before Holy Week.
Between the strong presence of indigenous communities, an extremely powerful colonial heritage and the heavy toll paid by armed conflict, the department of Cauca is a kind of political laboratory in Colombia.
Popayan and Cauca are a territory heavily affected by the armed conflict, and it is also the stronghold of some of the most politically active indigenous communities in Colombia: Misak, Nasa, Inga, Totoro, Yanacona.Paez, Pubenense, Kokonuco, Eperara Siapidara…
During the major demonstrations in Colombia in 2020, the statue that stood at the top of Morro de Tulcan, the hill overlooking the town of Popayan, was dismantled by the indigenous people. This was an anti-colonial gesture, the statue being that of Sebastian Belalcazar, the Spanish conquistador who “founded” Popayan, considered to be one of the colonists who massacred the most indigenous people in Colombia.
El morro de Tulcan has been recognized as an ancient indigenous cemetery, concealing a pyramid built from rammed earth and mud bricks. It was a sacred site, a place for ceremonies and a 360° view of the city.
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Best things to do in Popayan
Popayan Travel guide
During the guided tour, you can explore the main points of interest in Popayan’s historic center and learn about their history. But if you’ve decided to explore the historic center on your own, here are the things to see in Popayan:
- Main square (Parque Caldas) with its iconic clock tower
- Popayan Cathedral
- La Ermita church, one of the oldest in town
- Belen church and its view of Popayan
- San Francisco church
- The Bridge of Humiliation
- Guillermo Valencia Municipal Theater, one of the city’s few colorful buildings
- Morro de Tulcan and its view of Popayan
- Museum of Religious Art
- Guillermo Valencia Museum
Good to know
Local specialties
- Empanas de Pipian: small empanadas made with potato colorada and peanuts. The best-known place to try them is the Mora Castilla restaurant.
- Salpicon Payanés : Typical Popayan drink, a kind of fruit granita: blackberry, lulo and guanabana. Angélica liked it, Samuel not so much…
- Aplanchados: These are very tasty shortbread cookies, part of the city’s gastronomic heritage, and you’re bound to see the best-known of them, those made by “Doña Chepa”. She’s gone now, but her legacy will live on.
Popayan Private Tour
Get up and Go Colombia
As you may have noticed, we often recommend guided tours of Colombia’s major cities. Although we weren’t big fans in the past, we’ve really changed our minds as our experiences have developed, especially in Colombia. The country is so complex and its history so little-known that we feel it’s important to be able to contextualize things with a local guide. It only enriches the trip.
Get up and Go Colombia
In Popayan, we spotted a great initiative that we absolutely had to tell you about. So we went to meet them.
Get up and Go Colombia is an NGO that develops tourism projects aimed at “empowering” communities in Cauca, one of the regions most affected by the armed conflict (Empowermetn is a difficult word to translate: empowerment, demarginalization… it means giving back the power to act to disadvantaged people).
The NGO works with victims of the Colombian armed conflict, indigenous, rural and LGBT communities. Revenues generated by tourism services are reinvested in educational projects aimed at developing tourism in other communities.
Get up and Go offers guided tours of Popayan and the surrounding area:
- Free Tour or private tour: historical tour of the center of Popayan. That’s what we did!
- Peace & Art Tour: history of the armed conflict and resilience through Popayan murals, guided by women victims of the armed conflict
- A day in Tambo: discovering a territory affected by conflict that is recovering thanks to ecotourism.
Good to know
Tiuspa cafe
One of Get up and Go’s initiatives, the Tiuspa Café is a café/restaurant that seeks to give visibility to the victims of armed conflict and raise awareness of the importance of reconciliation.
They offer a range of products from projects run by ex-combatants, including coffee, which is very good indeed. They organize language exchange evenings to enable young people to learn and practice English. They train victims of armed conflict as part of the NGO’s tourism projects.
We had a great time with them, and recommend you drop in to support them. Their work is superb and has a real impact!
Where can you find Tiuspa Café?
- Cra 10 # 5-67 centro
- Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 3pm to 7.30pm
The Clock Tower
Best things to do in Popayan
Nicknamed “Popayán’s nostril”, the Clock Tower was built in the 17th century and its clock was installed in 1737. If you pay a little attention to the clock, you’ll notice a strange curiosity: the number 4 is written with four bars IIII, whereas the norm is to write IV.
And now you’re going to ask us, but why? The suspense is unbearable.
Well, as is always the case in such cases, explanations are rife, and there are several theories, but all have to do with a fashion among watchmakers: it’s said to be a mistake by a Swiss watchmaker, which his colleagues will support by reproducing the same mistake later on. It’s also said that it was Charles V who, when building the clock for the Palais de la Cité, forced the watchmaker to use this script, which is said to have caused a stir. Finally, it’s explained that it was the clockmaker who preferred to mark IIII for symmetry’s sake.
The truth is surely more prosaic, since IIII has long been the standard for writing the number 4…
Good to know
Myths and legends
Numerous legends have been woven around Popayan’s Clock Tower. It is said that on the nights of the full moon, at midnight, the cries of a woman can be heard…
Some say it’s the “Ñapanga llorona”, the weeping half-breed, a grieving soul who begins her walk in the temple of San José, stops at the Tower and continues along the cathedral platform to the sanctuary of Belén, passing through the chapels of La Encarnación and La Ermita.
Others claim it’s the cries of Ernestina, a little girl born in the bell tower at the time of independence (1810), when several insurgents were hiding there.
Finally, there are those who speak of the tragic fate of a young abused girl who, after giving birth to her child, threw it into Popayan’s Río Molino, and who has been mourning the death of her child ever since. This last version is typical of the “llorona” myth found throughout Latin America.
To end on a lighter note, legend has it that the bones of Don Quixote de la Mancha (yes, yes) rest in Popayan’s Clock Tower, and that anyone who aspires to be a poet or writer should come and lay their hands on the Tower’s walls to imbibe the spirit, soul and wisdom of universal literature’s most famous character.
Where to stay in Popayan
Popayan
Hotel
Hotel La Plazuela
We’ll take you up on that sublime patio alone! Hotel La Plazuela is located right in the center of Popayan, for those seeking the comfort of a hotel and a beautiful colonial house.
Popayan
Hostal
Caracol Hostel
Here’s a hostal where you’ll feel like you’re in for a treat… Perfectly located, quiet, calm, clean and welcoming – just what the traveler in search of rest is looking for in a hostal in Popayan, isn’t it?
Popayan
Hostal
Araracuara Hostel
The decor of the Araracuara Hostel leaves no one indifferent: it’s lively, colorful and festive, just like the atmosphere of this hostal in the heart of Popayan. That said, if you’re looking for a place to rest, this may not be the best place 😉
How to get to Popayan
From Cali
- Bus: From Cali bus terminal to Popayan
- Duration: between 2h and 3h depending on the company
- Price: between $15.000 and $25.000 COP
- Companies: Expreso Bolivariano (2h), Expreso Palmira (2h30), Velotax, CootransHuila, Cootranar, Sotracauca, Trans Ipiales..
- Departures: every 10 min
From San Agustin
From San Agustin, take a small bus to Pitalito.
BUS | San Agustin – Pitalito
- Companies: Coomotor, Cootrans Laboyana..
- Duration: approx. 45 min
- Last departure: 7 p.m
BUS | Pitalito – Popayan
Then take a more comfortable bus to Popayan.
- Timetable: regular all day
- Duration: approx. 6 hours
- Price: approx. $50.000 COP
- Company: Cootranshuila
