Barichara with kids: what to do as a family

Barichara works surprisingly well with children, and not because it has attractions designed for them. It works because the town is flat, quiet and almost traffic-free, and because nearly everything interesting is done with your hands.

This is the guide we give to families staying with us.

Why the town works with kids

The historic centre is a small grid of cobbled streets with very few cars. Children can walk ahead without you living on edge. Distances are short: from the main square to anywhere in the centre is under ten minutes on foot.

The Parque para las Artes Jorge Delgado Sierra is the best place to burn off energy: open space, stone sculptures, shade and a view over the valley. It is the compulsory sunset stop.

One practical detail everyone appreciates: cobbled streets are beautiful but uneven. With a baby, a carrier works far better than a pushchair.

Workshops: the best plan of the trip

If you only do one activity with children, make it an artisan workshop.

Ceramics. The one that lands best. It is tactile, they get messy, and they leave with something they made. Workshops usually run open sessions of one or two hours, suitable from about 4 or 5 with an adult alongside.

Fique paper. Soaking, beating, laying and drying the fibre is hypnotic even for adults. Children love the part where hands go into the water.

Stone carving. Involves tools and strength, so it is recommended from adolescence upwards. Younger ones still enjoy watching the carver work.

Book a day or two ahead: these are small workshops and space is limited.

Water and nature

Pescaderito (Curití), about 45 minutes away, is the best water plan in the area: a series of clear natural pools along the river, with shallow sections. It is a full-day outing, hugely popular with Colombian families and almost unknown to foreign visitors. Bring food, a sunshade and cash.

The Juan Curí waterfalls are spectacular, but the access walk is short and steep with uneven steps. With small children it can be demanding; from about 8 upwards it is thoroughly enjoyable.

The Camino Real to Guane is doable from around 8 or 9, as long as you set off before 7 a.m., carry enough water, and everyone knows the way back is by bus. With younger children, walking the first kilometre and turning back is also a perfectly good — and beautiful — plan.

The canyon and the cable car

Chicamocha National Park, a little over an hour away, is the most theme-park-like plan in the region: cable car, water park, ostriches, viewpoints. With children it is a safe bet for a full day, though it fills up on long weekends and cable car queues stretch out.

Eating with children

Santander cooking is hearty and very meat-forward, which sometimes works and sometimes does not. What almost always works:

• Arepa de maíz pelao with cheese.
• Caldo or mild soups at breakfast.
• Bocadillo veleño with cheese, the local dessert, which usually wins them over immediately.
• Tropical fruit juices: lulo, guanábana, blackberry, passion fruit.

Restaurants in town are generally calm and roomy, and several have interior courtyards.

How to structure the days

With children, one plan per day and nothing more:

1. Day 1: arrive, town at sunset, Parque para las Artes.
2. Day 2: ceramics workshop in the morning, restful afternoon.
3. Day 3: water day at Pescaderito, or Chicamocha.

Always leave the afternoon free. It gets hot after lunch, and an afternoon in a hammock in the countryside prevents the six-o'clock meltdown.

Staying in the countryside with children

Accommodation outside town changes the trip with kids: space to run, no traffic, a kitchen for the food they actually eat, and quiet nights.

At Arbolitos de Don José the open-view balcony and the starry sky tend to be the part children remember, more than any paid attraction. And for parents, an equipped kitchen and a hammock in the shade are worth as much as the scenery.