September 11, 2026
Cali is a city you do rather than see. Cartagena has walls to walk and Bogotá has museums to fill a week; Cali has a Christ on a hill you climb at the end of the afternoon, a river with a boulevard and a bronze cat, a market where the fruit has names you do not know, a zoo that is better than it has any right to be, and a night that starts at eleven and is about one thing. This is the list, in the order we would do it, from people who run six tours here and live in the city, and it is written for the year it is: on August 10, 2026 a magnitude 7.4 earthquake killed 154 people in Cali by the mayor’s office’s count, and a fair number of the places a guidebook would send you to are closed, damaged or running on different hours. Each entry below says what is open as of September 11, 2026, with the source, and a section near the end lists what is not.
The full picture of the city, the balance of the earthquake, the airport, the weather, the safety numbers and where to stay are in our Cali guide; this page is the list of what to do with your days.
The short version
Do Cristo Rey at the end of the afternoon with a reservation, San Antonio at dusk and the river boulevard after, the Alameda market for lunch, the zoo in the cool of the morning, La Tertulia when it is hot, a salsa lesson before your first salsoteca, and a day out on the San Cipriano river or, from July to October, with the whales. Leave the old center’s churches and the Museo del Oro for another year, because they are closed after the earthquake, and do not book the Hacienda El Paraíso until Inciva reopens it. Two full days cover the city; a third covers a day trip. Our city tour, from 128 US dollars per person, does the hills, the river and San Antonio in one afternoon with a guide who lives here.
What the earthquake changed for a visitor
The mayor’s office’s official count on September 8, 2026 was 154 dead, 1,657 injured and 24 buildings in total collapse, with the hillside and central comunas hit hardest, and the city is open and working around that. What it means for this list, as of September 11: Cristo Rey reopened two of its three trails on August 22 with reservations; the zoo and the botanical garden inspected their grounds and stayed open; La Tertulia is open; the airport never stopped; and the Feria de Cali is confirmed for December 25 to 30. On the other side: the Banco de la República’s cultural center, which holds the Museo del Oro Calima, has been closed to the public since August 10 pending structural review; the church of La Merced lost part of its roof during Mass and is closed, as is the cathedral; the Teatro Municipal cancelled its September program after its inspection; Inciva’s Hacienda El Paraíso and its natural sciences museum were still closed on September 11; the Festival Mundial de Salsa was cancelled and the Petronio postponed to later in the year. Everything on this page is dated for that reason, and the week you travel we will tell you what has moved.
Do these first
1. Cristo Rey at the end of the afternoon
The 26-meter Christ on the Cerro de los Cristales, 464 tons of it, inaugurated on October 25, 1953 and the work of the brothers Alideo and Adelino Tazzioli, is where Cali looks at itself: the whole valley to the central range on a clear day, which is most days, and the city lighting up below at dusk. The mayor’s office runs it as a free ecopark with a mandatory reservation through its app, and more than 260,000 people had visited in 2025 by October. Since the earthquake it has reopened in part: trail 5, the road up to the monument, is open Monday to Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with last entry at 6:00, and Friday to Sunday and holidays until 8:00 p.m., with last entry at 7:00, plus an athletes’ hour from 6:00 to 8:00 in the morning; trail 2, from the San Fernando university campus up to the Avenida de los Cerros, is open daily from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; trail 3 is closed for repairs until about October. The environment department found small cracks in the monument that it says pose no risk to visitors. Go up for the last hour of light and come down by car; our city tour builds its afternoon around exactly that.
2. San Antonio, the hill and the park
San Antonio is the colonial quarter that survived Cali’s twentieth century: low houses on steep streets, small hotels in old homes, cafés and restaurants at your door, and at the top a little church and a park where, on weekend evenings, storytellers and street musicians work the crowd. It is where we put most of our guests and where our city tour ends, so that you can stay for dinner. One honest note for 2026: San Antonio is in comuna 3, one of the five the mayor’s office says the earthquake hit hardest, so expect scaffolding on some houses, and ask your hotel the two questions we ask every hotel this year, whether it is open and whether the building has been inspected. The neighborhood itself is on its feet, and walking it is what it has always been.
3. The river, the boulevard and the cats
The Río Cali runs along the edge of the center, and the Bulevar del Río along it is where the city walks in the evening, from the neo-Gothic church of La Ermita down past the cafés. A short walk west along the bank, at the river and Calle 4 in Normandía, sits the Gato del Río, the 4.5-meter bronze cat the sculptor Hernando Tejada gave the city on July 3, 1996, cast by the lost-wax method and, as the press tells the story, paid for by selling 250 small replica cats; since the mid-2000s a line of gatas, his girlfriends, painted by artists including Omar Rayo, Nadín Ospina and Lucy Tejada, has grown along the bank. It is silly and lovely and it is Cali. Do it at dusk, after Cristo Rey, or in the morning before the zoo, which is further upriver.
4. The Alameda market, and the table generally
The Plaza de Mercado Alameda, open since 1955 in comuna 9, is the city’s food market and, by the mayor’s office’s own description, the one thing a food traveler should not miss: Pacific cooking, sancochos, fritanga, the traditional drinks and a fruit section that reads like a botany exam. Eat lunch at the stalls, drink a lulada, and then understand that Cali’s food is the Pacific’s food, coconut and seafood and plantain, with the valley’s sugar on top. Our private food tour, three hours from 71 US dollars per person, walks the market with a private guide and takes you back to your hotel after; it is the better half of a day that starts at the zoo.
5. A salsa lesson, then a salsoteca
Cali calls itself the world capital of salsa and nobody argues, and the honest advice is to take a lesson before your first night out, because the Cali style is faster on the feet than the salsa you learned at home and the floors here are full of people who have danced it since childhood. Our private lesson, four hours door to door from 77 US dollars with two hours on the floor with a local professional, is built for exactly that, and the salsotecas start late and run until the small hours. Which ones are open, and which we would send you to this month, changes week to week after the earthquake, so ask us when you book rather than trusting a list from last year; the rules that do not change are a car both ways and no drink from a stranger’s hand.
6. The Zoológico de Cali
The best zoo we know in Colombia, on the river at Carrera 2 Oeste and Calle 14: more than 2,500 animals, 2.4 kilometers of walking through a wooded park, two to three hours at an easy pace. It opens every day from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; tickets are 40,000 pesos for adults, 27,500 for children of two to twelve and 30,500 for people over 65, no food or drink from outside except water and fruit for babies, and limited paid parking, so come by car and have it wait or come back. It inspected its grounds after the earthquake and stayed open. Go at nine, when it is cool and the animals are awake.
7. La Tertulia
The Museo La Tertulia, on the river at Avenida Colombia 5-105 Oeste, is the city’s modern art museum and the home of its Cinemateca, and it is the place for the hot hours of the afternoon. Its ticket listing gives admission of 30,000 pesos for foreigners including the service fee, 20,000 for Colombians and 14,000 for students, over-60s and children, and hours of 10:00 to 6:00 on Tuesday, to 7:00 on Wednesday, to 9:00 from Thursday to Saturday and 2:00 to 9:00 on Sunday, the late hours including the Cinemateca. It is open after the earthquake, and its Cinemateca hosts the Cali international film festival from October 20 to 25.
With another day
8. The Jardín Botánico de Cali
A dry tropical forest on the slopes of the Río Cali watershed, up the river from the zoo at Carrera 2 Oeste 21-121, with a trail of two to three hours through the forest that the city used to be. It opens Thursday to Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., tickets 23,000 pesos for adults and 17,500 for children, 44,000 and 33,000 for foreign visitors, on sale at the gate and on Tuboleta, and it inspected its grounds and stayed open after the earthquake. Morning, before the heat, and long trousers.
9. Pance and the Farallones
Pance, at the southern end of the city where the road runs up into the Farallones, is where Cali goes on Sunday: the river, the restaurants along it and the cold water. The mayor’s office’s Parque de la Biodiversidad, named for the COP16 summit the city hosted in 2024, is there, open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day except Monday, and except the Tuesday after a holiday Monday. Above it is the Farallones de Cali national park, 196,952 hectares from rainforest to páramo above 3,500 meters; Parques Nacionales allows visitors in only three sectors, Pico de Loro and Charco Burbujas in Pance and the Anchicayá canyon on the old road to the sea, and the Pico de Pance itself is closed to tourism, so go with a guide who knows which trail is which. Ask us for the state of the Pance road the week you travel; the southern hillsides were among the earthquake’s worst-hit.
10. The old center, with its scars
Cali’s center is not colonial and never pretended to be, but its handful of old things are worth an hour on a weekday morning: the Plaza de Cayzedo under its palms, La Ermita by the river, and the La Merced complex, the oldest church in the city, on the site where the founding Mass of 1536 is said to have been celebrated and a national monument since 1975. This year the hour comes with conditions. La Merced lost part of its roof during the seven o’clock Mass on August 10, needs the whole roof replaced and is closed, with the archdiocese saying the heritage restorations could take up to three years; the Catedral de San Pedro is closed with severe damage; the Banco de la República’s cultural center on Calle 7, which holds the Museo del Oro Calima and its 454 pieces of Ilama, Yotoco and Sonso goldwork and pottery, has been shut to the public since August 10 pending structural review, with no reopening date at its last update; and on August 19 the mayor’s office still had eleven intersections in the center closed for inspection. Walk it in daylight, with your phone in your pocket, and expect fences.
11. Delirio, and the shows
Delirio is the salsa, circus and orchestra show under a big top that the city sells to the world, and its ticket seller lists the next nights on September 25 and October 23, 2026, at 9:30 p.m., with tables from about 218,000 pesos; if your dates fit, it is the most Caleño night you can buy. The rest of the calendar is bruised: the Festival Mundial de Salsa, due September 24 to 27, was cancelled and is to be rescheduled; the Ensálsate show cancelled its Cali dates; the Petronio Álvarez festival of Pacific music, which the earthquake stopped in its opening days, is promised for later in the year, with November the month being reported when we wrote this; the Ajazzgo jazz festival went ahead on September 9 to 12 with a second phase in October; and the Feria de Cali, December 25 to 30, is confirmed by the mayor.
12. The Cerro de las Tres Cruces
The other hill, with three crosses on top, is the Caleños’ dawn workout: up before six, a steep hour on foot on a dirt trail, the city waking up below, busiest on Tuesday and Thursday mornings by the local press’s account. It belongs to the locals more than to visitors, and it is a real climb. We had no official word on its trails after the earthquake when we wrote this, and the hills took the worst of it, so ask us the week you travel before you plan a morning around it.
13. Kilómetro 18 and the birds
West of the city on the old road to Buenaventura, the road climbs into cloud forest at the place everyone calls Kilómetro 18, after the kilometer post, cool enough for a jacket, where the birding lodges and their hummingbird feeders are. It is the Cali morning for people who travel for birds, and a sound one for anyone who wants to see where the Pacific slope begins. It is a private-car morning; ask us.
The days out of the city
The San Cipriano reserve, toward the Pacific on the Buenaventura road, is a river of clear water in the rainforest reached on the brujitas, the motorcycle-driven rail carts that run along an old railway line, and the swim of your trip; our private day there is eight to ten hours from 170 US dollars per person with the entrance and the brujita included. From July to October the humpback whales calve in the Uramba Bahía Málaga national park off Buenaventura, and our shared whale-watching day, twelve to fourteen hours from 315 US dollars with the park entry, the boat and lunch, is the one day trip that has a season; August and September are its peak, so this year’s is nearly over. North up the valley, the Basílica del Señor de los Milagros in Buga, about 70 kilometers and a little over an hour away by the route calculators, is the country’s great pilgrimage church, with Mass from six in the morning and its pilgrimage days on September 4 to 13; it is a half-day by private car. And the sugar valley’s literary house, the Hacienda El Paraíso in El Cerrito, where Jorge Isaacs set María, is closed: Inciva, the department’s heritage institute that runs it, shut all five of its sites on August 10 for structural review, reopened three on September 10, and on September 11 El Paraíso and its natural sciences museum in Cali were still closed, with the reopening to be announced on its social media. Our sugar cane day includes the house, so until it reopens we will tell you before you book.
Closed, cancelled or wait
So that nobody plans a day around a fence, this is the list as of September 11, 2026, each with the authority we took it from: the Museo del Oro Calima and the Banco de la República’s cultural center, closed since August 10, per the bank’s own closures calendar updated August 28; the church of La Merced and the Catedral de San Pedro, closed, per the archdiocese as reported on August 26; the Teatro Municipal Enrique Buenaventura, all September events cancelled, per the mayor’s office on August 19; the Hacienda El Paraíso and the Museo de Ciencias Naturales, closed, per Inciva’s notice and the September 10 reopening report; trail 3 of Cristo Rey, closed until about October, per the environment department; the Festival Mundial de Salsa, cancelled, and the Petronio, postponed, per the city’s culture office as reported in the press; and eleven intersections in the center, closed for inspection on August 19, per the mayor’s office. Hotels: 33 lodging establishments in the department had some level of damage by the hotel association’s census of August 22, so ask.
How to fit it into two days, or three
Day one: land, check in, and give the late afternoon to the two hills and the river with our city tour, ending in San Antonio for dinner; the salsa lesson the same evening if the flight was kind, or the next. Day two: the zoo at nine, the botanical garden after it if the day is a Thursday to Sunday, the Alameda for lunch with the food tour, La Tertulia in the heat, and the salsoteca at night with a car both ways. Day three is a choice by calendar: the whales if it is July to October, San Cipriano if you want the river, Buga if you want the church, Pance if you want the Sunday. The old center is an hour on any weekday morning, once you have read the list above. The plan with hotels, airport and weather is in our Cali guide.
Getting around for all this
Cali is flat, hot and spread out, and the things on this list sit in three clusters: the hills and San Antonio in the west, the river with the zoo, the garden and La Tertulia along it, and the south road to Pance. Between clusters, use a car: our tours pick up at your hotel, Uber operates in the city around the clock, and taxis run on the 2026 tariff with a minimum fare of 7,100 pesos, a night and holiday surcharge and the airport as a special case, all of which is in the Cali guide; for the airport run itself, a private transfer with Safe Transfers, our transfer company, is the simple answer. The MIO bus network is the city’s own and cheap, but with a phone in your hand and no Spanish it is not where we would start. The pico y placa license-plate restriction runs on weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and applies to private cars, not to our vehicles. The center is for daylight, the east is not on your map, and every night out ends in a car you called. Whether the city is safe, with the police’s figures, the comunas and the advisories, is in our guide to whether Cali is safe.
What we do differently
Every tour we run in Cali is guided by someone who lives here, with hotel pickup, the entrances included and all-risk insurance, and this year each one is checked against the day’s reality before we confirm it: the reservation for Cristo Rey made in your name, the salsoteca chosen from the ones that are open, the day trip routed away from what is closed. Prices are honest and per person, the reviews are on Google, and when something on this page changes we change the page.
Questions travelers ask
What is the number one thing to do in Cali?
Cristo Rey for the last hour of light, with a reservation, then San Antonio for dinner. If you only have one evening, that is it, and it is what our city tour does.
Is Cali worth visiting after the August 2026 earthquake?
Yes, for two or three nights. The airport, the hotels that passed inspection, Cristo Rey in part, the zoo, the botanical garden, La Tertulia, the market and the salsotecas are working; the churches of the center, the Museo del Oro Calima, the Teatro Municipal and the Hacienda El Paraíso are closed. The city has asked for visitors, and it means it.
How many days do you need for the things to do in Cali?
Two full days for the city, a third for the San Cipriano river, the whales in season, Buga or Pance. Four if you want Popayán by private car.
Is the Museo del Oro in Cali open?
No. The Banco de la República closed its Cali cultural center, which holds the Museo del Oro Calima, on August 10, 2026 pending structural review, and its closures calendar had no reopening date at its August 28 update. In normal times it is free, Tuesday to Friday from 9:00 to 5:00 and Saturday from 10:00 to 5:00.
Is Cristo Rey open?
In part. Trails 2 and 5, including the monument, reopened on August 22, 2026 with a mandatory reservation; trail 3 is closed until about October. The hours are on this page.
Where do you dance salsa in Cali?
In the salsotecas, which start late and run until the small hours, at the Delirio show on its dates and, in a normal December, at the Feria de Cali. Take a lesson first, and ask us which venues are open the week you come.
What is the best time of year for these things?
June to September is the driest stretch and the whale season; late December is the Feria. Every month works for the city, because it rains in all of them and the viewpoints are a morning and late-afternoon habit anyway. The numbers are in our Cali weather guide.
Plan it with us
Every tour on this page picks up at your hotel, and our transfers from the airport in Palmira are operated by Safe Transfers by Cielo.Travel. Write to us on WhatsApp with your dates, or start with our Cali tours page, and we will tell you what is open the week you travel.
Sources
The facts on this page were checked on September 11, 2026 against the following sources: the Alcaldía de Cali’s official earthquake repository; the Alcaldía’s Cristo Rey bulletin; the Alcaldía’s bulletin on the Cristo Rey and Pance park hours; the Teatro Municipal’s cancellation notice; the Alcaldía’s page on the Alameda market; the Banco de la República’s closures calendar; the Museo del Oro Calima’s visitor page; Inciva’s notice on its heritage sites; the Parques Nacionales notice on the Farallones sectors; the Zoológico de Cali’s visitor page; the Jardín Botánico de Cali’s visitor page; the Museo La Tertulia’s ticket listing; the Delirio listing on Tuboleta; the Basílica de Buga’s site; and the Dagma, archdiocese, Inciva, festival and hotel-association reports as published in the Colombian press between August 10 and September 11, 2026. Where a figure comes from a route calculator or a ticket seller rather than an authority, the text says so.
