Discover Armenia: museums, history and arepas

You can get to know Armenia through a variety of discoveries: squares in the city centre, the architecture of the Museo del Oro Quimbaya, the region’s long history of settlement and a chapter on arepas in a city food tour. These themes offer different possible focuses for your trip. If you are looking for a holiday rental, you can first consider whether you are more interested in the urban landscape, the museum collection or food culture. This lets you plan around the experiences that matter to you during your stay.

Squares and the urban landscape in the city centre

The area between Parque Sucre and Plaza de Bolívar is a useful landmark in central Armenia. A notice published on 9 November 2025 announced a renewal project for this area, which was planned at the time. The two squares therefore provide a starting point if you would like to explore the central urban landscape. The timing matters: the notice describes a plan, not its eventual completion.

For planning your trip, this focus is easy to distinguish from the museum and history themes. If you are mainly interested in exploring the urban landscape, you can use the squares as a point of reference; if you are especially interested in the region’s past, the museum north of the city offers another geographical anchor.

Architecture and regional history at the Museo del Oro Quimbaya

The Museo del Oro Quimbaya building was designed by architect Rogelio Salmona and built by the firm Fajardo Molina. In June, it was also designated a Bien de Interés Cultural de la Nación. The architecture, construction history and cultural designation all relate to the same building and offer more than one way to approach the museum: you can focus on its design as well as its status as a recognised cultural asset.

The museum is located north of Armenia, at the junction of Avenida Bolívar and Avenida 19 de Enero. It displays an archaeological collection about the region’s pre-Hispanic past. The collection presents a history of settlement stretching back up to 10,000 years. This offers a perspective that goes beyond individual objects to the long history of human life in the region. If you are travelling with children, there are different ways to engage with the museum: through the building’s architecture as well as the traces of earlier settlement.

A culinary point of interest: arepas

Food culture also offers a practical starting point for your explorations. The city’s tourist information service features a “Ruta de la Gastronomía Callejera” with a first chapter about arepas. This makes the topic a distinct focus alongside architecture and archaeology, and can draw your attention to another side of Armenia. If you are especially interested in arepas, you can use this chapter as a reason to explore the city’s culinary scene.

Choosing the right base for your stay

The landmarks mentioned are not all in the same part of the city: the squares are in the centre, while the Museo del Oro Quimbaya is north of Armenia. When looking for a holiday rental, you can therefore start by deciding what you want to focus on. Would you like your trip to centre mainly on the urban landscape and the central squares, or would you rather focus on the museum and its collection? Your answer can help you compare the location of a property with your own travel plans, rather than considering accommodation and sightseeing interests separately.

The food tour can also factor into your decision if arepas are among your personal interests. Together, the squares, the museum and the chapter on arepas offer different thematic ways to explore Armenia, without requiring you to combine them all into a single itinerary.

Discover more destinations

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