Cerro Nutibara and Pueblito Paisa

Cerro Nutibara is a rocky, wooded hill in the geographic centre of the Aburrá Valley, on the west bank of the Medellín River, and it offers one of the easiest panoramic views of the city. It is officially the first of Medellín's seven "guardian hills", rising about 80 metres above its surroundings, and its 33.33 hectares have been a protected area since 2009. The city bought the hill in 1927 to create a recreational park, and in 1930 it was renamed in honour of Nutibara, a powerful Indigenous chief of the Antioquia region.

The main draw at the summit is the Pueblito Paisa, built in 1977 as a reproduction of the towns of the Paisa region. The city government describes it as a replica known nationally and internationally that reproduces Antioquian traditions, and the hill as a whole as a tourist landmark representing the culture and legacy of the paisas. Natural viewpoints around the summit look out over the valley.

The hill has more to offer than the village. A sculpture park was created in 1983 at the initiative of the former president Belisario Betancur, with a permanent exhibition of works by ten Colombian and international sculptors coordinated by the Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín. On the northern slope, the open-air Teatro Carlos Vieco, designed by Oscar Mesa and opened in 1984, seats 3,800 people and hosts the International Poetry Festival each June as well as rock concerts such as Altavoz.

The hill is also a green lung. It holds around 4,000 trees of native and exotic species, including nogal cafetero and pink guayacán, and birdwatchers may spot the guacharaca colombiana or the carpintero real among more common species such as the black vulture; the hill hosts about 12 per cent of the bird species recorded in Medellín.

The park opens every day from 5:00 to 23:00 and is looked after by the city's environment department. Allow an hour or so to see the village, the sculptures and the views. The address is Calle 30A No. 55-64, and the hill sits between the city's comunas 15 and 16. A park plan approved back in 1939 already included viewpoints, footpaths and kiosks, so the hill has been a place for city walks for most of a century.