Merida Travel Guide

Leisure options in Mérida are somewhat different from the ones you find in other cities. They are different because night activity is scarce. That has an explanation: citizens from Mérida seem to prefer work to fun; the university students do not carry cash, and tourists come to do things different from painting the town red. However, discos such as El Club 37, La Cucaracha, and Javi's Music Town; multiplex cinemas such as Las Tapias, Tibisay, or Viaducto, Park Hotel's Bingo Royal, or the amusement arcades like Hyper Video and PIP's Video Juegos are a proof that these options do exist. But the immense and rich Mérida's leisure world has other forms of expression.

PARKS

National Parks

There are four national parks in the state of Mérida which cover an area of about 750,000 hectares (about 1,85 million acres). These, along with 12 state parks, the 28 parks in the city and the many recreational and theme parks comprise a density of offers that almost nobody can match worldwide.

The four big parks, full of beauty for the seasonal visitor as well as challenges for the professional sportsman, are Parque Nacional Sierra Nevada, Parque Nacional Sierra de La Culata, Parque Páramo Nacional La Mucuy, and Parque Nacional Tapo Caparo.

Other parks

The parks that fill Mérida are not only relaxing spaces but also learning centers about historical facts and characters, since many of them specialize in honoring personalities and institutions such as the parks Glorias Patrias, La Marina, La Aviación, Andrés Bello, Los Escritores Merideños, Tibisay, Las Cinco Repúblicas, Las Madres, Humboldt, Don Quijote, Los Conquistadores de la Sierra, and others.

A different group consists of recreational and didactic parks such as Parque Jardín Acuario on Avenida Andrés Bello, and Parque Zoológico Los Chorros de Milla in the sector of the same name. Also, pleasant theme parks such as Pueblo Típico Los Aleros, on the way to Apartaderos; Pueblito Sueños del Abuelo, in Valle de La Culata; Xamú - Pueblo Indígena, next to Lagunillas; and Alexis y La Venezuela de Antier, on the way to Jají can be found. All of them are located at a short distance from the city.

TOURIST ROUTES

Mérida State is a criss-cross of tourist routes. Practically every single exit in every direction is a tourist route. Among those trips you can take to make it back the same day are: "Mérida-El Valle-Páramo de La Culata", "Mérida-Apartaderos/Santo Domingo, and Apartaderos/Pico El Aguila/Timotes", "Mérida-Jají-La Azulita-Lagunillas", "Mérida-Ejido-Las González-Estanques-La Victoria-Tovar-San Francisco-Guaraque-Mesa Quintero-Capurí-Canaguá-El Molino", and "Mérida-El Morro-Aricagua-Mucutuy-Mucuchachí-San José-Acequias."

Other routes to further and more intricate destinations require more time to visit and often demand a properly conditioned vehicle, a reliable donkey, or a mule.

SPORTS

Soccer is in Mérida's veins and, unlike many other Venezuelan states, people do not pay much attention to baseball. Yet, it shares the like for bullfighting with the western states of Zulia and Táchira as well as with the states located in the center of the country. The city would be left empty during the patron saint's festivities, known as Las Ferias del Sol, should there be room for everyone in the bullfight ring Plaza de Toros Román Eduardo Sandia.

The privileged state's topography has allowed to highly develop other sports such as the traditional mountaineering, excursions and fishing, or the modern mountain biking, para-gliding, and pendulum or bungee. The latter is also practiced on Miranda viaduct, downtown Mérida, which makes a perfect diving board.

CULTURE, ARTS, AND SCIENCE

A leisure time and cultural activity is attending the many deeply-rooted celebrations, mostly religious, that are carried out in Mérida and the surrounding villages year-long. Every month there are one or more celebrations nearby.

As a university life city, there is a wide range of museums and cultural institutions, many of which are located in the traditional part of the city and are therefore of easy access. A short distance from Plaza Bolívar you can visit the Museo Arquidiocesano, Museo Arqueológico Gonzalo Rincón Gutiérrez, Casa de la Cultura Juan Félix Sánchez, Museo de Arte Colonial inside the Casa del General Paredes, Casa Bosset, which safeguards the Biblioteca Antigua de Mérida and serves as the headquarters of La Cantoría and the Orquesta Típica Merideña, Casa de los Antiguos Gobernadores, Biblioteca Bolívariana, Centro Cultural Tulio Febres Cordero, and Museo de Arte Moderno Juan Astorga Anta.

Other museums and cultural, artistic, and scientific institutions in the city are the Museo Mariano Picón Salas and the Museo de Ciencia y Tecnología. In the Ruta del Páramo are the Museo del Trigo El viejo Molino and the Observatorio Astrofísico de Hato del Llano. Southward are the Museo del Café and Museo del Emigrante inside the premises of Hacienda La Victoria.

Regarding the stage and screen, the Centro Cultural Tulio Febres Cordero has halls where they show opera, ballet, theater, and movies. On Saturday night the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado performs. In Plaza Bolívar, the city government sponsors concerts on Sunday nights. And next to this square, the Teatro César Rengifo de la Universidad de Los Andes is another stage permanently open to scenic arts and concerts. Finally, the aficionado to genuine popular music should not miss the village of La Mesa de los Indios or La Mesa de Ejido, a few miles south from the city, whose music and musicians are already a legend.

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