AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Cerro de las Tres Cruces is Popayán's balcony. A short but steady hike up a forested ridge behind the White City of Colombia ends at a cluster of three big concrete crosses, where the valley, the whitewashed rooftops and the green folds of the Andes open out below. More than just a viewpoint, it is one of the city's favorite weekend escapes—a place to run, walk the dog, drink a glass of freshly pressed sugarcane juice and watch the light slide across the mountains.↗↗
The hill takes its name from those three crosses, but locals also call it the cerro de la Eme because of the M-shape of its skyline. The summit is the high point of a popular tangle of trails that links several of Popayán's landmark viewpoints, and the climb is as much of the experience as the panorama: shaded paths, roadside vendors and a steady sense of the city falling away beneath the trees.↗↗
A viewpoint above the White City
Popayán, the capital of the Cauca department, sits in a high Andean valley flanked by mountain ranges, and the ridges that close it in are the city's natural terraces. Cerro de las Tres Cruces is one of the best loved of them—a peak and mirador (lookout) at roughly 1,890 metres, classed both as a hiking destination and a viewpoint, with the city laid out at its feet. On a clear day the panorama takes in the whitewashed center and the surrounding countryside, which local guides describe as the most beautiful view over the city and the region.