Things to do
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Laguna de Mucubají
A glacial lake lies at around three thousand five hundred metres beside the Trans Andean road, rimmed by pine plantation and open páramo. Horses can be hired at the shore, and a walking track climbs to Laguna Negra in about two hours. Wind and thin air make the páramo feel colder than the altitude suggests, and mornings are clearest.
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Mérida Cable Car
Four stages of the Mukumbarí system climb from the city to Pico Espejo at around four thousand seven hundred metres, the highest cable car in the world. The ascent takes about an hour and gains enough altitude to leave riders short of breath, so the upper stage suits an early start and a slow pace. Service has been suspended for long stretches, and it is worth checking that it runs.
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Pico Bolívar
Venezuela's high point rises to nearly five thousand metres above Mérida, a rock and ice summit topped by a bronze bust of the man it is named for. The glacier that once hung below the summit has gone. Climbing the peak is technical, and it calls for a guide, rope and days of acclimatisation.
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Plaza Bolívar
Palms and shaded benches fill the main square at the centre of colonial Mérida, with the cathedral on one side and government buildings around the rest. Students, shoeshiners and vendors keep it busy through the day. It is the simplest place to start a walk of the old streets, and the market a few blocks away opens early.
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Park
Sierra Nevada National Park
Páramo, cloud forest and glacial lakes cover the range southeast of the city, protecting the country's five highest peaks and the last of its high altitude wetlands. Frailéjon plants stand like grey candelabra above three thousand metres. Trails run from roadside trailheads to crossings of several days, and nights on the páramo drop below freezing.