South America
Venezuela
Continent
Best States to Visit
- Carabobo
- Zulia
- Lara
Best Cities to Visit
- Caracas
- Merida
- Porlamar
- Barquisimeto
- Valencia
Size
916,445 KM2
Population
28,887,118
GDP
$4,823,593,000
Spending Budget
$600 - $1,000
Famous For
- Oil Reserves
- Lakes and Waterfalls
Best Time to Visit
- January
- February
- March
- April
- November
- December
History
The territory of Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American territories to declare independence from the Spanish and to form part, as a department, of the first federal Republic of Colombia (historiographically known as Gran Colombia). It separated as a full sovereign country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional military dictators until the mid-20th century. Since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments, as an exception where most of the region was ruled by military dictatorships, and the period was characterized by economic prosperity.
Present Day
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. Venezuela is a developing country and ranks 113th on the Human Development Index. It has the world's largest known oil reserves and has been one of the world's leading exporters of oil. Previously, the country was an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa, but oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues.
Future
The country's reconstruction process represents an opportunity for Venezuela to make a transformational leap forward towards a modern and sustainable growth model. It is the opportunity for Venezuela not only to recover its lost well-being but to adapt its growth model to a different world scenario than the one that allowed it to be among the most developed in the region. The conceptualization, design, and costing of short- and medium-term interventions aims at addressing the population’s urgent needs, restoring basic services, and rechanneling the country on the path to sustainable and inclusive growth.
Coro
Coro is the capital of Falcón State and the second oldest city of Venezuela (after Cumaná). It was founded on July 26, 1527 by Juan de Ampíes as Santa Ana de Coro. It is established at the south of the Paraguaná Peninsula in a coastal plain, flanked by the Médanos de Coro National Park to the north and the Sierra de Coro to the south. It has a wide cultural tradition that comes from being the urban settlement founded by the Spanish conquerors who colonized the interior of the continent. It was the first capital of the Venezuela Province and head of the first bishop founded in South America in 1531.
Margarita Island
Margarita Island is the largest island in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, in the Caribbean Sea. The capital city of Nueva Esparta, La Asunción, is located on the island. In modern times, Margarita Island has been primarily a tourist destination. The island's status as a duty-free port was established in 1974 to promote commercial and tourism industries, with lower-priced imports driving increased visitors and the development of hotels. The island was the host venue for the Caribbean Series in 2010 and 2014.
Maracaibo
Maracaibo is considered the economic center of the western part of Venezuela, owing to the petroleum industry that developed on the shores of Lake Maracaibo. It is sometimes known as "The First City of Venezuela", for being the first city in Venezuela to adopt various types of public services, including electricity, as well as for being located adjacent to shores of Lake Maracaibo, where the name of Venezuela allegedly originates. The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge connects Maracaibo with the rest of the country. The La Chiquinquirá Church catholic church is within the city.
Guayana City
The city was officially founded in 1961 by the unification of these two former settlements, but the history of San Félix goes back to its foundation in 1724. Within the city limits are located the site of Cachamay Falls and Llovizna Falls. There are three bridges across the Caroni and the second crossing over the Orinoco, the Orinoquia Bridge, was inaugurated in the city in 2006. With approximately one million people, it is Venezuela's fastest-growing city due to its important iron, steel, aluminium and hydroelectric industries. Ciudad Guayana is one of Venezuela's five most important ports, since most goods produced in the industry-rich Bolívar state are shipped through it, as ocean-going vessels can sail to it from the Atlantic Ocean up the Orinoco river. Due to its planned nature, the city has a drastically different feel from many other South American cities.
Ciudad Bolivar
Ciudad Bolívar, formerly known as Angostura and St. Thomas de Guyana, is the capital of Venezuela's southeastern Bolívar State. It lies at the spot where the Orinoco River narrows to about 1 mile in width, is the site of the first bridge across the river, and is a major riverport for the eastern regions of Venezuela. Historic Angostura gave its name to the Congress of Angostura, to the Angostura tree, to the House of Angostura, and to Angostura bitters. Modern Ciudad Bolívar has a well-preserved historic center; a cathedral and other original colonial buildings surround the Plaza Bolívar.
Barquisimeto
Barquisimeto is a city in Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial and transportation center of the country, recognized as the fourth-largest city by population and area in Venezuela after Caracas, Maracaibo and Valencia. It is known as the Dusk City due to its beautiful sunsets.
Los Roques Archipelago
Los Roques archipelago is a federal dependency of Venezuela consisting of approximately 350 islands, cays, and islets in a total area of 40.61 square kilometers. The archipelago is located 128 kilometers directly north of the port of La Guaira, in the Caribbean Sea. The islands' pristine coral reef attracts many wealthy visitors, especially from Europe, some of whom come in their own yachts and anchor in the inner, protected shallow waters. Development and tourism are controlled. Because of the wide variety of seabirds and rich aquatic life, the Venezuelan government declared Los Roques a National Park in 1972.
Merida
Mérida, officially known as Santiago de los Caballeros de Mérida, is the capital of the municipality of Libertador and the state of Mérida, and is one of the main cities of the Venezuelan Andes. It is home to the University of Los Andes and the Archdiocese of Mérida. It also has the highest and longest cable car in the world. It is the largest student and tourist center of western Venezuela. The mass transit system (Trolebús Mérida) is available as a means of tourist transport. This city sits on a plateau nestled in the valley of the Chama River, which runs from end to end. The town of Mérida is located at an altitude of 1,600 metres.
Angel Falls
Angel Falls is a waterfall in Venezuela. It is the world's tallest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of 979 metres and a plunge of 807 m. The waterfall drops over the edge of the Auyán-tepui mountain in the Canaima National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Gran Sabana region of Bolívar State. The falls are located in an isolated jungle. During the dry season (December to March), there is less water seen than in the other months.
Morrocoy National Park
Morrocoy National Park is located in the easternmost coast of Falcón state and northwestern of Golfo Triste, in the west central Venezuelan coast. The park extends across both terrestrial and aquatic areas of Golfo Triste. It contains an area of mangroves and numerous islets. There are spectacular white sand beaches on these cays. The park's internal bays and mangroves, cays and islands sit in the relief of Chichiriviche hills, with elevations of 250 m.
Canaima National Park
Canaima National Park is spread in south-eastern Venezuela along the border between Guyana and Brazil. The best-known feature of Canaima National Park are its characteristic flat-topped mountain formations known as 'tepuis' which cover roughly 65% of the park. The tepuis constitute a unique biogeological entity and are of great geological interest. These constitute a unique biological environment and are also of great geological interest. Their sheer cliffs and waterfalls create spectacular landscapes. The most famous tepuis in the park are Mount Roraima, the tallest and easiest to climb.
Mount Roraima
Mount Roraima serves as the tripoint of Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil; 5% of the plateau part of its mountain plateau lies in Brazil, 10% in Guyana, with the rest 85% in Venezuela. Mount Roraima is famous for its table-top shape, with the flat plateau - bounded on all sides by massive cliffs rising over 400 metres - that often stays high above the fogs and clouds. Mount Roraima also hosts a couple of waterfalls, usually referred to as Roraima Falls, which leap off the tepui in four tiered leaps; the height of the waterfall is estimated at approximately 2,000 feet.
Orinoco Delta
The Orinoco Delta is one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela. It covers the whole of Delta Amacuro State and a few square kilometers of Monagas State and Sucre State, comprising all the mouths of the Orinoco. The delta is fan-shaped, formed by the Orinoco River as it splits into numerous distributaries, called caños, which meander through the delta on their way to the sea. The Orinoco Delta is characterized by being non-centric, lagoon lacking, and oceanic, somewhat similar to the delta of the Niger River. Daily tides bring sea water up the "caños", causing the "macareo" or pororoca and reversing the flow direction of water, at least on the surface.
Galipan
In northern Caracas, in El Avila National Park, there is a small village named Galipan, whose first settlers came from Canary Islands to the Avila northern watershed about two hundred years ago. It is the perfect place to get a taste of non-urban life. A sleepy village, filled with scenic views, this mountainside getaway is relaxing and rejuvenating.
National Pantheon of Venezuela
The National Pantheon of Venezuela is a final resting place for national heroes. The Pantheon was created in the 1870s on the site of the ruined Santísima Trinidad church from 1744 on the northern edge of the old town of Caracas, Venezuela. The entire central nave is dedicated to Simón Bolívar, with the altar's place taken by the hero's bronze sarcophagus, while lesser luminaries are relegated to the aisles. The national pantheon's vault is covered with 1930s paintings depicting scenes from Bolívar's life, and the huge crystal chandelier glittering overhead was installed in 1883 on the centennial of his birth. The Pantheon was reopened in 2013 after a 3 year long process of expansion and restoration.
Medanos de Coro National Park
The landscape is made up of three zones: an alluvial plain, formed by the delta of the Mitare River and some smaller streams; an aeolian plain, composed of three types of dunes; and a littoral plain with a belt of mangrove swamps. The massive sand dunes, known as Médanos, spread over an area of approximately 5 by 30 km. They can reach 40 m in height and are constantly transformed by the unrelenting wind. Other fauna is scarce; the park is home mainly to lizards, rabbits, anteaters and foxes. Visitors can wander amongst the dunes by camel.
Mochima National Park
The park covers 94,935 hectares and is made up of an exclusively marine area in its western sector (Anzoátegui State), a coastal marine area that includes the Gulf of Santa Fé and Mochima Bay, and a mountainous area that covers the Turimiquire Dam watershed (Sucre State). Mochima Park was created to protect the montane forests of the Turimiquire Range and the country's eastern Caribbean Sea marine landscapes. However, this is one of the most threatened parks in Venezuela. Recently two large construction projects have altered the park permanently.
Merida Cable Car
Teleférico de Mérida is a cable car system in Venezuela. Its base is located in the Venezuelan city of Mérida at an altitude of 1,577 metres, and its terminus is on Pico Espejo, at 4,765 metres. It is the highest and second longest cable car in the world for just 500 meters, but is in first place for being the only one which combined such height and length. Mérida Cable Car is a journey of 12.5 kilometers, reaching a height of 4,765 meters, making it an engineering marvel that is one of a kind and has over 40 years of history.
Birthplace of Simon Bolivar
The Birthplace of Simón Bolívar is a seventeenth-century house in the Venezuelan capital city Caracas where the hero of Venezuelan and Latin American independence, Simón Bolívar, was born. Now a significant tourist attraction, the building is located in a little street off the Plaza San Jacinto, a block east of the Plaza Bolívar. It is one of only a few houses from the colonial era which survive in central Caracas. One of the adjacent buildings serves as a Bolivarian museum. The birthplace and museum together present memorabilia connected with Bolivar and the Venezuelan War of Independence, along with weapons and furniture of that period.
Playa El Yaque
El Yaque Beach is internationally known as one of the seven best locations in the world having ideal conditions for windsurfing and kitesurfing, attracting enthusiasts from all over the world, especially from Europe. It displays a row of hotels, shops and restaurants close to the beachfront, featuring a wide range of facilities and sport gear. As in most of the Caribbean, the water is usually between 21°-27 °C, warm enough to allow windsurfing for hours wearing just a swimsuit or a bikini. On a typical day, up to one thousand windsurfers may be seen sailing at a given moment, along with practitioners of other similar water sports.
Pico El Aguila
Pico El Águila or Collado del Cóndor is the milestone that stands at the highest elevation on the Venezuelan Transandean Highway (a branch of the Pan-American Highway) in the Cordillera de Mérida of Venezuela. Nearby stands a monument, sculpted by a Colombian artist, Marcos León Mariño, depicting a condor, commemorating an event in the campaign of the Liberator, Simón Bolivar. It is located in the state of Mérida and has an altitude of 4,118 meters.
Centro de Arte Los Galpones
The meeting point between modern and boho. It's the place where locals come to feel an artsy environment with literature, modern design and even cinematography. This gallery offers activities and exhibits in its halls, design stores (with really cool objects), a modern library and a cafe to take a breath and read a book. Also, is never crowded!
Laguna de Mucubaji
Kettle Mucubají is a glacial lake located in Sierra Nevada National Park, in the Mérida State of Venezuela. The lake is 3625–3655 metres above sea level. Kettle Mucubají is one of the biggest kettles in the valley and is one of the main tourist attractions in the area, which is known for its scenic beauty. In 2007, the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance recognised the importance of Lake Mucubají in the region.
Chiquinquira Virgin
Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá or the Virgin of Chiquinquirá is a Marian title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a venerated image in the northern Andes region. Under this venerated title, the image is the Patroness of Colombia, the Venezuelan state of Zulia, and the town of Caraz in Peru. The image is painted on a cotton support, is kept in the Basílica of Our Lady of the Rosary in the city of Chiquinquirá, in Colombia, where religious devotees celebrate her date every December 26 and July 9.
Porlamar Flea Market
Known for its small yet wonderful shops which house amazing things, Porlamar flea market is for those who wish to bring some architecture back home with them. They offer small yet beautifully crafted statues with intricate designs. They are cheap yet are available in a wide variety.