Caracas is the capital city of Venezuela in South America. Things to do in Caracas Venezuela;
- Simon Bolivar Birthplace House
- Generalisimo Francisco de Miranda Park
- El Avila National Park and cable car (and view of the city)
- Altamira
- Paseo Los Proceres Promenade
- National Pantheon of Venezuela
Caracas is a dangerous city, you should take care of yourself there and prepare for potential problems from both police and locals. I was robbed by a policeman in Ciudad Bolivar.
Simon Bolivar Birthplace House
Simon Bolivar was the liberator of both Venezuela and South America. For this reason, you’ll see many plazas, streets and monuments in his honor throughout South America. He was born in Caracas Venezuela and you can visit his house. Of course, it’s now a museum in honor of this national hero. Furthermore, there’s a popular Simon Bolivar plaza in Cartagena, Colombia where you can buy Botero artwork.
Generalisimo Francisco de Miranda Park
Firstly, Generalisimo Francisco is a Venezuelan hero and the Parque del Este is named in his honor. The park is famous for its tall palm trees and beautiful lake. If you visit, you’re guaranteed to come away with stunning reflection photos with the Venezuelan mountains as a backdrop.
Venezuela Sign
As you know, I love to take a picture by a country sign! The Venezuela sign is adjacent to the cable car, Teleferico de Caracas.
El Avila National Park
The cable car rises El Avila Mountain giving great views of the city of Caracas. Photographers who wish for a Caracas panoramic should make the 3.5km ride to the top. Having said that, when I reached the top I was in the middle of a cloud and couldn’t see anything. You have to take the bad luck with the good luck, you cannot control the weather!
Altamira
Adjacent to the entrance to El Avila National Park is the Altamira neighborhood. Here are several hotels, restaurants and it’s where most tourists choose to stay. Lastly, the main landmark of Altamira is Plaza Francia which features an Obelisk similar to that of Buenos Aires.
Paseo Los Proceres Promenade
It was shortly after Hugo Chavez had died that I made this visit to Caracas. As a result, Paseo Los Proceres Promenade had been lined with flags in his honor. Chavez vive. Chavez lives! Paseo Los Proceres is a huge promenade which as well as flags, has many monuments and statues for Venezuela’s national heroes. It is a beautiful clean promenade with lots of palm trees, gardens, fountains as well as art. For this reason, photographers will love Paseo Los Proceres Promenade.
National Pantheon of Venezuela
The National Pantheon of Venezuela is the final resting place of several Venezuelan heroes. There are hundreds of heroes buried here including Simon Bolivar. As a matter of fact, there are also several Simon Bolivar monuments inside the Pantheon.
La Guaira Cruise Port
If you arrive by cruise ship, La Guaira Cruise Port serves Caracas, Venezuela. I had prearranged my day tour to Caracas with Pullmantur direct from the ship. There was nothing going on in La Guaira, other than a few street vendors, so it was good I organized the tour to bypass it and go directly to the capital city, Caracas.
How to get from Caracas to Curacao
The Pullmantur cruise ship left La Guaira port at dusk, sailing into a beautiful sunset. It felt good leaving the ugly port town of La Guaira, knowing that when I wake up the next morning I will be on the beautiful island of Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles.
I was also in Caracas shortly after Chavez’s death! Small world. Well, by shortly I mean a few weeks. Although to be honest I was actually surprised by how “normal” the city seemed compared to the storm the media had built up! Horrible to read that you were robbed by a policeman in Ciudad Bolivar!!! I actually had quite a good experience with police in the country – during an unofficial exchange of currency the man I was exchanging with decided he would try and pull a fast one, but luckily a police officer was nearby and put a stop to it. I think the fact that I was only 19, young, blonde and female worked in my favour there, though!
Having already “been there, done that” I have to agree with you in that I’d much rather Bonaire as a cruise stop instead of Caracas these days!
Wow!!! I cannot believe you were robbed by a police officer. That’s awful. But i’m not super surprised. My friend told me Venezuela was very dangerous but I love the photos. It looks gorgeous but I don’t know if I’d want to visit for myself.
Sounds like a good thing to have done and not need to go again. Sorry you were robbed, and by the police! That’s enough to turn you off a place. The tour sounds like a good idea, sometimes having someone to guide you around is super helpful.
Robbed by a policeman!! It was hard to read the rest of the post! I wanted to just stop right there and permanently write off Caracus! We always travel with the kids and safety is the highest concern of course. The photos look amazing though…what a colorful place.
Robbed by a policeman? They are the ones that are supposed to protect us. But even in India, there are quite a few corrupt ones. It is such a shame that you couldn’t see a good view because of the clouds. It looks like a colorful place.
Being robbed in another country and that too by a policeman is just too bad! I hope the bad encounter did not affect your time in Caracas entirely. Ignoring all the political unrest, I always thought Venezuela as one of the beautiful places to visit. Sad the clouds also spoiled the view for you.
Safety is the highest concern for me and i believe for each and every traveler! I couldn’t believe that robbed by a policeman! that’s just unacceptable and very very bad! This place is certainly out of my list now! thanks for sharing this piece and letting me know about your experinece!
OMG! You were robbed by a policeman? How!? Do you think it will be too dangerous for a solo female traveller? The sunset picture looks amazing, I would love to visit too, but I won’t if too dangerous 🙁