Feria de Manizales 2027

The Feria de Manizales is the premier annual festival in Colombia’s Coffee Region, held each January in a city perched at 2,200 metres in the Andes. Running since 1951, the fair combines a traditional cattle fair and bullfighting season with the Coffee Queen Pageant, folklore parades, live music, and a broader civic celebration that effectively shuts down normal life in the city for eight days.

Structure of the fair

The 2027 edition runs from Saturday 2 January to Saturday 9 January. The programme is dense and overlapping, with multiple events on most days.

The Coffee Queen Pageant (Reinado Internacional del Café) is one of the fair’s most distinctive elements: a beauty and cultural pageant representing countries from across Latin America and beyond, with candidates participating in events, interviews, and formal galas throughout the week. The final coronation ceremony is one of the most attended single events of the fair.

The Bullfighting Festival (Temporada Internacional de Corridas de Toros) runs on selected afternoons at the Plaza de Toros Los Fundadores, which is considered one of the finest bullrings in Latin America. Tickets for individual corridas are sold via the official fair website and at the venue box office, with prices ranging from approximately COP 100,000 to COP 500,000 or more for premium seats.

Parades and folklore performances fill the city’s main avenues on multiple days, featuring traditional regional dress, Andean music, and coffee-farming imagery that reflects Manizales’ economic and cultural identity. Street concerts and outdoor stages operate in the evenings across several locations.

Getting to Manizales

The La Nubia Airport in Manizales is small and heavily affected by mountain fog, which causes frequent flight delays and cancellations. Flights operate from Bogota and Medellin, but many visitors choose to travel by bus from Bogota (approximately 8 hours), Medellin (4 hours), or Cali (4 to 5 hours) for reliability. During the fair, buses from all three cities increase frequency but fill quickly — book in advance.

Accommodation and logistics

Manizales has a relatively small hotel stock for a city its size, and the fair brings a significant influx of visitors. Book accommodation as early as possible. The Cable neighbourhood and the city centre (around Parque Caldas) are the most convenient bases for fair events. Airbnb availability is reasonable but also fills up around the fair dates.

The city’s terrain is steep and the streets in the centre are narrow. Walking between venues is feasible but tiring given the altitude; taxis and mototaxis are the practical transport option for most journeys.

What to bring

January in Manizales means cool temperatures — typically 14 to 20 degrees Celsius during the day, dropping to around 10 degrees at night. Pack a waterproof layer; the city receives rainfall year-round. For evening events indoors, smart casual dress is appropriate. For outdoor parades and street events, comfortable layering works best.

For a broader view of the Coffee Region, see our coffee region guide and our Colombia in January guide.