Villa de Leyva

Villa de Leyva is a municipality in Boyacá Department where whitewashed houses with dark wooden doors line cobbled streets that spread around a wide central square. Low buildings carry tile roofs and covered walkways that offer shade while sunlight falls on uneven stone pavement.

The municipality was founded in 1572 by Andrés Díaz Venero de Leyva and remained away from major trade routes. This isolation helped preserve its colonial layout nearly unchanged, as large-scale modernization largely passed it by.

The main square serves as a gathering place where locals sit in cafés under white arcades and watch daily life unfold. On weekends, families from nearby villages arrive to rest on benches and browse stalls selling regional goods.

The town sits roughly 37 kilometers (23 miles) west of Tunja and about three hours from Bogotá by road. Accommodations range from simple hostels to courtyard houses set inside old buildings.

The surrounding area holds many sites with fossils from the Paja Formation, including a complete Monquirasaurus found in 1977. These remains date from a time when the region lay beneath a shallow sea.

Location: Boyacá Department

Inception: 1572

Elevation above the sea: 2,000 m

Website: http://villadeleyva-boyaca.gov.co

GPS coordinates: 5.63306,-73.52556

Latest update: December 12, 2025 23:33