Discover Coroico: Church, Culture and Coffee

If you are looking for a hotel in Coroico, culture and coffee can bring different interests to the fore. The San Pedro y San Pablo Church offers a local cultural connection; the Centro Cultural Tocaña and the coffee tours described in 2024 add other topics to explore. When planning, pay attention to the location of each: Tocaña is a little more than 45 minutes from Coroico, while Finca Shanti is in the Municipality of Coroico.

Culture in Coroico and Tocaña

The San Pedro y San Pablo Church houses the Virgen de la Candelaria, the patron saint of Coroico’s residents. The Centro Cultural Tocaña is dedicated to Afro-Bolivian culture. Founded in 2003, it preserves this culture and displays Saya items, musical instruments, work tools, and audiovisual archives. The center is in Tocaña, a little more than 45 minutes from Coroico, and can accommodate about 200 people. While the church is associated with the patron saint of Coroico’s residents, the center focuses on Afro-Bolivian culture and the items displayed there.

Coffee tours in the Municipality of Coroico

A report dated February 22, 2024, describes three coffee tours at Finca Shanti in the Municipality of Coroico: Espresso, Capuccino, and Lungo. The one-hour Espresso tour went around the estate and through the coffee fields; it covered the harvest and ripe coffee cherries. The five-hour Lungo tour included both shorter tours and added coffee fermentation and washing, making Sultana, and drying the beans in covered structures. On the Capuccino tour, visitors could harvest and hull coffee, roast it, and take part in a coffee tasting.

The difference in time commitment between Espresso and Lungo is specific: one hour versus five hours. The descriptions also emphasize different topics, from harvesting and ripe coffee cherries to further processing steps and hands-on activities on the Capuccino tour. If you plan to take one of these tours, check in advance whether it is currently available.

More destinations in La Paz

Cotapata National Park and Integrated Natural Management Area is in the Department of La Paz. By land, the protected area can be reached via the La Paz–Coroico road or through the Río Huarinilla valley. Bus travel is possible to Coroico or La Cumbre; from there, the trekking route continues to the village of El Chairo. The pre-Columbian El Choro trail can also be used as a walking route into Cotapata Park. As route conditions and access logistics can change, it is advisable to check them before setting out. The park’s ecological, scenic, and archaeological features make it suitable for environmental education and tourism.

Another route in the broader destination of La Paz is the Camino Chairo–Socosani. As a continuation of the Puente Inca en Chairo, it follows the lower slope of Cerro Nogalani to the ruins of Socosani. Along the way, visitors can see old agricultural terraces, retaining walls, and paved paths. The route description thus connects the trail to the ruins with tangible traces of agricultural use and path construction.

Tiwanaku is also in the Department of La Paz: near the southern shore of Lake Titicaca, on the Altiplano at an altitude of 3,850 meters, and in Ingavi Province. Most of the ancient city, built mainly of adobe bricks, has been built over by the modern settlement. In Tiwanaku, the ancient city and modern settlement overlap within the broader destination of La Paz.

For the broader travel overview: Nor Yungas.