Merida may be modern but it doesn’t lack charm – or some interesting attractions. The world’s highest cable car, for example, and a city tour that includes an ice cream parlour offering 800 different flavours. There’s also a three- storey produce market, a square with a statue of Simon Bolivar, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and the Governor’s Palace.
Next day you’ll visit the unchanged villages of the Andean Paramos, taking in the delightful church at Mucuchies and San Rafael, before reaching Laguna de Coromoto and the Valle de los Calderones.
Stay: One night at Posada Casa Sol, in a standard room, followed by another in La Trucha Azul.