Santa Cruz - City Information

Find Hotel reservations, tours, offers, attractions in Santa Cruz, Bolivia! Santa Cruz is the economic heart of Bolivia.

Santa Cruz is located in the oriental part of Bolivia in the Amazon region. It borders to the east with Brazil.

Santa Cruz is one of the regions with considerable growth population in Bolivia. Santa Cruz has significant economic development because of the department's agricultural and industrial activity.

Extension: 370.621 km2 .

Population: 1.364.389 habitants

Language: Spanish, Guarani.

A prosperous city of modern shades, Santa Cruz has become the economic heart of the country. Thousands of Bolivians decided to tempt fortune in the hot Orient attracted by the commercial and agricultural development. The old urban helmet was surrounded by modern buildings and very transited avenues.

Sensual and festival, warm, modern and agitated. This is Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the tropical paradise of Bolivia.

The city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra was founded by Nuflo de Chavez on February 26, 1560. Chavez named the new city in honor of his beloved native city in Extremadura, Spain. The city originally lay 220 km east of its current location, on the shores of the Pirai river. But, by the end of the 16th century, the city was moved to its present position, 50 km east of the Cordillera Oriental foothills.

By plane

Viru Viru International Airport (Code: VVI) is Bolivia's largest and most modern airport. Major airlines have daily flights to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, mainly from La Paz (about 4 flights per day: early in the morning, in the afternoon, early in the evening and late in the night). From Cochabamba (about 2 flights per day). Flights to international cities are also daily (Sao Paulo, Brasil - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Lima, Peru - etc.).

Aerosur airlines is another good option on getting to Santa Cruz. They offer direct flights from Miami and Buenos Aires to Santa Cruz a few times a week. They also offer flights from Madrid to Santa Cruz.

By Bus

There are many bus companies from other cities like Cochabamba, La Paz, Sucre, Trinidad that go to Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

You can arrive from La Paz in about 18 hours, and it takes about 10 hours from Cochabamba.

By Train

The "death train" runs on some of the world's most bumby tracks from Quijarro, close to Corumba on the Brazilian side. The journey takes 16-22 hours.

Departure and arrival is from the combined bus and train station, "Terminal Bimodal".
The railway between Santa Cruz and Quijarro is operated by Ferroviaria Oriental S.A.

From Corumba the bus-ride to Sao Paulo takes about 24 hours more.

Festivals:

Aniversario Civico Departamental: 24th September
Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria: 2nd February
Carnival: February / March
Dia de la Cruz (Vallegrande): 3rd may
San Antonio: 13nd June
Fiesta de la Virgen de Cotoca: 8th December

Gastronomy:

Pacumutu: Its main ingredients are filleted meat, tomato, onions, red pepper, lemon juice, soy sauce, oil and salt.

Manjar blanco (Boiled milk dessert): Its ingredients are milk, sugar, cinnamon and rice flour.

Cunape: It is made with white cheese, yucca flour, egg, salt and milk.

Rice bread: It is prepared with rice, yucca flour, shortening, white cheese, sugar and banana leaves.

Jochi Pintao: Prepared with pork meat, green pepper, garlic, ground red chilli, soy sauce, lemon and sesame oil.