Craft Town Reserva Luriza

Usiacurí: the town where art is woven by hand

Iraca palm craftwork, the house of poet Julio Flórez, dry tropical forest at the Reserva Luriza, and colonial streets that smell like coffee. Ninety minutes from Barranquilla, a different world.

200+

Artisans

iraca palm weavers

1844

Founded

a town with colonial history

Luriza

Nature reserve

dry tropical forest

Eternal poet

Julio Flórez, the bard

Iraca palm craftwork in Usiacurí, Atlántico

“Everything arrives late for us — even death”

Julio Flórez

National poet · 1867-1923

Craftwork, poetry, and nature

Usiacurí

The craft town

Casa Museo Julio Flórez

Literary heritage

Parque Mirador

Panoramic view

Reserva Luriza

Dry tropical forest

Craftwork

Iraca palm

Colonial streets

Traditional architecture

Landscape

The hills of Atlántico

Tradition

Living culture

Nature

Green and breezy

Community

The town's artisans

What to see and do

Craftwork, poetry, nature, and tradition — Usiacurí has more than you'd expect.

Culture

Casa Museo Julio Flórez

Where Colombia's most romantic poet lived and died

Julio Flórez arrived in Usiacurí in 1916, looking for a cure for his leprosy in the town's thermal waters. He never left. In this bahareque-and-palm house he wrote his final verses, received the laurel crown as national poet (1923), and lived until his death. Today it's a national museum: original manuscripts, his guitar, the laurel crown, and the garden where he composed under the almond trees. A cultural heritage site of Colombia.

Nature

Reserva Natural Luriza

The last dry tropical forest on the Colombian Caribbean coast

54 hectares of dry tropical forest, one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. Luriza shelters howler monkeys, iguanas, more than 120 bird species, and endemic plant life. Nature trails with local guides, sunrise birding, and the chance to walk through a forest few people know exists — just 15 minutes from town. Real, community-led conservation.

Craftwork

Iraca Palm Workshops

The craft woven by Atlántico's hands

More than 200 artisans weave iraca palm into hats, bags, placemats, and decorative pieces exported around the world. Visit the family workshops where grandmothers, mothers, and daughters work side by side. They'll teach you to weave, tell you the story behind each piece, and sell it to you directly. It's the town's main economic activity and a living piece of intangible heritage.

Also worth a visit

Parque Mirador

Atlántico's best panoramic view

Nature

Church and Vía Crucis Viviente

Colonial faith at the heart of town

Faith

Colonial Streets

Walking through Usiacurí is like traveling back in time

Culture

In Usiacurí, time is measured in strands of palm, lines of poetry, and birdsong.

Craft narrative

A day in Usiacurí

From craftwork to dry forest, from poet to lookout — a town best explored slowly.

8:00 AM

The town that wakes up weaving

You arrive by road from Barranquilla — an hour and twenty minutes of curves through green hills. The air changes: cooler, cleaner, it smells like the countryside. At the edge of town you already see artisans sitting on their porches, weaving iraca palm while their coffee goes cold. This runs on a different clock.

10:00 AM

The hands that tell stories

You visit a family workshop where three generations work side by side. The grandmother is weaving a hat that will take three days. The mother makes bags sold in Bogotá. The daughter already exports to Europe through Instagram. They teach you the basic technique, and you leave with your first piece. There's no more authentic souvenir.

12:30 PM

The poet, the house, and the garden

The Casa Museo Julio Flórez sits two blocks from the main square. Manuscripts, the bard's guitar, the 1923 laurel crown. The almond trees he wrote under still grow in the garden. The local guide recites from memory: 'Everything arrives late for us, even death.' Usiacurí was his refuge, and his final verse.

3:00 PM

The forest few people know

Fifteen minutes from town, the Reserva Luriza drops you into another world: dry tropical forest, howler monkeys calling from the canopy, toucans crossing the sky. 54 hectares of an ecosystem that's disappearing worldwide. The local guides know every tree by name. On your way out, the lookout hands you a sunset over the whole department.

Local secrets

Tips for your visit

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🎨 Your Craft Town Guide

Want to get to know Usiacurí?

Jimmy knows every workshop, every trail in Luriza, and every verse by Julio Flórez. Ask him what to do, how to get there, or have him build you a full day plan.

Live the Caribbean differently.

@visitatlantico_