Villa de Leyva

Founded in 1572 and declared a national monument in 1954, Villa de Leyva has one of the largest cobblestone plazas in the Americas -- Plaza Mayor, 14,000 square metres of compressed stone -- surrounded by whitewashed colonial architecture that has remained virtually unchanged for 450 years. Its desert-meets-mountains landscape 40 kilometres from Tunja is dotted with fossils from a Cretaceous sea, including a 120-million-year-old kronosaurus skeleton. Compared to the second-largest plaza in the Americas, Plaza Mayor is 30% larger, and archaeological studies show it attracts 25% more visitors annually than the average colonial site.