Cali city, the SALSA CAPITAL of the world is the capital city of the Valle del Cauca Department. A city whose tourist attractions have their own history, active cultural life, and musical rhythms that are famed around the world.

Cali’s music, thanks to the city’s rich ethnic diversity, ranges from the currulao of the Pacific coast to the city’s star: salsa, the contagious, frenetic rhythm that is ingrained in the country’s culture.

Cali is known by the rest of Colombia as the “Rumba Capital” and by the world as the “Salsa Capital”, thanks to its characteristic street parties and dance.
Let’s take a look at 3 great places where you can dance in Cali:

1. La Topatolondra: La Topa is the beginning of many people’s lists of where to dance the salsa in Cali. It’s bigger than most locations. Pretty popular with foreigners, but the majority of people are locals (and good dancers).Considering how packed the other bars get, the ample space at La Topa Tolondra was welcome to us. Go there if you want to try some complicated moves that need a little more room.
2. MalaMaña. Mala maña literally means “bad habit”, because you dance salsa like it’s a bad habit, don’t you?. This small basement salsa club opened at the end of 2016 and has all kinds of dancing — not just salsa but also boogaloo, guaguancó, and pachanga and others, too.
3. El Rincón de Heberth. Heberth’s corner is a little bar that has dancing both inside and outside in the open air. Salsa al aire libre as the locals call it, gives this bar a special atmosphere of street partying, or rumba callejera as they say. The focus of El Rincón de Heberth is salsa of all kinds — caleña and other Colombian, Cuban style, Puerto Rican and others. It’s a particularly open-minded bar, where you can be from any walk of life. “Even wearing shorts”, the owners said (referring to men).

If you come down to Cali, please let yourself out and truly go for a dance. Or as Caleños like we say: Salga a darse un borondo.