South America is scattered with evidence of its colonial history, and most of the towns still have their original structures and culture. These towns reflect the complexity of the continent’s history, including Spanish and Portuguese influences and Indigenous accommodations. Unlike the country’s well-known tourist sites, these untraveled colonial towns offer an authentic experience without masses of people.
A selection of 20 colonial towns that have been forgotten across South America can be toured today.
Mompox, Colombia
Mompox sits on an island in the Magdalena River, isolated from Colombia’s tourist trail yet filled with remarkably preserved colonial architecture. Founded in 1540, this UNESCO World Heritage site features whitewashed buildings with wrought-iron windows and ornate churches that seem frozen.
The town’s metalworking tradition continues today, with local artisans crafting intricate filigree jewelry using techniques passed down through generations.
Villa de Leyva, Colombia
Villa de Leyva boasts one of South America’s largest cobblestone plazas, surrounded by whitewashed buildings and backed by dramatic mountains. Founded in 1572, this Colombian gem maintains strict preservation codes that have kept modern development at bay for centuries.
The town’s colonial-era homes, churches, and government buildings create an atmosphere that feels like walking through the pages of a history book.
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Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento sits across the river from Buenos Aires, offering a peaceful contrast to the Argentine capital with its narrow cobblestone streets and colorful historic district. Founded by the Portuguese in 1680, this UNESCO-protected town changed hands between Portugal and Spain numerous times, creating a unique architectural blend.
Visitors can climb the lighthouse for panoramic views of the old town and the wide Río de la Plata that separates Uruguay from Argentina.
Ouro Preto, Brazil
Ouro Preto is a monument to Brazil’s 18th-century gold rush. Its hillside location showcases baroque churches and colonial mansions. Founded in 1698, this former mining town features elaborate fountains, bridges, and buildings designed by the renowned architect Aleijadinho.
The town’s name, meaning ‘Black Gold’ in Portuguese, reflects its history as the center of Brazil’s gold mining industry, which once produced wealth for the Portuguese empire.
Paraty, Brazil
Paraty is a Brazilian coastal town between lush mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. It features pristine colonial architecture and streets designed to flood during high tides for natural cleaning. Founded in the 17th century, this town was an important port for shipping gold to Portugal during the colonial period.
The town’s historical center remains closed to vehicles, allowing visitors to wander the stone streets and admire the white buildings with brightly painted doors and windows without modern distractions.
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Potosí, Bolivia
Potosí sits over 13,000 feet above sea level, making it one of the world’s highest cities and once one of its richest due to its silver mountain. Founded in 1545, this Bolivian mining town fueled the Spanish Empire with extraordinary wealth for centuries through brutal labor practices.
The colonial churches, mint buildings, and aristocratic homes remain testaments to the immense riches extracted from the nearby Cerro Rico mountain.
Sucre, Bolivia
Sucre dazzles visitors with its uniformly white colonial buildings and relaxed atmosphere, earning it the nickname ‘The White City’ of Bolivia. Founded in 1538, this constitutional capital features well-preserved architecture, including La Recoleta monastery and the House of Freedo, where Bolivia’s declaration of independence was signed.
The city maintains strict building codes that preserve its colonial character while housing Bolivia’s oldest university, founded in 1624.
Arequipa, Peru
Arequipa distinguishes itself with buildings constructed from white volcanic sillar stone, which glow magnificently in the high-altitude sunlight. Founded in 1540, this Peruvian city features a spectacular main square dominated by the cathedral and surrounded by colonial arcades.
The Santa Catalina Monastery is a city within the city, covering more than 5 acres and featuring colorful streets, cloisters, and living quarters that housed nuns for nearly 400 years.
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Chacas, Peru
Chacas hides in the Andean mountains at 11,500 feet, combining Spanish colonial architecture with impressive woodworking traditions. Founded in the 16th century, this remote Peruvian town features a main square dominated by the Church of the Virgin of Asuncion, an ornate altar, and artwork.
The town maintains its colonial character thanks to an Italian priest who established woodworking schools that restore and create colonial-style furniture and architecture using traditional methods.
Ayacucho, Peru
Ayacucho, founded in 1540, has 33 colonial-era churches—one for each year of Jesus’s life—among its streets with colonial mansions and courtyards. This Peruvian city played a crucial role in the wars of independence, with the nearby Ayacucho battlefield serving as the site of the final defeat of Spanish forces in South America.
The city’s Holy Week celebrations are among the most elaborate on the continent, featuring processions that wind through streets lined with buildings virtually unchanged since colonial times.
San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
San Pedro de Atacama is an adobe-built colonial oasis in the world’s driest desert, blending Spanish and indigenous Atacameño architectural traditions. Founded in the 17th century, this Chilean town features a picturesque church constructed of adobe, cactus wood, and chañar tree beams dating back to 1744.
The town serves as a living museum where colonial buildings have been adapted into hotels, restaurants, and shops while maintaining their historical character.
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Chiu Chiu, Chile
Chiu Chiu rises from the Atacama Desert with its stone and adobe buildings centered around one of Chile’s oldest churches. Founded in 1611, this tiny Chilean settlement features the Church of San Francisco, built by the Spanish using local materials, including cactus wood and llama leather.
The town’s isolation has preserved its colonial architecture and the indigenous Atacameño cultural practices that continue alongside the Catholic traditions introduced during colonial times.
Villa de Merlo, Argentina
Villa de Merlo nestles in the foothills of the Comechingones mountains with a microclimate that has preserved its colonial buildings and earned it recognition for having some of the best air in the world. Founded in 1797, this Argentine town features the Capilla de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, one of the oldest churches in the country, dating back to 1720.
The town combines colonial architecture with stunning natural surroundings, including nearby mountain trails that offer views of the settlement’s red-tiled roofs and whitewashed walls.
Iruya, Argentina
Iruya clings dramatically to a mountainside at 8,700 feet above sea level, with colonial-era architecture adapted to its extreme topography. Founded in the 17th century, this remote Argentine town features narrow, steep cobblestone streets connecting white colonial buildings with red tile roofs.
The Church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario y San Roque stands as the town’s centerpiece, reflecting the blending of Spanish colonial religious practices with indigenous Andean traditions.
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Concepción, Paraguay
Concepción is a town along the Paraguay River. Its colonial buildings reflect its importance as a trading post during the Spanish imperial era. Founded in 1773, this Paraguayan town was a frontier outpost protecting Spanish interests from Portuguese expansion and Indigenous resistance.
The town’s colonial legacy lives on in its riverfront warehouses, administrative buildings, and homes, which showcase a unique blend of Spanish colonial architecture adapted to Paraguay’s subtropical climate.
Trinidad, Paraguay
Trinidad preserves the ruins of a Jesuit reduction where indigenous Guaraní people lived under missionary protection during the colonial period. Founded in 1706, this UNESCO World Heritage site features impressive sandstone structures, including one of the largest colonial churches in Paraguay.
The town’s remaining buildings demonstrate the unique architectural style that emerged from the collaboration between Jesuit missionaries and indigenous artisans, creating structures that combined European baroque elements with local artistic traditions.
Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad, Bolivia
Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad began as a Jesuit mission before evolving into a colonial administrative center with a traditional Spanish grid layout centered around a main plaza. Founded in 1686, this Bolivian town moved to its current location in 1769 after flooding at its original site.
The colonial cathedral and government buildings surrounding the central square maintain their original character despite the town’s growth into the capital of Bolivia’s Beni Department.
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Alcântara, Brazil
Alcântara is a partially abandoned colonial port town where mansions built by wealthy plantation owners slowly deteriorate in the tropical climate. Founded in the 17th century, this Brazilian town across the bay from São Luís features colonial-era palaces, churches, and government buildings built during its prosperous past.
The town’s current state of elegant decay offers visitors a hauntingly beautiful glimpse into Brazil’s colonial history without modern reconstructions or tourist infrastructure.
Barichara, Colombia
Barichara charms visitors with its cobblestone streets, warm-toned sandstone buildings, and panoramic views of the Santander countryside. Founded in 1705, this Colombian hillside town has earned its reputation as one of the most beautiful colonial settlements in the country with its perfectly preserved architecture.
The town’s Santo Domingo church, colonial homes, and stone-paved Camino Real trail create an atmosphere that has attracted filmmakers and photographers while remaining remarkably untouched by mass tourism.
Guanare, Venezuela
Guanare combines colonial religious architecture with a grid layout typical of Spanish-American urban planning centered around its historic basilica. Founded in 1591, this Venezuelan town holds special significance as the home of the Virgin of Coromoto, the country’s patron saint, who reportedly appeared to an Indigenous chief in 1652.
The colonial basilica, administrative buildings, and homes built during the 17th and 18th centuries have weathered Venezuela’s tumultuous history while maintaining its historical character.
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Echoes of Colonial South America
The conservation of these towns is more than aesthetically pleasing—it is an important window into the intricate colonial dynamics that forged contemporary South America. These settlements have cultural exchange, resistance, adaptation, and survival stories in architecture and ongoing traditions.
These lost colonial towns remind us that history is not only contained within textbooks or museums but lives on in the streets, buildings, and communities that have stood for centuries.
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