"With its impressive museums, art galleries and music venues, its superb metro system, its cafes and restaurants that offer every type of world cuisine, and its huge and relaxing public parks, this is one of the world's most cultured, cosmopolitan and rewarding cities."
Welcome to Carefree Caracas, your free guide to discovering the attractions of our favourite city. Apart from those of us who know and love the city, few people would associate Caracas with the above description yet it is just as true of Caracas as it is of London, Paris or New York, except that in those cities you can't pick a ripe mango in the street or see a wild sloth in a park.
In fact, Caracas is the cultural capital of South America; it has more orchestras than London, including the internationally acclaimed Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, and it is the home of "El Sistema", the wonderful social programme that has made Venezuela the focus of so much interest in the musical world. The musical scene here also includes Venezuela's fascinating traditional folk music, jazz of the highest quality, salsa and reggaeton and every imaginable combination of all of these, while the Museum of Modern Art houses the largest collection of Picasso sketches outside of Spain and sculptures by leading Venezuelan artists such as Jesús Soto can be seen all over the city, in public places such as streets and metro stations.
Gustavo Bolivar and the SBYO, Rome 2009. Photo: Askonas Holt
Caracas was the birthplace of Simón Bolívar, who inspired the liberation of six countries, and it is the best place to discover more about South America's struggle against colonial rule. We also have more restaurants per capita than any other city in South America and our metro system is probably the cleanest, safest and cheapest in world, while in the shopping malls here you can buy genuine designer clothes for a fraction of the price you'd have to pay in Europe or the USA.
Caracas is also the gateway to the rest of Venezuela, which is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, with an unsurpassed variety of landscapes that include the Angel Falls, sand dunes, coral islands, rain forests, snow-capped mountains, Caribbean beaches, and the strange flat-topped mountains ("tepuys") that inspired Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel, "The Lost World". In addition, the city authorities have invested heavily in recent years, both in renovating the historical centre and other parts of the city and in improving security, especially in the areas of most interest to visitors.
Of course, as we are the first to admit, Caracas also has its share of urban problems and, like most big cities in the world, it has areas that are best avoided by anyone who doesn't have a good reason for visiting them. Unfortunately, this aspect of Caracas has largely determined its image outside of Venezuela with the result that for many years Caracas has been widely portrayed as a dangerous concrete jungle that is best avoided. The aim of our website is to show you a different view of the city and to give you all the information you need to enjoy Caracas even if you don't speak a word of Spanish.
Created by English-speaking people who know and love the city, Carefree Caracas is working with private enterprises, public authorities and local communities here to develop not only this website but also other new services that will make it easy for English-speaking visitors to enjoy Caracas. Please visit our site regularly for news of our progress. Then come and visit our favourite city.