This week, Zapatoca is hosting the fourth edition of the forum "La Ruta del Turismo en la Región Topocoro," on September 25 and 26. It is a space for debating how to connect Bucaramanga with towns like Zapatoca, Galán, Socorro, Barichara, and San Gil into one tourism circuit built around landscape, architecture, history, and adventure. The fact that it is already in its fourth edition says something real: connecting tourism around the Topocoro reservoir is still very much a work in progress for the region. For anyone who already owns, or is thinking about owning, a lot at Altos de Yariguíes Country Club on that same reservoir, one part of that question already has an answer: location.
A conversation now in its fourth round
The fact that this regional tourism forum is already in its fourth edition is not a criticism, it is an honest reflection of what it actually takes to build a full tourism circuit across several towns: roads, signage, partnerships, joint promotion. It is slow, worthwhile work, and it is good that it keeps happening. But while that conversation moves forward at the regional level, there is a smaller, more immediate question that anyone considering land by the reservoir asks first: how do I actually get there today, without waiting for the full circuit to be finished?
A location that no longer depends on that debate
Altos de Yariguíes is 50 minutes from Bucaramanga along the old road to Barrancabermeja, past the La Renta rest stop, just after the stop sign, continuing straight ahead. It is not a new route or a future promise, it is the same road thousands of people already drive every weekend to reach the reservoir. The project has two access gates, the main one on that same old road to Barrancabermeja and an auxiliary one on the main road, and it sits near a commercial and hotel area. The reservoir's own water sports facilities are only 500 meters away, so the connection between owning a lot here and actually living the reservoir does not depend on any future plan, it already exists.
Infrastructure that is built, not promised
While the regional tourism circuit is still being designed, inside Altos de Yariguíes the infrastructure is already in the ground: paved roads, public solar street lighting, underground electrical wiring, and a drinking water supply point with its own treatment plant. The model home is already built and open for in person tours, with real finishes and real views, not renderings. It is the difference between waiting for something to get built and being able to walk through it today.
The question being debated in Zapatoca this week, how to connect Santander with its own reservoir, is a necessary one for the whole region. For anyone already thinking about a lot facing Topocoro, that part of the journey (the location, the access, the infrastructure) is already settled. What is left is the decision to come see it in person.