The area around Chochis offers destinations with different focuses: an ecotourism trail featuring art made from reused materials, a sanctuary with wood carvings, and natural sites with a possible summit climb and a waterfall. The broader Santa Cruz region adds its own nature and culture themes. This makes it possible to distinguish specific places around Chochis from regional themes.

Art and Religious Themes Near Chochis

The Sendero El Gorila Chiquitano is located in the municipality of Peniel near Chochis and is an ecotourism trail in the Chiquitano dry forest. It features sculptures made from recycled rubber, iron and other reused materials. The trail connects art, recycling and environmental protection; the materials make the idea of recycling visible in the sculptures themselves, while the dry forest provides the landscape setting. Visitors interested in the design can focus on both the artworks and the choice of materials.

The Santuario Mariano de la Torre near Chochis offers a different focus. Its wood carvings depict local flora and fauna alongside religious figures such as Jesus and the apostles. Nature motifs and Christian depictions thus appear side by side in the same carving tradition. Compared with the Sendero, the focus shifts from sculptures made of reused materials to carved motifs that bring together nature and religious imagery. The two destinations therefore differ not only in their art forms, but also in the themes their artworks explore.

Natural Sites Around Chochis

The Torre de David is located near Chochis. Climbing to the summit is considered possible. If you plan to make this climb, check access in advance. There is also a 12-meter-high waterfall nearby. The two natural sites have different focuses: at the Torre de David, the emphasis is on the possible climb to the summit, while at the waterfall, it is on its height.

Santa Cruz as the Broader Context

Within the broader Santa Cruz destination, the Valles Cruceños cover about 13,000 km² and lie at elevations between 1,200 and 2,000 meters. They include the provinces of Florida, Vallegrande and Caballero in the Department of Santa Cruz. The vegetation there includes inter-Andean dry forest, Bolivian-Tucuman forest, serrano Chaco, subtropical humid forest and Puna vegetation. This diversity illustrates the wide range of landscapes found in the Valles Cruceños.

The Noel Kempff Mercado National Park is also part of the broader Santa Cruz region’s natural landscape. Its habitats include evergreen rainforests and palm forests, as well as Cerrado, wetlands, savannas, gallery forests and semi-evergreen dry forests. Birdlife is another natural feature: 374 bird species are reported for the Área Protegida de los Valles Cruceños, including the endemic red-fronted macaw and the Andean condor. The national park’s rich habitats and the bird species mentioned are distinct facets of the broader Santa Cruz destination.

Chiquitano culture also has its broader regional context in Santa Cruz. It developed mainly in the Chiquitanía in the Department of Santa Cruz and combines Chiquitano Indigenous traditions with Jesuit influence introduced in the 17th and 18th centuries. This offers another cultural perspective on Santa Cruz; the wood carvings at the Santuario Mariano de la Torre remain a distinct subject in the area around Chochis.

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Discover more destinations: San José De Chiquitos.

See the broader travel overview: Chiquitos Province.