The city is described as having an "abrupt topography", and lies on the Colombian Central Mountain Range (part of the longest continental mountain range, the Andes), with a great deal of ridgelines and steep slopes, which, combined with the seismic instability of the area, has required architectural adaptations and public works to make the city safer.

The city is located in the northern part of the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis ("Eje Cafetero"), near the volcano Nevado del Ruiz, which has an altitude of 5,321 meters (17,457.3 ft).

[3] Despite being located in the tropics, the city seldom gets very hot, featuring spring-like temperatures throughout the year owing to its high altitude.

This fomented the creation of new types of employment and several factories, some of which remain in the metropolitan area while others have reduced their operations or moved to other cities aggravating the unemployment problem.

These companies manufacture products such as liquor, shoes, rubber, chocolate, banks, detergents and soaps, threshing and packaged coffee, software, and metallurgy, among others.

The universities are attended by students from various regions of the country such as Tolima, Risaralda, Valle, Quindio, Antioquia, Nariño and Huila, among others.

Manizales won first place in the special category of business promotion in the V Iberoamerican Digital Cities Award, organized by the Latin American Association of Research Centers and Telecommunication Enterprises (AHCIET).

The most important cultural events held in the city are the Manizales International Theater Festival,[8] which is one of the major theater events in Latin America created in 1968 by initiative of Carlos Ariel Betancur, and the Manizales Jazz Festival, which gathers jazz musicians from all over the world; both are held annually.

However, to give a wider scope, in 1972 its name was changed to Miss International Queen of Coffee Pageant, thereby increasing the participation of coffee-producing countries from other continents.

The city has a professional football team, Once Caldas, which is housed in the Palogrande Stadium, winner of the prestigious South American Copa Libertadores 2004, and 4-time champion of Category First A of Colombia, ranking eighth in the tournament's history.

The city also has indoor soccer presence through the futsal cup microfútbol in both male with Real Caldas FS and female with Real Caldas, and the FIFA Futsal League in Club Deportivo Linear which won the 2011-II championship, all these are played in the Coliseo Menor Vargas Ramón Marín venue.