I have lived in Cochabamba for three and a half years in total, and would love to recommend it as an excellent all-round place to visit.
Cochabamba is used principally by tourists and backpackers as a sort of starting-off point. For this it is admittedly very fine, as all within this department of Bolivia there are walkable yet impressive peaks, jungle excursions, picturesque colonial towns and a variety of pretty destinations for those who like to get away from it all but not be in the middle of nowhere. But the Cochabamba valley itself is a place where there a hundreds of interesting destinations for perhaps the less ambitious traveller who might not be looking to climb high peaks or seek out the must-see attractions.
The city itself does not contain many unique landmarks, but still has a good variety of interesting things to see, for example the city mansion built by Simon Patino, the tin baron, and the art gallery beneath it; the beautiful, relaxing plazas in the city centre; the enormous Cancha market where you can buy anything that you could imagine: food, electronics, very cheap clothes and even a lugubrious "barrio chino" where you can go to buy back stolen goods; the Cristo on the hill (a third of a metre higher than the one in Rio) which looks over the city and indeed the entire valley.
Venturing outside the city along the road to la Paz, you come to Quillacollo, a recently-qualified city which hosts the spectacular Urkupina festival on August 14th every year with parades, dancing, drinking and enough table football tables to start a festival on their own. A week later it holds "Alasitas", the festival of small things where you can find tiny packets of detergent, tiny tools, and even tiny edible food like sausages and hamburgers and miniatures of Bolivian dishes.
From Quillacollo you can get buses to many places, including Liriuni where there are hot springs; Sipe Sipe, a pretty little village on the edge of the valley, famous for its Guarapo (grape juice alcohol) and also start-off point for an Inca ruin; and Payrumani, the site of the bigger mansion and beautiful gardens built by Simon Patino. Above Payrumani there is a park of the same name which ventures into the foothills of Pico Tunari (5105, the highest mountain in the range) and boasts a shiny new visitors' centre where there is a restaurant, a playground and I have been told will soon be organising parapenting excursions. Further up the park, there is an impressive gorge and a dubious waterfall with pools for bathing (if you like cold water) and any number of hills to explore.
Another wonderful feature of the Cochabamba valley is the variety of festivals that occur practically every weekend. For the meat and fruit lover there are no end of options: apple, peach and grape, suckling pig, trout and charque festivals amongst others. The best place to find out when these are is probably the tourist office in Cochabamba.
The best times to visit Cochabamba are August (), February for carnavales, although beware of being soaked with water balloons by almost every kid in Bolivia: and September and October when the summer is just starting. Any other time is possible, especially during the winter months (April to July) when there are clear skies every day and very cold nights, but between November and early February it is possible that you won't see the sun for days on end, and roads out of the valley to places like Chapare (the jungle region which I haven't mentioned but is wonderful) may be impassable.
The attractions of Cochabamba aren't obvious, but if you keep your eyes open you will find some very wonderful little corners, people who are always willing to help and give you advice, and some beautiful Bolivian countryside only known to the Cochabambinos themselves.
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