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colombia

Travel Guide

The Best Cycling Routes Close to Bogota

Posted on January 15, 2021

Cycling has become more and more of a trend in Colombia, and it’s no surprise. The country is full of gorgeous scenery, and Bogota is no exception with its plains and mountains. Whatever you want to ride, you got it! We delved into biking a bit during the coronavirus pandemic and want to let you know what we consider are the best cycling routes close to Bogota! We saved the best for last, so read on!

Click here for the best cycling climbs close to Bogota!

The Best Cycling Routes Close to Bogota

5. Patios

Patios is probably the most crowded route because it’s not much of a route, it’s just a climb – an amazing one at that. So I suppose the route includes getting to the intersection of Calle 85 and Carrera 7 from wherever you are in Bogota and then heading on up. The reason this route is so famous is because you get a 6 km climb right out of Bogota. If you keep going after Patios, you can complete VALS the other way around (it’s a little harder that way).

4. VALS

This is probably the most legendary cycling route, and is for sure one of the most enjoyable. VALS stands for Vuelta a la Sabana or “Lap around the Savannah.” You exit Bogota going north, complete the route to Briceño, take a right towards Sopó and finish off heading back towards Bogota through the mountains. It has a little bit of everything and finishes off with a few climbs and a 4 km climb before Bogotá. Doing it this way, you get to Patios from the back side.

3. Alto del Águila + Páramo Guerrero

This biking route isn’t as well-known as the others on this list (which may be the reason we enjoyed it so much), but it is amazing. First, you have to get to Zipaquirá, a town to the north of Bogotá. From there, you climb for about 6 km to Alto del Águila and then have about 11 km of ups and downs. The area is absolutely beautiful!

2. Yerbabuena

We love this route because it’s close to us and ends with a difficult 4 km climb up to Yerbabuena. You can get it all done in about 2 hours and get a great workout. Plus, if you want to go for a little longer ride, you can always head to Briceño (keeping north and a great, flat 50 km ride) before or after the climb.

1. El Verjon

This route will take you through Bogota, all the way downtown and then up an 11 km climb, which you can extend another 5 km of ups and downs. It’s Lala’s favorite cycling climb close to Bogota, which makes the trip through the city worthwhile. Traffic gets worse the later it gets, though, so definitely try to aim for an early start! The scenery is beautiful from the get-go and you feel outside of the city and civilization almost immediately.

Whether you’re an amateur or experienced cyclist, there’s routes for your all around Bogotá, and we can’t even begin to list them all or all their variations! But right here is a list of the best cycling routes close to Bogota for you to enjoy. All of these are best on road bikes, but we’ve done them on mountain bikes because that’s what we have, and we’ve loved them. Hope this helps!

If you’d like to read about adventures to be had close to Bogota, click here!

Travel Guide

You Need to Visit Niddo, and This is Why

Posted on January 18, 2020

Niddo glamping review, romantic honeymoon destination

We had our doubts about Niddo, but it exceeded our expectations. Niddo is a glamping destination close to Bogota. It’s high up in the mountains and is a natural reserve. In addition to the glamping, there’s a ton of hiking you can do. We went to Niddo as part of our honeymoon and it was a near-perfect setting for it – I’ll explain everything below, hope it helps!

How to Get There

Getting to Niddo is actually really easy. Just head north from Bogota following signs to Tunja. You aren’t going all the way to Tunja, though – Suesca is your destination. Click here for detailed directions to Suesca!

Once in Suesca, head into town until you cross a bridge and go right the first chance you get after the bridge. When you get to a fork in the road, head left. From there on out, just stay on the unpaved road that seems best-kept and you’ll get to Niddo.

I recommend you use a GPS in case you lose your bearings on the dirt road. Just download the map beforehand and you’ll be good to go!

Prices

Niddo is quite expensive per night, especially during the high season, which is weekends and holidays. There are three kinds of Niddos: Standard, Superior and De las Rocas (“Of the Rocks”) – the Niddo de las Rocas is right under the cliff and it’s where we stayed. The Standard Niddo is the smallest, and costs less, while the other two are larger and cost a little more. They both cost the same per night.

That being said, the Standard Niddo costs $233,000 (about $72 USD) a night for two people at the cheapest (weekdays), and the other two Niddos cost $490,000 (about $150 USD) a night for two people at the most (weekends, holidays).

We stayed at the Niddo de las Rocas because they are more spread out, so we weren’t very close to other people. Since Niddo Superior and Niddo de las Rocas cost the same, we figured the Niddo de las Rocas was more worth the price.

Real quick: click here to read about the best glamping spots close to Bogota!

Was it worth the price?

Absolutely.

We expected a cool hostel, a special idea, and that it would be nice being in nature. But the experience went beyond that. The truth is, Niddo is an established hostel with stellar accommodations, food and customer service. It exceeded our expectations. It is worth the money.

That being said, we wouldn’t stay more than two nights, but that may be because we aren’t “stay-at-hotel-people.” Also, all their cool services start adding up.

Concepts we Loved

The food was spectacular, although at first we thought it was a little pricey. It costs $35,000 pesos per meal (about $11 USD) or $90,000 pesos for three meals (about $30 USD). Writing this now, it’s not pricey at ALL if you make money in dollars! Anyway, the food is very gourmet, delicious and it comes in large quantities. Worth every peso!
We had freedom. Something I dislike about the outdoors in Colombia is that you aren’t given the freedom to go experience it on your own, or the infrastructure isn’t there to do so. Niddo is on a natural reserve owned by the same people who own Niddo, and they encourage you to hike on your own throughout their 29 acres full of trails. I love that.
It’s very romantic. Niddo is THE place to go on a romantic getaway outdoors. You don’t have the hardships of camping – at all – but you do get the peace of the outdoors.

Some things to Improve

Since the Niddo de las Rocas is by the cliff, sound gets amplified a lot. The restaurant is down the hill from the cabins, so we had some bass bumpin’ in our ears one full day. Once we got the guts to ask them to turn it down, they were extremely nice and not only did they turn it down, they changed the music to birds chirping. That was awesome!
We didn’t have water, although that’s not always the case. I just wanted to write it down because it’s a thing that can happen.

In conclusion, I’d say Niddo is great for a 1 or 2-night romantic getaway. It is a high-quality destination that is worth the money because you really do get what you pay for.

Hope this Niddo glamping review was useful to you!

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Travel Guide

Where to Go Glamping Close to Bogota

Posted on October 26, 2019

glamping close to bogota, where to, cheapest to most expensive

I did the research so you don’t have to. Also, I did the research because I’m looking for a place to go glamping for our honeymoon! We figured it would be nice to lay low and relax a little before traveling, and some glamorous camping fit nicely. Glamping seems to be getting extremely popular, and lots of places have sprung up in Colombia where you can glamp (is that even a word?). So here’s a list to help you choose where to glamp close to Bogota! I’ve arranged them from cheapest to most expensive (-$- to -$$$$$-), but you can be sure these are all the best spots for glamping close to Bogota at each of their price ranges.

Where to go Glamping Close to Bogota

(from cheapest to most expensive)

1. Glamping La Finca – $

Glamping La Finca isn’t quite as close to Bogota as others (about 3 hours), but it’s quite nice for its price. I would say the only thing I don’t love about the place is that the tents are lined up side by side like suburb houses. Each one of them has a hot tub, though, and they look super cozy. On top of everything, if you stay here, you’re in Villa de Leyva, which is one of Colombia’s coolest towns. There’s a ton to do. From eating at great restaurants to sweating outdoors – it’s got it all. Glamping La Finca’s prices range from $200,000 Colombian pesos (about $65 USD) to $320,000 pesos (about $100 USD) per night for 2 people depending on the day of the week and time of year. You can read about Villa de Leyva by clicking here!

2. Bajo el Cielo Glamping – $$

High in the mountains of Colombia, this glamping hostal is close to Guatavita, looking over the Tomine Dam. Their domes are spacious, minimalistic and well-designed, and their areas have everything you need for comfort. Their standard domes with private bathrooms and outdoor space cost $280,000 pesos a night for 2 people (about $87.5 USD). The domes with a Jacuzzi cost $380,000 a night (about $120 USD). These prices include breakfast, and they increase by $100,000 pesos on the weekends. Being close to Guatavita, there’s also lots to do around the area, such as hiking, town visits and even helicopter rides! Bajo el Cielo Glamping is only an hour and a half from Bogota.

3. Glamping Colombia in Guatavita – $$

This place is also close to the beautiful town of Guatavita, an hour and a half from Bogota. Each one of their glamping areas has a wooden platform, a dome with a view of the dam below, and a private bathroom. The domes are nice and spacious. Its location gives you lots to do while you’re there: you can visit lakes, hike, do outdoor sports and go for a helicopter ride. It costs $360,000 Colombian pesos for two people per night (about $110 USD) and that includes no meals. I’m also not completely sure how their prices change during weekends or the high season. I can’t speak for their customer service, but their online, pre-glamping customer service is pretty bad.

4. Niddo Suesca – $$$

Only an hour from Bogota, we’ve heard a lot about Niddo because it’s close to Colombia’s most popular climbing area. Its tents look extremely warm and homely, and are well-designed and spacious. Of all the glamping close to Bogota I’ve researched, it also looks like the most romantic spot for glamping close to Bogota. The tents are nice and far apart, although not as much as I’d like (you don’t feel as much in the middle of nowhere). The cheapest I found was the smaller Niddo at $233,000 (about $72 USD) and the most expensive was the large Niddo at $490,000 (about $150 USD). These prices are per night for two people and don’t include any food. The prices do vary depending on the day of the week and time of the year.

5. La Villa Suiza – $$$

High in the mountains, this “Swiss Village” (the name, translated) looks over one of our favorite camping areas – the Neusa Dam. I’m not exactly sure if it counts as glamping because what they have is some wonderful chalets, but they look so warm and inviting that I had to include them on this list. They have standard chalets and deluxe chalets. Their prices range from at least $350,000 pesos (about $110 USD) to $450,000 pesos (about $140 USD) for two people per night depending on the day of the week and the type of chalet you’d like to experience. If you want one with a hot tub, though, the price spikes up to $550,000 pesos!

6. Kingdome Glamping – $$$

As you may have deduced from this place’s name, they have glamping in domes. What this place boasts is their 2-story domes with internal, private hot tubs. Their spaces are big and beautifully decorated, surrounded by woods. Like 2 other places for glamping close to Bogota, this one is in Guatavita, so there’s lots to do other than glamping as well. Their 2-story domes with hot tubs cost $450,000 pesos (about $140 USD) and their standard dome costs $400,000 pesos (about $125 USD) per night for two people.

7. Terramaga Glamping – $$$$

Terramaga is located in the town of San Francisco, about an hour and a half from Bogota. This place looks like a near-perfect glamping spot – each space is nice and isolated, everything is in the woods, and some of the glamps are even right by a river. It looks super romantic and outdoorsy. That being said, it is one of the most expensive because of how great it is. Each space costs $480,000 pesos (about $150 USD) during low season and $550,000 pesos (about $170 USD) during high season per night for 2 people. They book on AirBnB.

8. Yuva Glamping – $$$$$

Yuva Glamping is probably the most expensive glamping spot close to Bogota, but also one of the most amazing I found. Each dome’s individual area is huge and nicely far apart. One of them (maybe more) is right by the river, and I can just imagine falling asleep to its gentle lull. Also, all of the glamping areas have Jacuzzis. It’s about an hour and a half from Bogota in the town of San Francisco. Two of their glamping spaces cost $530,000 pesos (about $165 USD) per night for two people and the other two cost $630,000 pesos (about $200 USD). Those prices include breakfast and they increase by $100,000 pesos during the high season.

Well, that’s that for the best places to go glamping close to Bogota! I hope this list helps you narrow down your options for a super fun experience.

If you’re looking for outdoorsy things to do close to Bogota, click here to read our blog post!

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Travel Guide

Where to Climb Outdoors Close to Nashville

Posted on January 18, 2019

I lived in Nashville for 3.5 years, and a centerpiece of my time in Nashville was climbing. I got to know a good few climbing areas close to Nashville. At some point we would travel somewhere every weekend to go climb! Now, three years after graduating from Belmont University in Nashville, I finally went back for a vacation. I wondered to myself why I had never written about my experience there in the blog! That’s why I’m finally creating this blog post: where to climb outdoors close to Nashville!

Now, I must say, Tennessee has more places to climb than I could know, but this post will focus on the ones I know well.

*This blog is based out of Colombia, South America. You might enjoy checking out some of its climbing spots. Who knows, you may end up coming!

Where to Climb Outdoors Close to Nashville

Stone Fort (Little Rock City)

This was the first place I climbed outdoors in Tennessee, and is my favorite to this day. I’m not sure if it’s my favorite because of the memories and sends I made there or because of the place itself, but both are stellar. From shearing crimps to beautiful slopers and from V0 to V12, this bouldering area has it all. The Triple Crown Bouldering Series has a stop here too!

Some boulders I recommend are: Super Mario and it’s extension, The Wave, Sternum, Toothfairy and, of course, Grimace. The first time I saw Grimace I swore I would climb it, every time I went to LRC I’d go look at it, and I eventually did send. It’s the best boulder I’ve ever seen, but I love slopers, so take that into account.

LRC has a great guidebook, which you can get here. To get to LRC, type in “Stone Fort Little Rock City” in your GPS and go enjoy!

Rocktown

Rocktown is a bouldering area with amazing boulders and is a relatively new area, so new stuff is being developed all the time. Technically, this place is in Georgia, but it’s on the border of Tennessee. It’s 3 hours from Nashville, which makes it a good place for a two-day trip, although it’s so good that it’s even worth a day trip too.

Two climbs I definitely recommend are Nose Candy and Inspired by an Idiot, two really fun V6’s. For more information on this area, like the dates the park is closed and the license you need to buy to enter, check out the Southeastern Climbers Coalition website! To get to Rocktown, type in “Rocktown Rock Climbing” in your GPS and get after it!

Foster Falls

Foster Falls has everything you need when it comes to sport climbing: from easy, vertical 5.8’s to crazy-looking, overhung 5.13’s. This area is highly developed because of climbers, hikers and runners, so it has amenities like camping (which you have to pay for), picnic tables and bathrooms at the parking lot. The waterfall, of course, is a huge attraction for climbers and non-climbers alike. Make sure you also check out the Left and Right Bunkers, two amazing cave-like formations that house some of the coolest climbers there are!

Definitely get on Bear Mountain Picnic, a beautiful 5.8, or Ethnic Cleansing, an overhung 5.12 climb with a dyno to finish it off. This spot is 1 hour and 45 minutes from Nashville. To get to Foster Falls, well, look up “Foster Falls” in your GPS! Once there, take the Foster Falls overlook trail, which will lead you to all the climbing.

The Obed

I can’t speak well enough about this climbing area. It literally has it all: trad, sport and bouldering, and everything from easy to very hard. You can go to different areas within the Obed where you park and walk a few feet to the climbing (Lilly Boulders) or places you have to hike 45 minutes to get to (Y-12). My favorite spots are the Lilly Boulders and South Clear. I enjoy Lilly Boulders because you’re in the woods getting on some beautiful climbs, and it is just as peaceful as it gets. South Clear is great because it has some insane roof climbs (and I’m emotionally attached to the place, I guess).

I definitely recommend getting on Solstice in South Clear, Barbwire and Lingerie in Y-12, and Saddam Hussein in North Clear. To get to the heart of the Obed, type in “South Clear Creek Climbing Parking” and go explore! This place has so many climbing areas, that you’ll definitely want a guidebook!

King’s Bluff

Though King’s Bluff doesn’t have the best climbing, it is extremely close to Nashville (although I’d rather put in the 1 hour and 45 minute drive to Foster Falls). Only an hour from Nashville, right in Clarksville, lies a beautiful cliff-line by the Cumberland River. It definitely is a beautiful, peaceful place. It’s perfect if you want to get outdoors but can’t take the whole day off and is a great place to start learning to climb outdoors.

To get there, put “King’s Bluff, Clarksville” into your GPS and go get it. There’s a gate by the parking lot that’s usually open, but if it’s closed, you can always get the code to open it at the Southeastern Climbers Coalition’s website.

Well, this tiny list by no means encompasses all of what Tennessee has to offer! It’s a very biased list too, because I love these places (ok, King’s Bluff not so much).

For a complete list of places to climb in Tennessee and close to Nashville, visit Mountain Project and get lost researching climbing areas. Also, Mountain Project has detailed directions on how to get to each place if you’re interested.

And of course, I can’t end this blog post without mentioning the Red River Gorge! It’s only 4.5 hours from Nashville and is one of the best places to climb in the world. Taking that into account, I’d say it’s close enough. A great place to go enjoy for a long weekend!

I hope this blog post got you psyched to climb now that you know where to climb outdoors close to Nashville. Until next time!

Make sure you check out some of our Colombia blogs!!

Travel Guide

How to get to Matarredonda Ecological Park

Posted on October 10, 2018

Matarredonda Ecological Park (Parque Ecológico Matarredonda in Spanish) is a perfect place to rest from the city. It’s a beautiful, small and not very well-known park. It’s only 1 hour from Bogota (depending on where you are and the traffic) and is a gorgeous paramo with water everywhere and an easy hike. A paramo is an alpine ecosystem that only occurs close to the equator. One hike ends at a lake and another one goes to a lake and a waterfall. They’re both about an hour a half trek and are not very steep. This is how to get to Matarredonda Ecological Park.

La Chorrera, Latin America’s sixth tallest waterfall, is only 30 minutes from there! Click here to read how to get there!

How to get to Matarredonda Ecological Park

*The map to get to Matarredonda Ecological Park from Bogota is at the end of this travel guide.

On Public Transportation:

Starting in Bogota, take a bus with the companies Transoriente or Cootransfómeque on Calle 6 with Av. Caracas (its on the map below). The bus costs $10,000 Colombian pesos ($3.5 USD), although it may be less because you aren’t going all the way to Choachi, and the trip lasts about an hour. Buses leave between 5:15 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. every day.
Tell the bus driver you’re going to Parque Ecológico Matarredonda, which will be on your right (be watching for it in case the driver forgets).

In a Car:

With a GPS: enter “Matarredonda Ecological Park” into Google Maps or Waze and follow the directions.

Without a GPS:

In Bogotá, look for Calle 26 going east (or towards the mountains) and stay on it following the signs to the Circunvalar.
Then, follow the signs that indicate that Choachi is to the left. The road upwards begins right after an Universidad Distrital campus.
A few minutes from there, the road makes a confusing U-turn. Be watching for it and stay on the main road.
Stay on this road for about 30 minutes until you see the entrance to Matarredonda Ecological Park on your right.

What to do at Matarredonda Ecological Park

El Marquez del Once: this famous lookout point over Bogota is best known by the cyclists that climb up Bogota’s Eastern mountains every day. It is a great place to have breakfast before hiking or a late lunch after hiking a few hours. Make sure you get the classic Colombian agua-panela, cheese and arepa. See where it is on the map below.

Eat at the Entrance: just like at el Marquez del Once, you can eat at the park entrance, where theres a nice restaurant with traditional food. You might have to eat at one place on the way there and at the other on the way back!

Cerro Guadalupe: even closer to Bogota is Cerro Guadalupe, the mountain with the statue of the Guadalupe Virgin that’s across from Monserrate. Its a great place to visit after hiking the Matarredonda paramo. From Bogota, it’ll be on you right. From Matarredonda, it’ll be on your left. It’s marked on the map below for your convenience!

Stay all day: my recommendation for Matarredonda Ecological Park is to get there early (9 or 10 in the morning) to be able to do both hikes. At a slow pace, both hikes will take a maximum of 5 hours and they’re easy, so it’s worth getting to know them all. That way, you get some exercise, breathe a LOT of fresh air and can be back home by 4 or 5 to take it easy the rest of the day.

Some Things to Know:

– Make sure you take cash to pay the bus and whatever you buy in places that don’t take your card.

– There are no tolls on the way to Matarredonda Ecological Park.

– Entering the park costs $8,000 pesos ($3 USD).

– The park’s schedule is from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day.

– Camping costs 12,000 pesos ($4 USD) per person.

– You don’t need a guide because the trails are very well developed.

– Click here for a link to a map of the full two hikes.

– For more information, call this number: 3178657320 or email vjmatarredonda@gmail.com.

I hope this helped you learn how to get to Matarredonda Ecological Park and that you go enjoy the place!

If you like hikes, I suggest you read this blog post on Chingaza National Park, one of Colombia’s most amazing national parks.

Travel Guide

How to get to Lake Guatavita

Posted on October 4, 2018

Guatavita is a gorgeous town with two well-known bodies of water: the Tominé Dam (Embalse de Tominé), which is right next to the town, and Lake Guatavita (Laguna de Guatavita), which is about 20 minutes away. Lake Guatavita, the topic of this blog post, used to be the central part of an indigenous ritual that occurred when a new Chieftain (Cacique) was put in place. The natives would throw gold statues in the water, making it the site of the El Dorado legend. Because of that, the lake has been a point of interest since olden times, but is now visited because it’s beautiful and has a rich history. This is how to get to Lake Guatavita!

You might also be interested in “How to get to Suesca,” an adventurous town close to Guatavita.

How to get to Lake Guatavita

*The map to get to Lake Guatavita from Bogota is at the end of this post!

In Public Transportation:

Starting in Bogota, take a bus to Guatavita. You can hop on at the Portal Norte, which is Bogota‘s North Bus Terminal. It costs $9,000 pesos ($3 USD).
Tell the bus driver you’re getting off at the entrance to Lake Guatavita (but don’t say Lake Guatavita, say La Laguna de Guatavita!). Stay attentive to where you are and you’ll see a sign on your left that points towards the lake after you pass Sesquile.
From there, there are 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) to the park, and you have three options: (1) walk, which could take about 2 hours, (2) pay for private transportation, which costs around $60,000 pesos ($20 USD), or (3) start walking and try to hitch-hike your way there.
When you get to the park and pay the entrance fee, which is $12,000 pesos ($4 USD) for Colombians and $17,000 pesos ($6 USD) for foreigners, the guides will wait until there is a big enough group for the 20 minute guided hike to Lake Guatavita.
To get back, you can take a bus where the bus dropped you off before in the opposite direction. Another option is to take the same bus to Guatavita, get to know the town and then take a bus straight to Bogota from there.

In a Car:

With a GPS: enter “Lake Guatavita” in Google Maps or Waze and follow the instructions.

Without a GPS:

Exit the city going north and stay on the road to Tunja, not the road to Chia.
Shortly after passing the second toll from Bogota, you’ll see a sign that says Guatavita and Suesca are to the right. Turn right after the bridge and you’ll get to a round-about. Enter the roundabout and take the following exit following the signs to Guatavita. Stay right.
At the following intersection, turn right to get on the road to Guatavita. Stay on the main road to pass through Sesquile.
Soon, you’ll see the road to Lake Guatavita on your left. Stay on that road all the way to the park entrace, following the signs to the Lake.
Once you get to the park, park your car and pay the entrance fee, which is $12,000 pesos ($4 USD) for Colombians and $17,000 pesos ($6 USD) for foreigners, the guides will wait until there is a big enough group for the 20 minute guided hike to Lake Guatavita.

What to do at Lake Guatavita

Take pictures: Lake Guatavita is one of the most beautiful, unique places close to Bogota. The lakes and all of the landscape around it are too picturesque. You just have to take pictures to remember the place.

Go to Guatavita and the Tominé Dam: Guatavita and the Tominé Dam are also gorgeous and totally worth visiting. The dam is right next to the town and both are just 20 minutes from Lake Guatavita.

Go to Sopó: a great plan for after the day’s adventure is to visit Sopó and eat at Alpina or, if you want some more adventure, you can go to Pionono Park on the mountain right next to Sopó. Click here to read more about this town and park!

Some things to know:

– Make sure you take cash to pay for all of the products and services that don’t take cards (almost everything).

– There are 2 tolls from Bogota to Lake Guatavita and 1 on the way back.

– The park’s schedule is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except the first day of each month.

– The entrance fee to the park is $12,000 pesos ($4 USD) for Colombians and $17,000 pesos ($6 USD) for foreigners.

– The bus to Guatavita costs $9,000 pesos ($3 USD).

– The lake is 3,100 meters (10,170 feet) above sea level.

– Rainy seasons are between April and June and October and November.

I hope this helped you learn how to get to Lake Guatavita, a great place for an outdoor adventure with a history lesson!

Another great place to eat and ride your bike is the Sisga Dam. Click here to learn more about this spot!

Travel Guide

How to get to La Chorrera

Posted on September 5, 2018

The sixth tallest waterfall in Latin America, at 590 meters, or 1,953 feet, is only an hour and a half from Bogota!! I had heard of the place, but I had never heard how special it was. But after someone told me La Chorrera was so tall, I went to see for myself the next weekend. What a spectacular place! The hike is beautiful, there’s water everywhere and even the car ride is amazing. The landscape and mountains look like Chiribiquete in the department of Guaviare. You have to go! This is how to get to La Chorrera.

If you like cloud forests, like the once you’ll find at La Chorrera Park, check out our post on Chicaque Park!

How to get to la Chorrera

*The map to get to La Chorrera from Bogota is at the end of this post!

In Public Transportation:

In Bogota, take a Transoriente or Cootransfómeque bus on Calle 6 with Avenida Caracas (see on map below). The trip costs $10,000 Colombian pesos ($3.5 dollars) and it lasts an hour and a half. Buses leave between 5:15 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. every day.
Tell the bus driver you’re going to the entrance to la Chorrera (“la entrada a la Chorrera”, in Spanish). Be looking for signs on the road anyway because the driver may forget.
The entrance to la Chorrera is 4 kms (2.5 miles) of unpaved road until the actual park entrance. To get there, follow the main road, staying left every time it splits. Either way, there are signs that point your way to the park. If you feel lost, ask someone! Another option is to take a moto-taxi from where the bus drops you off. It costs $5,000 pesos or $2 dollars.
Once you get to the park entrance, which is also the campsite, you’ll have to watch a video and pay $12,000 pesos ($4 dollars) to go to la Chorrera or $8,000 pesos ($3 dollars) to go to el Chiflon (another smaller waterfall). Go to la Chorrera and see both waterfalls… it{s so worth it!
Follow the trail to the waterfalls. It’s impossible to get lost! *You can also pay $32,000 pesos ($11 dollars) to do the trail on horseback.

In a Car:

With a GPS: enter “Aventura la Chorrera Park” in Google Maps or Waze and follow the instructions.

Without a GPS:

In Bogotá, take Calle 26 going East (towards the mountains) and follow it until it becomes the Circunvalar.
On the Circunvalar, follow the signs that say Choachi is to the left. That left turn comes right after an Universidad Distrital campus.
Shortly afterwards, there’s a confusing U-turn. Stay on the main paved road, don’t keep going straight.
Follow this main road towards Choachi until you see an unpaved road to your left where there’s a little store with a big billboard on top of it.
Turn onto this road and drive 4 kms (2.5 miles) to the Aventura la Chorrera Park entrance. To get there, follow the main road, staying left every time it splits. Either way, there are signs that point your way to the park. If you feel lost, ask someone!
Towards the end of the road, you’ll get to a little store where you can park if your car isn’t ready for the toughest hill of the road. If there’s no problem, go on to the entrance, where you can park and camp.
Pay $12,000 pesos ($4 dollars) to go to la Chorrera or $8,000 pesos ($3 dollars) to go to el Chiflon (another smaller waterfall). Go to la Chorrera and see both waterfalls… its so worth it!
Follow the trail to the waterfalls. It’s impossible to get lost! *You can also pay $32,000 pesos($11 dollars) to do the trail on horseback.

What to do at La Chorrera

Walk to El Chiflón:

El Chiflon is another waterfall in the park that only seems small because la Chorrera is 590 meters tall. El Chiflon is actually quite imposing, since it’s 60 meters (200 feet) tall. The roar the falling water makes is music to my ears. This waterfall is only 15 minutes from the park entrance, and has a trail that goes behind it. You can also rappel from the top of el Chiflon, which means descending next to it attached to a rope with safety equipment. It costs $25,000 pesos or $8.5 dollars.

Get to La Chorrera:

Of course, if you’re going to La Chorrera Park, you have to go to la Chorrera! What’s crazy is that they do have a payment option that includes only going to el Chiflon. El Chiflon is awesome, but nothing like la Chorrera!! Even though the hike is longer (an hour and a half vs. 15 minutes), it’s worth it. Plus, all the best things in life come after having worked hard for them. Go to la Chorrera and you will not be disappointed.

Get to know la Cueva de los Monos (the Monkey Cave):

En route to la Chorrera, you’ll see a sign that point to a steep trail upwards. La Cueva de los Monos is at the end of that trail, about 6 minutes away. One of the park officials told us that, sadly, there are no monkeys. I would say there is no cave either, just a rock roof. I’ll also say, though, that it is beautiful and gives you another view of la Chorrera in the distance. So if your legs are feeling good, go here. If you don’t feel like it, you won’t miss out on much.

Take pictures:

This place, like any cloud forest, has a magical vibe because of the bright greens you see everywhere and the clouds that envelop the landscape. The park is a great place to take bright, happy pictures as well as dark, moody ones. It’s a great spot for a photo shoot.

Camp:

Camping at la Chorrera is amazing. The camping spot is at the park entrance, not the actual waterfall. Even so, you feel in the middle of nowhere and it’s exciting to know such a special waterfall is nearby. The park does not rent any equipment, so you have to take your own tent, sleeping bags, etc. It costs $10,000 pesos ($3.5 dollars) a night per person. The camping area has bathrooms, showers and grilling areas.

Eat a lot:

There are a lot of little shops before and at the park entrance, which is not a bad thing! You can buy snacks, cuajada with melao or blackberry sauce, arepas, empanadas and there’s even a Cuban restaurant with great dishes and mojitos. These are all things you should eat while in Colombia, by the way. Except the Cuban food, it’s not as much of a must.

Go up to the Statue of the Guadalupe Virgin:

On the way to La Chorrera Park, not too far from Bogota, you’ll see a road that goes up and to the right. It goes up to the statue of the Guadalupe Virgin. This statue is the one you can see from Bogota up on the mountain across from Monserrate. It’s a place not many people know and is as good a lookout point as Monserrate. Bogota looks amazing from up there. It’s worth getting up a little earlier to stick this place into the agenda.

Some things to know:

Make sure you take cash, especially small bills to pay buses and shops/services that can’t take your card (most places).
The Chorrera waterfall is the sixth tallest in Latin America and the tallest in Colombia.
The hike that includes everything (el Chiflón, la Cueva de los Monos, and la Chorrera) costs $12,000 pesos or $4 dollars.
Camping at the campsite costs $10,000 pesos or $3.5 dollars a night per person.
The bus ride to the unpaved road costs $10,000 pesos or $3.5 dollars per person.
The moto-taxi from the spot the bus drops you off to the Park entrance costs $5,000 pesos or $2 dollars.
The road to the park entrance is unpaved. Smaller cars won’t have trouble until the last hill. I recommend parking below, at a little store, if you have a low or old car. If you have a high car or a 4×4, go on ahead to the entrance!

I hope this blog post helped you learn how to get to La Chorrera and that you go!

If you’d like to know another special place close to Bogota, read our blog post on Suesca!

Tips

Basic Tips for Car Camping

Posted on June 22, 2018

Given all our blog posts, we’ve seen that you guys like camping. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to help you out with a blog post with basic tips for car camping! Some awesome places to car camp in Colombia are the Black Lagoon and, the best of all, the Neusa Dam. Car camping doesn’t mean sleeping in your car, it just means you have your car near you as you camp, which makes it so that you can take pretty much anything you want to go camp. That’s very, very different to camping in the wilderness, on long hikes, where you usually try to take as little as you can – the bare necessities. Without further ado, these are the basic tips for car camping.

*If you’d like to read how to get to the Neusa Dam, my favorite place for car camping in Colombia, check out this blog on how to get to the Neusa Dam and what to do there!

Basic Tips for Car Camping

The Tent

The truth is, you can take any type of tent to car camp, just because you have your car. For that reason, the issue isn’t getting the smallest possible tent. Instead, it will depend on the number of people you’ll usually be camping with, the quality of the tent and the price. Here are some recommendations regarding tents:

Get a tent made for 1 or 2 more people than you’ll usually be camping with. This is for two reasons: first, more friends might decide to go with you, and the more the merrier. Second, having more space makes everything more comfortable. Everyone has more space to move and you have space to put backpacks, books, flashlights, food and whatever else you want in your tent. True, you don’t need a lot of things in you tent with the car so near to you, but it’s nice to have the option not to have to leave your tent if it’s rainy or cold outside.
Tents are classified by seasons. A 2 season tent is made for good weather and usually has ventilation openings that can’t be closed if it rains. 3 season tents are made to withstand stronger rain and wind. And 4 season tents are made to withstand even snow. So it’s up to you to decide where you’re mostly going to be camping and get your tent based on that. If you’ll be camping everywhere, get yourself a 4 season tent so that you’ll be good wherever you go! If a tent doesn’t specify its season classification, at least make sure its water-proof.

How to Know if its Water-Proof

Even if a tent says it’s water-proof, that doesn’t mean it’s great, and if it’s both water-proof and cheap, the tent isn’t going to be very water-proof. If the brand is well-known, such as The North Face, Hilleberg, REI, MSR or Coleman, the tent will be good. And if the tent comes with a rain-fly, which is a water-proof canvas that goes on top of the tent and must be taut for it not to touch the tent’s body, and a groundsheet or footprint, which goes between the ground and the tent floor to keep humidity out, that tent will be more water-proof.

How to Set Up the Tent:

The way to set up the tent changes depends on the tent, but there are some things that everyone can do to be more comfortable, regardless of the tent. First, camp on the flattest ground you can find to sleep well and so that you don’t roll over and accidentally touch the tent walls, letting water in. Second, camp a ways off from the nearest water source. Some would say up to 150 feet (50 meters) away so that you’re safe from flash floods and don’t contaminate the water in any way. Third, don’t place the tent entrance facing the wind because it could get really cold. Although, if you’re being annoyed by mosquitoes, putting the entrance facing the wind will keep them out.

Our Favorite Place to Car Camp Yet!

If you’re itching to get outside, read this post on outdoor adventures close to Bogota!

Sleeping Bags

Sleeping bags are usually rated by temperatures: 35°F and higher (2°C and higher), 35 to 10°F (2° to -12°C) and 10°F and lower (12°C and lower). This means sleeping bags are made to warm you are those temperatures, although it varies per person and brand.

Get your sleeping bag based on the temperatures you’ll mostly be camping in. If you’ll probably going to be camping in deserts, get a 35°F and higher (2°C and higher) sleeping bad, but if you’ll be camping in the snow a lot, you’ll definitely want to get a 10°F and lower (12°C and lower) sleeping bag.

One great option for couples that are car-camping is to get a 2 person sleeping bag. While hiking and backpacking, it would never make sense to have one. But with a car to carry all your things, it’s a luxury you can definitely afford.

Sleeping Pad

Sleeping pads are really important for camping, but they’re not only for comfort. Sleeping pads’ main function is to keep the ground from sucking all the warmth from your body. You can get inflatable pads or closed-cell foam pads.

Take any kind of sleeping pad when you’re car camping because you have the space in your car; you might even be able to take any old one you have at home. But if you’re about to buy a sleeping pad, it’s important to think of what you’ll mostly be using it for. If you’ll be car camping a lot, by all means, buy a big and comfortable pad. If you’ll only be car camping every once in a while, but will backpack a lot, it’s better to get a small, inflatable sleeping pad. Some good brands are Neo Equipment, Therm-A-Rest and, as always, Coleman.

Pillow

It makes no sense to carry a pillow when you’re backpacking because they’re so bulky, unless you were to find a small inflatable one. But when car camping, I recommend taking one with you to sleep as well as you can, since you have the car to carry it for you!

To Build a Fire

Of course, the most important thing to have is a lighter or some matches. Then there’s also the wood. You can buy as much wood as you want, since you have the car with you, or you can scavenge for it at your campsite. Scavenging for it feels much more adventuresome. If you’re buying wood, try to do so close to your campsite to help the locals out. Helping out where you can is cool.

This is the best way to start a fire:

Put kindling, such as dry leaves, in the middle of where you’re about to start the fire.
Put sticks and bigger and bigger wood around the kindling in a teepee (or cone) shape, with the point facing up. Heat rises, so this teepee shape will make sure the heat efficiently lights the bigger wood.
Put a flame to the kindling in the middle from the bottom for it all to burn, blowing softly to motivate the flames.
Watch how your fire starts, adding small sticks and maybe even some more kindling if the fire needs some help.

I hope this helps you figure out how to build a fire. The best way to learn is to get outdoors, try, fail, try and learn! Make sure you don’t light a fire under a tree!

Foldable Chairs or a Blanket

When you’re camping, staying outside at night is the best because of the stars, the sounds of the night and sitting by the fire. The first two times I went car camping, I had to sit on the ground outside and my butt was extremely cold the entire time. So something important is to take foldable chairs or a blanket to sit on at night.

Food

The first question to ask yourself is: do you want warm or cold food? Then you just buy it and go camping!

If you’ll only be out one night, I recommend just taking cold food or food you can toast over your fire (for example, a sausage cooked on a stick). Personally, I also recommend you take a big thermos of a hot beverage, coffee for me, because nothing feels better than a hot drink on a cold night or morning.

If you decide to cook or will stay more than a night, in which case you’ll probably want some hot food, get a Coleman stove. They can be bulky, but it doesn’t matter because you’ll be car camping!

Leave no Trace

Everything you take camping should leave with you, even the toilet paper you use to wipe your butt.

Music

This is a sensitive subject, and a lot of people will probably scold me for including music on this list, but a lot of people need their music! It’s a sensitive subject because a lot of people prefer only hearing the sounds of nature while camping and others can be very disrespectful with their music. In my opinion, there should be no problem as long as the person with music is respectful, keeping it at a reasonable volume.

So yes, I recommend taking a speaker on your car camping trip or, even better, a guitar or a friend with a guitar if you don’t play.

And that, plus all of the things on this list, will help you have an amazing time while car camping. I hope these basic tips for car camping helped!

Click here to read about another gorgeous dam, how to get there and what to do!

Travel Guide

What to do on a Day-trip to Tayrona Park

Posted on June 13, 2018

If you’re wondering what to do for a day on the coast of Colombia, my answer is that you need to go to Tayrona National Natural Park. It’s one of Colombia’s most popular, most beautiful parks. The landscape is amazing; standing on the beach you can see the landscape switch from ocean to beach to mangrove to jungle to mountains. It is one of the most diverse, unique places I have been, and it was bunches of fun even though it was just for a day! So here’s what to do on a day-trip to Tayrona Park.

What to do on a Day-trip to Tayrona Park

There’s a TON to do here, and you can browse activities here! These are some of our favorite things to do in Tayrona Park:

Hike from the park’s entrance to Cabo San Juan. This hike will take you through some of the most beautiful coastal landscapes you’ve ever seen. It takes about 2.5 hours, although that can vary depending on the person hiking. Get to the “El Zaino” entrance (more info on how below), where you pay the entrance fee, find the trail to Cabo San Juan and just start hiking.
Once you get to Cabo San Juan all sweaty and tired from hiking in the baking sun, the best thing to do is to get right in the water. Now, if you’re down for some adventure, there’s a pretty large rock in the bay that is perfect for diving. The rock is out a ways from the beach right where you get to Cabo San Juan. You have to swim there, do a little bit of easy scrambling to get on top of the rock and then jump the six feet down into the ocean below. I marked the spot on the map below so you can find it easily, and if you want to see it beforehand to recognize this diving rock when you go to Tayrona Park, check out our Youtube video below!
Yet another activity you can do at Cabo San Juan is snorkel. The crystal clear, calm water makes for a great time enjoying the underwater world. This does mean you’ll have to carry your own mask and fins or rent them in Santa Marta or Taganga because there is no snorkeling service in Tayrona Park.
Hike to Pueblito Chairama. At the far end of the Cabo San Juan campground, towards the mainland, you’ll find a trail that will take you on a mini-Ciudad Perdida hike (one of Colombia’s most popular multi-day hikes) to an abandoned, historical Tayrona tribe town. The hike is uphill and takes about 1.5 hours, which may vary. *Doing this hike along with everything else listed here might jam pack your day, making you rush from one activity to another, so if you were to discard any of the activities in this list I’d recommend discarding this one. Still, the hike is awesome, so do it if you can!
When it comes to food, the one restaurant in Cabo San Juan can have long lines and low quality food and can sometimes run out of certain dishes because of the crowds during high season. At the same time, if you take food, you have to carry it and it’s rarely as good as a cooked meal. What I prefer, just for simplicity’s sake, is to brave the line at the restaurant.
Unless you have your car with you, head back on a boat! After a long day hiking, diving, snorkeling, eating and relaxing on the beach, it might be hard to feel motivated to take the long hike back. I find that the most enjoyable way to get back is on a boat. It leaves from Cabo San Juan at the end of the day and you get to see the sun set in front of you as you ride to Taganga. You can buy tickets for the boat at Cabo San Juan. Buy them as soon as you get there! To buy them ahead of time, there’s a travel agency called Tayrona Taganga Express right when you enter Taganga where you can buy your boat ride ticket from Cabo San Lucas to Taganga or vice versa. I marked the spot on the map below! More info on prices later.
And don’t forget to just relax on the beach, maybe take a nap in the shade! Enjoy!

How to get to Tayrona National Natural Park:

This blog post, what to do on a day-trip to Tayrona Park, is based on entering the park through the El Zaino entrance and then getting to Cabo San Juan. This is how you do that!

Get to the Entrance:

On a bus, you have two options. The first is to take a bus going to La Guajira from Santa Marta’s bus terminal (search for “Terminal de Transportes de Santa Marta” in Google Maps or Waze) and tell the bus driver to drop you off at the El Zaino entrance to Tayrona Park. Just say “Déjeme en la entrada el Zaino del Parque Tayrona.” It costs $12,000 pesos ($4 dollars). The second option is to get your hotel or hostel to set you up with transportation. This will cost a little more, but involves less planning.

In a car, you’ll want to get on the Troncal del Caribe road, which is the main road that crosses the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Follow the signs to La Guajira, which will be east. The Zaino entrance is the last one going west to east, so it will be about a 50 minute drive there from Santa Marta. There are no signs until you’re right at the entrance, so be watching for it on your left. In addition to the entrance fee (info on that below), you’ll have to pay $13,000 COP ($5 USD) for the car and $9,000 COP ($3 USD) for a motorcycle.

Get to Cabo San Juan:

From the El Zaino entrance, you have 4 options.

If you’re renting a car, follow the road until you reach the parking lot. A day of parking costs $9,500 COP ($3.25 USD) for a car and $7,500 COP ($2.50 USD) for a motorcycle. From the parking lot, find the trail with the ocean on your right and start hiking! (You can hire someone to get you to Tayrona Park here.)
Then, you can take a small bus owned by the park from the entrance all the way to where the road ends. The bus costs $3,000 pesos or $1 dollar. Find the trail from wherever it drops you off with the ocean on your right and start hiking!
You can also ride a horse all the way to Cabo San Juan for $40,000 pesos ($14 dollars). This way, you get a guide to explain things as you ride and get to enjoy the hike while sitting down. It’s a pretty awesome deal!
Walk from the entrance all the way to your destination. Walking to Cabo San Juan takes about 2.5 hours. The trails are amazing, easily identifiable and include some of the most beautiful hiking I’ve ever done.

Here’s the map to get there from Santa Marta – I indicated three spots on the map too: Pueblito, the Diving Rock and the travel agency, Tayrona Taganga Express!

Some things to know:

You’ll most likely see monkeys and, if you’re lucky, alligators!
The times between which you can enter and exit the park are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Some beaches along the trail have signs that prohibit getting in the water. This isn’t just to protect the area environmentally. Since those beaches are not bays, there are currents in the water that can sweep you away from the mainland into the vast ocean in a matter of seconds. So don’t get in the water at those beaches!
Get your yellow fever shot at least 10 days before going to Tayrona National Natural Park. If you’ll be in Bogota beforehand, you can get the shot for free at the airport.

Payment

Colombians or foreign residents below the age of 25 pay $10,000 Colombian pesos or $4 US dollars ($11,000 or $4.40 during high season) to enter the park.
Colombians and foreign residents above the age of 25 pay $17,500 pesos or $6 USD ($19,500 or $6.50 during high season) to enter the park.
Non-resident foreigners pay $44,000 pesos or $15 USD ($48,500 or $17 USD during high season) to enter the park.
High season is December 15 to January 30, June 15 to July 30, Holy Week and all Holidays.
Students get discounts, so take your student ID!
Make sure you take cash, because you can’t pay for anything with a card at Tayrona Park, and that it is in Colombian pesos.
The boat ride costs between $35,000-$45,000 pesos ($12-$15 USD). If you’re not staying in Taganga, take a bus (less than $2,000 Colombian pesos or 0.75 US dollars) or a taxi (about $40,000 Colombian pesos or $13 US dollars) to Santa Marta.

I hope this helps you figure out what to do on a day-trip to Tayrona Park! If you’re staying in Taganga or Santa Marta, check out this blog post about what to do while you’re there and some things that are good to know!

Another place you have to visit on the Colombian coast is Isla Fuerte. This island vacation spot isn’t as well-known as Tayrona or that part of the coast, but it is a totally unique, remote and gorgeous destination. Read about Isla Fuerte here!