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Travel Guide

The Most Enjoyable Cycling Climbs Close to Bogotá

Posted on November 13, 2020
most enjoyable cycling climbs close to Bogotá

If you follow cycling at all, you’ll know Colombians are famous for being the best climbers. If you didn’t, now you know! It’s honestly no surprise with the amount of mountains we have here. It’s hard to go out for a ride and keep away from steep hills. Now, we’re no pros, but we’ve been on our fair share of extremely fun rides with really enjoyable climbs. These are our favorite and the most enjoyable cycling climbs close to Bogotá! Read to the end for our favorite! I marked all their starting points on the map below.

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

The Most Enjoyable Cycling Climbs Close to Bogotá

Club de la Montaña

If you really don’t want to leave the city, this is the climb for you! It is pretty far north (Calle 183), but it’s truly ideal. After entering a pretty nice neighborhood, you get to an unpaved road. The first two curves are the hardest, and then it’s up and up. The climb is a total of 1.1 kilometers at an 8% gradient. It’s not long, so it’s a good way to start biking or start acclimatizing to Bogota’s altitude. We enjoy going when there isn’t much time and do the climb 3 or 4 times.

Alto el Vino

As you head west from Bogotá on Calle 80, it’s mostly flat… for a little while. If you can withstand the traffic getting out of the city, a beautiful climb awaits you about an hour and a half out. The uphill section is 3.9 kilometers at an average 5.5% gradient. Not super tough, but a nice way to cap off the ride! BONUS: now, from the top of Alto del Vino, you can ride down the windy road to La Vega. Quite good cyclists do this, because the climb up back from there is 29 kilometers at a 5.7% average gradient.

Patios

This is probably the best-known cycling climb close to Bogota because it is literally in Bogota. You start right in the middle of the city, on the intersection between Calle 85 and Carrera 7 (I marked it on the map below). The climb is 6.5 kilometers at an average 7% gradient. This road gets really crowded, and it’s shared with cars, so I suggest getting up very early for it (starting the climb at 6 a.m.).

La Valvanera

This climb is in Chia, a town right outside of Bogota headed north. It’s absolutely beautiful, and makes for great exercise. It’s a 3.6 kilometer slope at a 5.4% gradient. What’s great about riding here is the amount of gorgeous routes that connect to each other, like La Valvanera does. If you’re going to do this climb, I suggest you get on Strava or a similar app and make up a route. Do note there are indigenous communities who sometimes block the roads around Chia. If this is the case, simply turn around!

Pionono

Let it be known, this is by far the hardest climb we’ve done yet. At one point, it has a 32% gradient!! It’s incredible though! You have to get to Sopó, a town known for Alpina and being a weekend getaway. Then, you get an insane hill right off the start, and it doesn’t ease up all that much until you get to the Pionono Ecological Park. All in all, it’s about 4 kilometers at an average 14.7% gradient. Not for the faint of heart, but SO worth it!

El Verjón

This is one of the most enjoyable cycling climbs close to Bogota! Actually, it’s Lala’s favorite. It starts off in downtown Bogota, right next to the ticket office to go up to Monserrate. What’s great about this ride is you immediately feel like you’re in nature because, well, you really are. This cycling climb is longer, but not quite as tough: 16 kilometers at a 4% gradient. You can choose to ride another 4 kilometers to Col 86, with some ups and downs, which is where the road down to Choachí begins. BONUS: if you ride all the way down to Choachí to ride back up, you’re in for a treat. That climb is very difficult, at 22.5 kilometers and a 6% gradient, but is truly breathtaking!

Yerbabuena

Now this is my favorite place to ride uphill on a bike close to Bogota! It’s just barely outside of the city headed north, and we enjoy it so much because it’s never as crowded as other popular spots and is simply very green. At just 3.5 kilometers and a 9% gradient, it’s just perfect for a quick ride, or you can pair it with a bunch of other routes north of the city!

Don’t hesitate to do these enjoyable cycling climbs close to Bogota! They’re tough, but with a little bit of grit, anyone can do them. Biking is an incredible way to burn a bunch of calories and get to know new places while you’re at it.

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Travel Guide

THIS is Where to Climb in Choachi

Posted on August 29, 2019
where to climb in Choachi, how to get to Valle Escondido, climbing in Colombia, rock climbing close to Bogota, high altitude, hiking, hidden valley

It’s amazing how many epic places there are close to Bogota. I guess that’s what you get when you put a city in the middle of the mountains. When you drive through Bogota’s eastern mountain range, the landscape is absolutely striking! The area is home to one of the tallest waterfalls in the world and, much less known, some of Colombia’s most beautiful climbing areas with the most potential. Something cool about it is that they’re at a really high altitude – about 3,100 meters or 10,000 feet. This is where to climb in Choachi and how to get there!

If you’re looking to climb a lot in Colombia, we have a list of areas here!

Where to Climb in Choachi

*Note: the map to get to these areas from Bogotá is at the end of this post!

I recommend visiting these areas with a local on your first time because, I’ll be honest, getting to the climbing can be hard – the paths aren’t obvious at all. There also aren’t any great guide books.

Valle Escondido

The climbing at Valle Escondido (Hidden Valley) is amazing – long routes with overhangs, cracks and a gorgeous backdrop to boot. You can do sport or trad climbing, and a lot of routes are mixed. Since it’s a relatively new area, most climbs are pretty difficult, starting at 5.11 and going up to project-level difficulty. There are a few 5.10s, though. The potential here is outstanding, and there are climbs going up all the time! Please don’t leave trash, be a good citizen and pay your fee so the place doesn’t get closed off to us!

Agua Dulce

This is a newer, smaller area that’s really close to the road. All the climbing is sport, and there aren’t many routes. However, the climbs are absolutely gorgeous and the area isn’t as cold as Valle Escondido. It’s known for long, crimpy vertical routes with cruxes at the top. It’s honestly become one of our favorite climbing areas!

El Rinconcito

This is the newest, smallest climbing areas. If you’re wondering where to climb in Choachi, I’d recommend this one, especially from December to March, which are the dry seasons. The climbs are astounding, with a great variety of types of sport routes – and a ton of HARD climbing (13+). That I know, of there’s only one 5.10. Plus, the hike to get here and the scenery all day is gorgeous.

How to Get There

In Public Transportation:

  1. Take a Transoriente or Cootransfómeque bus from Bogota. You can grab them on Calle 6 with Avenida Caracas (see on map below). The trip costs about $10,000 Colombian pesos ($3.5 dollars) and lasts about an hour. You can grab the buses between 5:15 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. every day.
  2. For Valle Escondido, tell the driver you’ll be getting off at Valle Escondido or Cafe de los Gatos. After a while on the winding road, you’ll get to a spot where there are cliffs around you. About 30 seconds after you pass a bridge with road bumps before and after it, the entrance will be to your right with a small house and a trail leading up into the mountain. Take the trail up and down to the owner’s house to pay the entrance fee.
  3. For Agua Dulce, tell the driver you’ll be getting off at Cabaña Cuatro Elementos. You pay the entrance fee right in front at a small house, and then take a short hike up to the rocks.
  4. For El Rinconcito, tell the driver you’ll be getting of at Kilometer 11, where you’ll see a U-turn to the right. Walk on the dirt road until you see an obvious hiking path towards the right. Get on it and after that, I hope you’re with a local climber because the path is hard to describe in a blog post!

In a Car:

With a GPS: you can enter “Choachi, Valle Escondido” or “Agua Dulce Climb Zone” into Google Maps or Waze and follow the directions. For El Rinconcito, check out my map below or go with a local climber!

Without a GPS:

  1. Starting in Bogota, get on Calle 26 going East (towards the mountains) and follow it until it becomes Av. Circunvalar South.
  2. Going south, turn left where you see a sign towards Choachi. That left turn comes right after the Universidad Distrital campus.
  3. Not long afterwards, you’ll get to a sharp U-turn. Do the U-turn to stay on the main paved road instead of going straight into some bad neighborhoods.
  4. For Valle Escondido, you’ll eventually pass a bridge with road bumps before and after it. The entrance will be to your right with a small house and a trail leading up into the mountain. Park on either side of the road and take the trail up and down to the owner’s house to pay the entrance fee.
  5. For Agua Dulce, drive a little further down from Valle Escondido to Cabaña Cuatro Elementos. You pay the entrance fee at a small house, where you can also park (its on the map). Then take a short hike up to the rocks.
  6. For El Rinconcito, drive to Kilometer 11, where you’ll see a U-turn to the right. Take the dirt road until you see an obvious hiking path towards the right. You can park a little further on at a woman’s house, for about $6,000 pesos. Walk back to the path and after that, I hope you’re with a local climber because the path is hard to describe in a blog post!

More things to do around Choachi:

Go to La Chorrera

You can see Colombia’s tallest waterfall only about 10 minutes down the road going towards Choachi. It’s also the 6th tallest in South America and the 60th tallest in the WORLD! Ok, enough bragging about my country. If you want to check it out, read this blog post about the place, it’s totally worth a visit!

Hike

There are tons of trails here, but, as most in Colombia, they aren’t official at all! They have no signage, and I have no idea where they may lead, but they’re there! If you’re looking for a great place to hike, this is definitely it. You can ask Don Sinai for tips or just go and start walking. The area is beautiful!

Take Photos

Like I’ve said already, Valle Escondido is striking. To change it up, I’d describe it as eye-catching, impressive, memorable and stunning. So yea, definitely take a camera.

Some things to know:

  • Choachi is a town that’s very close to the climbing areas. People (and I) will very often refer to the climbing areas as Choachi, but the places actually have their own names.
  • Pack your trash out… take it back to Bogota! This way we make sure access doesn’t get denied to us!
  • The fee for Valle Escondido is $7,000 pesos per person, and I think this applies even if you’re only going to hike around. Parking costs about $5,000 per car down at Lucas’ house.
  • The fee for Agua Dulce is $6,000 pesos per person and 10,000 for parking.
  • The parking fee for El Rinconcito is $6,000 pesos and entering the climbing area is free, for now.
  • The best climbing guide is pictures local climbers have taken, so network a little and find yourself some obscure guides.
  • You’d do well to have a 70 meter rope and about 22 draws to climb without worries.
  • There are NO tolls between Bogota and any of the climbing!

Well, hopefully this shed some light as to where to climb in Choachi and how to get to Valle Escondido, Agua Dulce and El Rinconcito! Enjoy!

If you’re looking for places to hike, camp and enjoy the outdoors close to Bogota, read this blog post here!

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