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what to do in villa de leyva

Travel Guide

What to do in Villa de Leyva

what to do in Villa de Leyva, how to get to Villa de Leyva, hiking, adventure, food tips, where to eat, vacation

Villa de Leyva is a dreamy place. The Spanish tiles, cobbled roads, every restaurant’s vibe and the combination of dessert and forest make it one of Colombia’s most beautiful towns. Only 3 hours and 4 tolls away from Bogota, it’s a great place to rest, go on some adventures and enjoy its unique culture. In this blog post, you’ll get tips on where to go on adventures and where to eat, two of Lala and my favorite things to do. This is what to do in Villa de Leyva (and how to get there too, below!).

You may also be interested in reading: how to get to Mongui, a town that competes with Villa de Leyva for Boyacá’s most beautiful town.

What to do in Villa de Leyva

*Note: the map with all the following places and how to get from Bogota to Villa de Leyva is at the end of this travel guide!

Hiking at the Iguaque Fauna and Flora Sanctuary

We do this hike up to Iguaque Lake (Laguna de Iguaque) every time we go to Villa de Leyva. We’ve done it 7 or 8 times and have enjoyed it every time. After a 30 minute drive on an unpaved road you get to a center where to pay to enter. Then you walk a little to a hostel and restaurant they have, and there you begin the steep hike up to the lake through forests and paramos. For more information about this park, read this blog post with everything you need to know!

Eat at Antique

One of many traditions we have as a family is eating at Antique after hiking. That is, of course, after sleeping a couple of hours. Antique is one of those beautiful restaurants you can find in Villa de Leyva for a special occasion. It can be pricey, but after a tough hike and on vacation you just have to treat yourself. If you earn in dollars, or another well-off currency, though, this will be an amazing meal at a good price.

Eat Dessert at La Galleta or at Pastelería Francesa

Villa de Leyva is diverse when it comes to cultures. Two places I love to taste two different cultures and at La Galleta and at Pastelería Francesa. At La Galleta, you can find desserts from Colombia and the world, but my recommendation is you eat the miloja, which has bunches of layers with cream in between and Arequipe on top. It’s the best dessert I’ve ever had. At Pasteleria Francesa, you can experience French pastries. I have three words to describe the place: chocolate, chocolate and chocolate. Eat anything and everything that has chocolate! Both these places are marked on the map below.

Hike up to el Santo (the Saint)

If you still have energy after hiking up to Iguaque Lake or if you prefer a shorter, easier but equally beautiful hike, you can walk up to the statue of the Saint that towers over Villa de Leyva. You can see it in the distance from town. To get to the trail, go to Calle 12 and walk towards the mountains. In other words, if you’re in the main plaza facing the church, take the road to the right towards the mountain. That road, Calle 12, will take you directly to the start of the trail.

Eat at Sutamarchan

Sutamarchan is a town about 20 minutes from Villa de Leyva. It is so tied to my family’s experiences in Villa de Leyva that I had to include it in this list. We always eat there on our way back to Bogota – it’s known for its Fritanga. Fritanga is unhealthy, but delicious—all friend meat products. It is an extremely traditional Colombian meal and Sutamarchan is one of the best places for it. How to get to Sutamarchan: exit Villa de Leyva on Carrera 12, which you can take one block down from the plaza which the mountains on your left. Follow the signs towards Sutamarchan and Chiquinquira. When you get to Sutamarchan, take a left on the corner with the restaurant Fabrica de Longaniza and eat there… it’s our favorite place.

Ride a Bike in the Desert

One of the best things you can do in Villa de Leyva is ride your bike. Here are some routes you can take, but the funnest way is to go where you want. I recommend you get lost in the small desert, where there’re some awesome hills. It’s almost like BMX! I marked the dessert on the map below. You can find companies that rent bikes and can guide you in Villa de Leyva.

How to get to Villa de Leyva

On Public Transportation:

  1. Go to Terminal Salitre or Terminal del Norte in Bogota, two different bus terminals.
  2. Take a bus straight to Villa de Leyva for $23.000 Colombian pesos ($8 USD).

In a Car:

With a GPS: enter “Villa de Leyva” into Google Maps or Waze and follow the directions.

Without a GPS:

  1. Exit Bogotá going North, following signs to Tunja. You’ll go by Tocancipá, Suesca, the Sisga Dam, Chocontá and Puente de Boyacá (the Boyacá bridge, where Bolivar fought the battle that won Colombia its independence from Spain).
  2. After Puente de Boyacá, take the next U-turn and then turn right where there’s a sign pointing towards Samacá.
  3. Follow this road all the way to Samacá. When you get to the town, get to Calle 4 following the main road, where you’ll turn left and then to the plaza, where you’ll turn right. On this road you’ll be on route to Villa de Leyva.
  4. Not much later, the road will end. Turn left.
  5. Right after the next toll (called peaje Sachica) turn right where a sign points to Villa de Leyva. That road will take you straight to town.

Some things to know:

–          I recommend you go to Villa de Leyva on a weekend that isn’t a holiday or vacation because this town is very touristy and can get really full.

–          However, if you don’t mind crowds, Villa de Leyva has amazing events like the Kite Festival in August.

–          All of Villa de Leyva’s streets are cobbled and all its structures are similar: white walls and Spanish tiles. It’s so nice.

–          Take cash to pay for services you can’t pay with a card.

–          The rainy season is between April and May, and October and November.

I hope this helped you get to know what to do in Villa de Leyva. Enjoy your trip!

If you like adventures, read this blog post about outdoor adventures close to Bogota!

Travel Guide

How to get to Iguaque Park

How to get to Iguaque National Park, favorite hike, paramo, close to villa de leyva, adventure

For me, the hike up to see the Iguaque Lagoon (at  3,800m or 12,500 ft) is the best in the world because it’s the first actual hike I ever did… when I was 3. Although, at that age, I mostly went up and down the mountain on my dad’s shoulders… asleep. Oh well; since then I’ve visited the Park quite a few times and I always come down blissful.

Last time I was at the Iguaque Fauna and Flora Sanctuary I didn’t make it all the way up to the lagoon because of the rain, but boy is that a story.

I was with Lala, her sister and her husband, and Guille, a life-long friend who has lived his entire life on the coast of Colombia, where it’s HOT and there’s little rain. We started hiking up and got to the paramo, or above the tree line, easily. The path gets steep there, so we took a break before continuing our hike.

A few minutes later, it started drizzling. It doesn’t matter, we said, it’ll stop. Well, it didn’t stop and it only got harder. Soon, the rain was hitting us horizontally, sped up by the mountain’s winds. When we got to a flatter part of the hike that goes around the tip of the mountain to start the descent towards the Iguaque Lagoon, we found a boulder and used it as a shelter to stop and eat.

It wasn’t a rock you’d ever say is perfect as a shelter – it’s a vertical rock- but the rain was so horizontal that the boulder, which was taller than us, kept us away from the rain.

I remember that scene to this day and it makes me laugh. I see Guille to my left and Lala to my right, both of them sitting down, eating, and trembling completely soaked. The funniest part was seeing Guille, who’s life has been spent under the scorching sun, experiencing the famously cold and wet Colombian paramo in full. What an experience! And we had shorts on!

We never made it to the lagoon, but it was one of the best experiences I’ve had at Iguaque because it was different (I had never experienced rain on that hike before), pretty rough, and it happened with amazing friends. That’s the kind of experience that creates an image in my mind that remains.

How to get to Iguaque Park

All of the instructions below are assuming you’re in Villa de Leyva, a historic town in Colombia about 3 hours from Bogota.

*Note: You can find the map to get to Iguaque Park at the bottom of this post!

Without a car:

Getting to the Iguaque Flora and Fauna Sanctuary is difficult if you don’t have a car because there is no public transportation that will take you all the way to the entrance. Here are two options.

Take a taxi: find a taxi to take you all the way to the Iguaque Visitor Center or ask your hotel or a tourism business in Villa de Leyva to get someone to take you. If you find someone you won’t have to walk any extra miles.

Take a bus: there is a bus that will take you to “Casa de Piedra” that leaves the Villa de Leyva bus terminal until 7:00 AM. When you leave, tell the bus driver to drop you off at “Casa de Piedra.” It’s 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from there to Iguaque. There is a big sign where the bus will drop you off that shows you which way to go.

In a car:

With GPS: use Waze or Google Maps to look up “Visitor Centre Iguaque National Park” and follow the directions.

Without GPS:

  1. Get to Villa de Leyva.
  2. From the main plaza drive the opposite direction from the church and the mountains until you find a paved road. That road is Carrera 13 (13th street).
  3. Take a right and drive 6 kilometers (4 miles) on that road, which becomes unpaved.
  4. Once you’ve driven 6 kilometers be very attentive because the sign for Iguaque is small. You’re going to take a right on a road that goes up. The sign is made of wood and has a drawing on it.
  5. From there on out it’s easy to get to Iguaque because there are signs at every major fork in the road. If you do get lost, ask a local the way. They’ll know!
  6. Almost all cars can make it to the Visitor Center, but if it’s rainy it’ll be difficult for cars that are low to the ground. If that is the case, there’s a farm that consists of two houses with a metal gate about 1 kilometer from the Center. Ask the family for permission to park there and they’ll probably let you.

Some things to know:

Entrance fee:

  • $17,000 COP or about $6 dollars for Colombian adults.
  • $9,000 COP or about $3 dollars for children 5-12 and students.
  • $44,500 COP or about $15 dollars for foreign adults.

Parking: $13,000 COP or about $4.5 dollars.

There is a restaurant and hostel a few minutes from the Visitor Center along the path towards the lagoon.

  • The hostel costs $50,000 COP or about $18 dollars per person per night.
  • Breakfast costs $13,000 COP or about $4.5 dollars.
  • Lunch costs $19,000 COP or about $6.5 dollars.
  • Dinner costs $16,000 COP or about $5.5 dollars.

There is also a camping zone with bathrooms, electric showers, and an area to prepare food. The cost per person per night is $10,000.

The time to start hiking is between 8:00 and 10:00 AM. Sometimes the park rangers don’t let you start if you arrive after 10 because they don’t want it to get dark while you’re still hiking.

Take a towel and clothes to change into in case you get in the water (more info below) or it rains!

The rainy season is between April and May and October and November. The dry season is between January and March and September and December.

What to do in Iguaque:

  • Camp or stay at the Furachiogua Hostel: the nights and mornings in Iguaque are beautiful whether it’s cloudy and foggy or clear. They’re worth experiencing.
  • Drink an agua-panela when you get back down: one of the best things about a tough hike is the reward at the end. On the mountain, the reward is the view and my recommendation is that your reward back at the restaurant be a hot agua-panela. It’s a drink that’s a mixture of water, raw cane sugar, and lime. So good!
  • Hike up and keep hiking: when you get to the lagoon, take a breather. There’s a path crossing the creek where the lake water runs down the mountain. Take this path and go all the way up. From the top, you can see two more lagoons on the other side. Look for a big boulder to eat lunch on way above the Iguaque Lagoon. The people down there look like ants.
  • Bathe in the creek close to the hostel: the path between the Visitor Center and the hostel runs parallel to a creek. I have the tradition of getting into that ice-cold water for a few minutes. It’s refreshing and gives me renewed energies. On top of that, it makes me feel like a badass (although you probably won’t think it’s that cold if you’re from anywhere where there’s snow). There’s a section of the creek that’s perfect for about 4 people to fit easily.

Read some more posts to get psyched to go an adventure, or read our last post!

 

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