When researching things to do from Medellin, something that recurringly appeared was a daytrip to a small town nearby called Guatapé. Always keen for a daytrip that allows us to get out of the big cities and into the countryside, we quickly set aside our last full day in Medellin for this daytrip – and boy, am I glad we did!
Rather than taking an organised tour (readily available but you’re looking at a crazy US$100 or so per person for the convenience!), we decided to try out the public transport and ‘go local’.
We left our Airbnb apartment around 7:30am in the morning and caught the metro to Caribe station, which connected to the Northern Bus terminal (Terminal de Transportes Norte) via a short walk via a pedestrian overpass.
Once in the Bus Terminal we found Booth 9 (as recommended by other travel bloggers) and purchased a bus ticket each to Guatape for approx. COP$12,000 per person which works out to be about AU$7. We boarded the relatively nice shuttle bus and spent the next two hours watching the beautiful Colombian countryside race by.
La Piedra – the ‘best view in the world’
One of the attractions of visiting Guatapé is the opportunity to climb up the nearby La Piedra for an apparently spectacular view over the surrounding countryside. La Piedra is about 5 kilometres from Guatapé so we got the bus driver to let us off at the bottom of the hill that leads to La Piedra.
La Piedra (literally translates as “the rock”) is quite bizarre to see in the flesh– it is, as its name suggests, a GIANT piece of rock believed to have become embedded in the earth following a volcanic eruption who knows how many thousands of years ago.
Either way, it presents a surreal, mystical and jaw-dropping piece of the landscape in this beautiful part of the world, and despite being daunted by the steep climb ahead of us, we couldn’t wait to see the view from the top of the rock.
We paid a tuk tuk driver a nominal amount to whisk us up the steep hill to the start of the stairs you need to climb to reach La Piedra’s summit (all 740 of them!), paid our entry fee and began the steep ascent.
The steps were certainly steep and zigzagged up one side of the rock, presenting fantastic views every step of the way. I tried to not look at the increasingly beautiful view as we climbed higher so as to make the ultimate view even more of a surprise, although we did snap a couple of pics about about a quarter of the way up (you can get an idea of way kinds of views we were to be treated with at the top, can’t you?!).
The steps were marked every 50 or so steps, which made getting to the top easier as you could justify a quick break to catch your breath every hundred or so steps. Within about 15 minutes or so, we were nearly at the very top and were greeted by the bar/restaurant at the top offering icy cold beers and snacks. We decided to scale the last 50 or steps up to the top of the tower on top of La Piedra before celebrating our climb with a beverage or two.
The Tower at the Top – the last 50 steps!
The 360 degree views from the top were everything we had been promised, and more. The mottled blues and greens of the River Nare and the beautiful little hamlets and towns scattered on its riverbanks were so bright and full of colour. In every direction there was beautiful scenery that looked like it belonged on a painting in a museum.
We spend a good 30 minutes or so at the top just soaking in the beauty and snapping photos, hopefully some of our snaps do this tremendous view justice!
Views from La Piedra
Despite it being still before midday, we decided the steep climb and breathtaking views deserved a celebratory cervaza and we chilled at the bar for another half hour or so before beginning the climb down.
Guatapé
Once we climbed down La Piedra, we jumped into another tuk-tuk and headed to Guatapé’s foreshore for some lunch. The small town of Guatapé borders a reservoir created by the Colombian government for a hydro-electric dam, built in the late 1960s. Nowadays it is a holiday spot for Medellin locals as well as an increasingly popular day trip for foreign travellers like ourselves.
Our tuk-tuk driver dropped us at the end of the foreshore, and as we were starving it was not too long before we decided lunch was to be our first priority. Our noses were our guides and the smells coming from a busy little restaurant on the main strip caught our attention we wandered over.
The most lovely Colombian lady was manning the barbecue you can see below, with some chorizo frying away as well as another kind of meat that I had to ask her what it was as it smelt so phenomenal. Once I learnt it was pork and she was basting it in a chimichurri, our mind was made up and we nabbed a table with a great view overlooking the busy strip and placed our orders.
Within 15 minutes we each had a plate of the freshest food in front of us, and another couple of cold beers to wash it down with – my pork fillet dish was so simple but so tasty and I was practically licking my plate clean at the end of it!
Our newfound Colombian friend was also kept very busy with people purchasing the freshly cooked chorizos directly from the front stand and getting them to go – if we hadn’t already sat down for a meal, I think this would also have been a great option!
Once we had let our bellies settle, we spent a leisurely couple of hours wandering around the picturesque village, marvelling at all of the beautiful colours and facades on the houses and shops. There was even the most adorable little village square with a church (of course!) which we popped our heads into, and a lovely fountains which unfortunately was not in operation whilst we were there.
Guatapé Town Square
The rest of the town proved equally as charming and once again, we were just drawn into the beautiful colours of these small towns. How could anyone be miserable or sad when all around you is colour and happiness?!
We soon stumbled across a teeny little plaza in the middle of the village, and if we thought previous places had lots of colour, well Guatapé just blew the rest of them out of the water!
Every building surrounding the plaza was a different colour of the rainbow, and the plaza itself had a “Spanish Steps” feel with numerous steps painted in different colours – perfect for selfless and family photos, both of which we saw many people attempting!
We finished off our stroll around town with a tasty artesian ice-cream (yes, I got rum and raison for about the millionth time on this trip!), then made our way back to the foreshore where most of the action seemed to be.
The foreshore was packed with lots of Colombians (we later learnt it was a public holiday hence the crowds and fantastic holiday atmosphere) and tourists, most just chilling on the banks watching people do the flying fox over the water… YES THATS RIGHT, A HUGE FLYING FOX!!
Although we could see the finish line, at first we weren’t sure where the seated flying fox started, until we followed the cables and saw what looked like a power tower right on top of this massive hill to the right of the town.
We soon enough realised that the cable worked on a pulley system whereby you ‘get on’ at the bottom of the cable, then are pulled with three other people up the cable to the top of the hill, then let go one by one to enjoy the rush of zipping down the line into the waiting padded wall that breaks your run at the bottom.
Dave and I both were super keen to give this a go (I was nervous I admit!), but after watching a few people ahead of us, the nerves calmed down and we got in line.
The first pic below shows a lady zooming down on one cable as a group of four are pulled up towards the tower on another line; the send pic shows a group being hoisted up
Dave and I ended up being the front two in our group, and kind of naively I expected us to get off at the tower, take a few minutes to ready ourselves before we each ‘flew’ down.
So, I was kind of shocked when we got to the top of the tower and me, being first in line, didn’t even have time to put my feet on the tower before the staff member was saying “go!” and giving me a push and off I went – zooming downwards at such a pace it literally felt like I was flying!
The zipline we had done in Nicaragua was nowhere near as steep as this one, and despite having a ‘seated’ approach rather than a hanging approach, this one was definitely faster! As I raced down the cable, i was laughing almost hysterically with joy and adrenalin as the world raced by below and I zoomed over the heads of the people watching as well as over the water – what a rush!!
When I finished by slamming into the padded wall waiting for you at the end, the guys quickly helped me get out of the harness and I watched Dave come zooming in only a minute or so after me – he had managed to get a pretty decent pace up as well and watching him slam into the pads was hilarious!
Unfortunately we could not take photos or video, but I did take some footage of someone else riding the zipline – the lady was travelling a bit slower than we were and it really doesn’t give you the best die oaf how fast you travel, but dowsers, it was great fun, a great laugh and a great way to end our fabulous day trip to Guatapé.
FLYING FOX VIDEO –>> Footage of Guatape Flying Fox
After our flying fox ride, we joined the locals on the grass and enjoyed the late afternoon sun just relaxing before we caught our bus back to Medellin. Unfortunately the bus ride home took about three hours compared to the two to get there, but I guess the public holiday traffic on the way back was worse.
Regardless, our day in Guatapé was a definite highlight and proved once again that sometimes an unexpected delight can be the most fun. Highly recommend doing this day trip out of Medellin, and definitely do it the local way via public transport – it is easy, cheap and you can do it in your own time! LOVED IT!