Guatape: the best day trip in Colombia

Guatape: the best day trip in Colombia

Guatape is a picturesque and charming town with colorful streets and quiet squares, while La Piedra Del Penol offers the best views in the country

When I visit a country for the first time, the first thing I do is scan a travel guide and pick out a few highlights or must-sees. This can be dangerous because you often put yourself at the author's subjective mercy.

When I first browsed our guide's Colombian highlights, I saw colonial towns, national parks, and coffee plantations. After a month in Colombia, I can safely say that the best day I had there is barely mentioned in the guidebooks.

If you are in Colombia, I highly recommend you take the time to visit Guatape and La Piedra Del Penol. Guatape is a picturesque and charming town with colorful streets and quiet squares, while La Piedra Del Penol offers some of the best views in the country.

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Modern and trendy Medellin has truly earned its place in the travel guides. The proud city of Paisa has transformed in recent years from the murder capital of the world to a vibrant, thriving city with an interesting cultural scene. We spent a few days there before deciding to take a day trip to Guatape based on a friend's recommendation.

Guatape is a small and sleepy farming town about two hours' drive east of Medellin. The city borders a large reservoir that was created by a dam in the late 1960s.

Many of the city's buildings are colorfully decorated and adorned with murals of the local culture (or sometimes just their favorite football team). There are many pretty squares like Plaza Simón Bolívar where you can sit back and enjoy a delicious meal, a cold beer and watch the world go by.

There are plenty of accommodation options if you feel like turning your day trip into a long weekend. It looks like exactly the kind of city where a few days can easily turn into a week, and so on...

However, despite Guatape's charms, it is La Piedra Del Penol that is the real draw for local and international tourists alike. The 200-meter-high peak of “the Rock,” which resembles Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf Mountain, offers excellent views of the unique landscape. However, these views do not come easily. There are 740 steps up the winding stone staircase and the scorching Colombian sun doesn't dampen this.

When you're at the bottom, the ominous serpentine staircase looks like it will take hours, but once you start, the steps just fall away - don't worry, not literally; they are really very safe! They are also numbered every 100 steps, so I promised Kia a break every 100 to help set off!

There are a few cafes and snack bars at the top offering cold drinks and ice cream to cool you down before you take the final steps to the 360-degree observation deck. The sweeping panoramic views of the emerald green peninsulas are truly mesmerizing and unique to the area - there is nothing like it in Colombia.

We spent a good hour up there just enjoying the scenery before taking a quick break for some ice cream. When we asked the poor saleswoman if she climbs the stairs to work every day, she smiled crookedly and said yes. Ouch. With that in mind, we complained far less on the way back.

How to get from Medellín to Guatape

From the northern bus terminal (Terminal del Norte), go to ticket offices 9 or 12, where buses leave approximately every half hour and reach Guatape two hours later. We visited the city first (just because we forgot to tell the driver to drop us off in La Piedra), but I think it's better to do the climb first, enjoy the view and then reward yourself with a good meal and a cold drink of Guatape at your leisure.

Once within sight of La Piedra, look for the Zeuss gas station on the right, next to the entrance to La Piedra (and of course ask the driver to drop you off at La Piedra).

Guatape is about 3km from La Piedra and there are plenty of tuk-tuk style transport to take you into town. Still, we walked the relatively quiet road between the two and found it uncomplicated. The last bus leaves Guatape around 6:00 p.m. and also stops in La Piedra, so you can pick it up at either location.

Lonely Planet South America includes a comprehensive travel guide to the country, ideal for those who want to both explore the top attractions and take the road less traveled.
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