Villa de Leyva is another one of Colombia’s pretty colonial towns. It was originally on my list of places to visit before I took it off. Last minute I decided to go, breaking up my journey from San Gil to Bogota (to pick up my fixed camera), and I spent two nights there.
I was hoping to have one and a half days in the town; however, a broken down bus quickly changed that and I ended up arriving to Villa De Leyva in the dark.
There’s more to do in Villa de Leyva than I expected and it’s also a good base for visiting other nearby towns and parks for hiking trails. With only one day, I walked up to the El Santo Mirador and wandered the cobbled streets.
El Santo Mirador
The El Santo Mirador (the Christ statue) has lovely views over town. As with getting to most viewpoints, there is usually an uphill climb involved and El Santo was no exception. The climb was steep and, for the most part, there wasn’t a trail so to speak, rather big slabs of rock to walk up.
At just under 2km one way, it took me 50 minutes, walking leisurely, to reach the mirador. Going down is faster and takes half an hour.
On my way up, I passed quite a few people coming down. I started walking up just after 11am and could definitely feel the sun! They’d all gone up earlier in the morning which was a good idea!
I had the viewpoint to myself (aside from the two police guys on duty – no idea why!) and sat there for a while enjoying the view.
Wander around town
I spent the afternoon wandering Villa de Leyva’s cobbled streets and patios. There’s plenty of opportunity for some shopping and browsing, cute shops line the streets and border the patios.
The Plaza Mayor is huge, apparently the largest square in Colombia, and a great place to watch the world go by. It was the town’s annual kite flying festival the previous weekend and kites were still flying high over the main square.
On my wanders, I found a cute little Italian, Mia Nonna, one block from the main square. I ordered a lasagna as a late lunch/early dinner and it was very tasty!
I also visited the French bakery, Pastelería Francesa, and bought a chocolate tart for pudding. Again, yummy!! It was a good food day!
How to get to Villa de Leyva
I arrived to Villa de Leyva from San Gil. There’s no direct route, but the journey is still simple. First, from San Gil, go to the long distance bus terminal (the one out of town) and take a bus to Tunja.
I went with the company, Concorde, and it costs 30,000COP (£8 approx) and takes around 4hrs. Buses leave every hour (in theory!). I turned up to the terminal expecting to hop on one straight away or have a short wait. I waited almost an hour and am pretty sure I mistimed my trip to the terminal! Mine left on the hour (at 11am), so in hindsight arriving at 10.15am wasn’t the best move!
My journey to Tunja took longer than 4hrs annoyingly. My unlucky streak with vehicles breaking down continues…honestly Colombia…the bus’ engine failed. We waited by the side of the road for almost two hours until I got on another minivan.
I was hoping for things to speed up but we stopped for lunch and got pulled over by police to check everyone’s ID’s. It’s definitely taken a lot longer than expected to reach Tunja and whilst I wasn’t in a rush per say I did need to catch another bus to Villa De Leyva.
Once in Tunja, there are buses to Villa de Leyva leaving every 15mins. They cost 7000COP (£2 approx) and take an hour. They run from 6am-8pm. I finally got to Tunja at 6pm (a tired yay!!!) and hopped straight onto a bus leaving for Villa de Leyva (at least one part of my journey went smoothly and worked!).
You can also get to Villa de Leyva from Bogota. The company, Flota Valle de Tenza, have direct buses from the Salitre and North terminal to Villa de Leyva. They have several morning and afternoon departures which cost 27,000COP (£6 approx) and take around 3.5hrs. You can check their website for up to date times.
If the direct buses above don’t suit your schedule, there’s also the option to go from Bogota to Tunja and then from Tunja to Villa de Leyva. It’s a 2hr ride to Tunja and costs around 20,000COP. These buses leave much more regularly. Once in Tunja, you can do the step I described two paragraphs above and take a bus to Villa de Leyva.
Final thoughts
In a bid to start my travels in Central America soonish, I almost didn’t visit Villa De Leyva. My plans for picking up my camera from the repair shop in Bogota changed slightly and meant I could squeeze in a quick visit to Villa de Leyva. I’m really glad I did.
It’s another pretty colonial town and I enjoyed wandering around it. Nearish to Bogota, it’s a nice escape from a big city to see a pretty town!
I could definitely spend longer there and explore more of the surrounding area: Pozo Azules, Paso del Angel, the local national park and smaller towns.
I’d also would’ve liked to have been in Villa de Leyva on a Saturday when there’s big food market! Sadly, the bus breaking down meant I missed it!
P.S. I also stayed in this tent which was great!
