Just two hours east of Medellín lies Guatapé, a colourful town with houses decorated by brightly painted zocalos (small wall murals) and famous for La Piedra del Peñol, a giant rock which can be climbed for panoramic views over the surrounding lakes and forest.
I went to Guatapé from Jardín, catching a super early bus (4.45am!) to Medellín and then a second one to Guatapé. Climbing the rock and exploring Guatapé is easily doable in a day; however I’d chosen to stay a night.
La Piedra del Peñol
Guatapé’s Rock, La Piedra del Peñol, is estimated to be 65 million years old, made from granite, quartz and feldspar and believed to be formed by tectonic plates pushing together.
Once I’d bought my ticket, 18,000COP (£4.50 approx), I started climbing the 740 steps to the top.
Tip: The steps zig zag up the rock face and there are two sets: one for going up and the other for going down. So make sure you take the photos you’d like on the way up as you return a different way.
Every twenty fifth step, there’s a yellow number saying how many steps you’ve climbed. I couldn’t decide if it was motivational or frustrating! I was leaning towards the latter! That said, the numbers jumped up quickly and I reached the top in 20 minutes.
The views from the top were great and I’m glad the weather was kind!
After climbing the rock, I returned to town for lunch. I had an amazing nutella and banana crepe at Guatacrepe (no pic sorry!). They didn’t scrimp on the nutella, it was oozing out! I was a happy Han!
I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the streets and zocalos decorating the houses. I took a lot of photos!!!
I also followed a trail through the forest on the edge of town which had some lovely views of the giant rock in the distance. I was the only one there too which made it even better!
Note: I’d originally wanted to avoid visiting Guatapé at a weekend as I’d heard it gets really busy with international and Colombian tourists alike. Looking at the rainy weather forecast for the Monday, I went on a Saturday. Don’t get me wrong it was busy with people walking around and at the top of the rock, more so than on a week day I imagine, but not overly crowded!
Getting to La Piedra del Peñol
There are multiple transport options for getting to La Piedra del Peñol.
La Piedra del Peñol is located 3km before the town of Guatapé. So if you’re on a day trip it usually makes sense to get off before town. The drivers will stop at at a petrol station at the base of the rock. From there you can walk up some steps to the right of the petrol station, or get a tuk tuk, to the entrance and ticket booth.
Because I was staying a night, I stayed on the bus all the way to town so I could drop off my big backpack at my hostel. I then had several options to get back to La Piedra del Peñol from town.
The first two options, by bus or jeep, are similarly priced. I could get on a bus returning to Medellín and hop off at the petrol station rock for 2500COP (£0.50), or get a jeep from the main square (leave every 20 minutes or so) which cost 2300COP. The jeeps are more frequent and is what I did.
Once off the jeep/bus, you can either walk up the steps to the right of the petrol station and start your leg work out early (I did this!), or get a tuk tuk. Personally, I’d take the stairs – there’s not that many and takes 10mins ish.
The third option is to get a tuk tuk from town which normally costs 10,000COP (£2.50 approx). Be prepared to bargain, one driver brought the price down to 6000COP in a bid to persuade me (didn’t work but still!).
Also, if you do get a tuk tuk from town, make sure it drops you off at the entrance and ticket booth. Many tuk tuks say they’ll take you to La Piedra and shortchange you, dropping you off at the petrol station where you’ll have some more stairs to climb than anticipated!
How to get to Guatapé
There are buses leaving from Medellín to Guatapé every 15/20minutes from the city’s north bus terminal. Two companies drive the route: Sotrasanvicente/Guatape La Piedra and Sotrapenol. Their ticket booths are at desks 14 and 9 respectively on the ground floor. Tickets cost 15,000COP (£4 approx) one way and take between 1h30-2hrs.
To get to the north bus terminal, take the metro, line A (there’s only two!), to Caribe station which is connected to the north terminal via pedestrian bridges over the road.
For returning to Medellín, buses leave from 4.30am to 7pm. From 3pm buses leave every 20 minutes, before that it’s every hour on the half hour. At the weekend, day trippers make sure you have your return bus booked, especially for afternoon departures as they do fill up!
Final thoughts
I really liked colourful Guatapé! Climbing the 750 steps up the rock was a leg work out and the views from the top were lovely. They reminded me of Bariloche’s Cerro Campanario in Argentina!
Wandering the pretty streets, especially the quieter ones away from the main square, in the afternoon was really enjoyable. There were some gorgeous houses and I loved seeing all the different zocalos.
If you’re in Medellín, I’d recommend a visit to Guatapé. I’m glad I stayed a night as I could really take things slow and in the evening I walked up to a viewpoint for the sunset. Very peaceful!
