Guatapé, Colombia is a colorful village in Central Colombia that’s become a popular side trip to the sprawling city of Medellin. Guatapé is largely known for its zócalos, the colorful artwork along the baseboards of the town’s buildings, and Piedra el Peñol, an enormous granite monolith that towers above the surrounding landscape—but it has so much more to offer than that! Here’s 10 incredible things to do in Guatapé, the most colorful town in Colombia.
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Things to do in Guatapé
1. Climb up Piedra el Peñol
Okay, okay—so I know I said there was more to Guatapé than Piedra el Peñol, but it would be weird to not start off on its star attraction.
Climbing Piedra el Peñol—also, sometimes just referred to as The Rock of Guatapé or Piedra del Peñol—is inarguably the most popular thing to do in Guatapé. This granite monolith juts dramatically out of one of the hillsides, towering 656 feet above the neighboring reservoir, Guatapé-El Peñol Reservoir, and the sprawling green hillside.
Most visitors scale The Rock by climbing up the concrete staircases that have been affixed to the side. The climb is definitely a thigh-burner—there’s 650 stairs to the summit, but the views from the top are absolutely spectacular.
Plus, there’s a few snack stands, selling ice cream and micheladas—one of my husband’s Justin’s and my favorite memories from our month of exploring Colombia was having a tasty michelada while taking in the epic views from here!
If you’re looking for an even more adventurous way to climb the rock, there’s also several tours, like this option, where you can actually rock climb on Piedra el Peñol! There are options for all skill levels of climbers, ranging from rappelling to via ferrata.
Insider tip: Piedra el Peñol is actually located about a 15 minute drive from downtown Guatapé. If you’re taking a bus from Medellin to Guatapé as a daytrip, I’d suggest getting off the bus at Peñol, the last stop before the bus reaches Guatapé, so that you don’t have to pay for a tuk-tuk ride both to and from the Rock. If you’re unsure of where to get off, just ask your driver ahead of time—there’s a good chance a bunch of visitors will be getting off there as well.
If you’re visiting Guatapé with luggage, though, I would suggest heading to your accommodations first—there’s nowhere to store your luggage while you’re climbing the famed 650 steps!
2. Helicopter tour of Piedra del Peñol
If you’re looking for an even more adrenaline-pumping way to experience The Rock, there’s several companies that offer helicopter tours of the area, which gives you the benefit of having aerial views of Guatapé’s beautiful landscape AND Piedra del Peñol itself. We LOVE going on helicopters—it’s such an exciting way to get a unique perspective of a destination’s scenery!
There’s a few variations of these kinds of tours. For example, this tour includes a short helicopter ride over the sprawling reservoir and tiny islands around Guatapé and around The Rock. There’s also combination tours, like this option, which includes both a helicopter and boat ride, or this epic option, which includes a helicopter and boat ride, PLUS paragliding!
3. Walking around downtown Guatapé
Of course, one of the most popular things to do in Guatapé is explore the town itself!
Guatapé is largely famous for its charming downtown area, with buildings adorned with zócalos. These colorful bas-reliefs pieces of art are popular around many small towns in Colombia, but have taken a special meaning in Guatapé.
The zócalos go beyond being mere decorations and instead, tell the history of Guatapé or the business or family that’s housed there. For example, farmers may have corn or llamas, while a cobbler might have shoes adorning their zócalos.
Beyond just admiring the architecture here, there’s plenty of boutiques, galleries, and restaurants that line its cobblestone streets to poke around for a few hours. Some of our favorite spots in town are Brujula Restobar, Namaste Vegan, and La Bocadillera.
4. Take a free walking tour of Guatapé
One of Justin’s and my favorite things to do when we get to a new city is to take a free walking tour, to learn more about its history and culture from a local. And, while I generally associate these tours with larger cities, Guatapé actually has an agency that offers one!
The aptly named Guatapé Free Walking Tour offers 2 hour tours, every Monday through Saturday, at 2 and 4 PM. On the tour, you’ll learn more about the history of the Guatapé, how it’s been changed by the reservoir, and some of its tales and lore, all from a local guide.
At the end, you can give the tour guide whatever you think is a fair price for the tour—so remember to bring cash!
5. Visit the Plaza del Zócalos
During your time strolling around downtown Guatapé, make sure to pop by the Plaza del Zócalos.
This colorful plaza has a little bit of everything, flanked by small boutiques and, depending on the day, local artisans, vendors, and musicians. If you happen to stop by while there’s live music, there’s some colorful stadium seating at one end of the plaza, where you can sit back and soak up the buzzing ambiance.
Even if there isn’t anything happening during your visit, the Plaza is still worth a quick stop, especially if you’re into Instagrammable photos. There’s tons of features of the Plaza just begging for a photo shoot, like the umbrellas hanging over one of its streets and a colorful Guatapé-branded scooter.
6. Take a chocolate workshop
While Colombia is known mostly for its coffee farms, it actually is also the world’s 10th largest producer of cacao, with over 60 tons of it exported every year.
Guatapé has a gem of a shop, Cuscun Colombia, which offers both a chocolate shop and, for those looking for a more interactive experience, a chocolate workshop. During these workshops, you’ll get an interactive experience of creating chocolate, including removing the seeds from the raw cacao fruit; roasting, shelling, and grinding the beans; and making your very own hot chocolate and confection.
Even if you don’t have time to do a full workshop here, it’s absolutely worth a stop—we stumbled across this shop while we were moseying around Guatapé and fell in LOVE. The workers are so sweet and eager to share samples of their incredible chocolate and their vast knowledge about cacao—plus, the sweet treats here are SO good!
7. Experience Colombia’s coffee
Speaking of beloved exports, Colombia holds the impressive title of producing the third most coffee on the planet, with a whopping 846,000 tons produced every year.
There’s a handful of farms right outside of Guatapé that offer tours. For example, Finca Miller is an organic family-run farm in the neighboring town of Peñol. This farm offers educational and super interactive tours, where you can pick the berries yourself and, of course, try some coffee brewed from the farm’s beans.
There’s a popular day trip from Medellin to Guatapé, which includes a guided tour and coffee tasting at Finca Miller, or, alternatively, if you’d prefer to get to Guatapé on your own, you can contact the farm directly to make a tour reservation.
Even if you don’t have time to visit Finca Miller, there’s still some places in Guatapé where you can grab a solid cuppa, like KAFFA and Mitos Casa de Cafe.
8. Go on a boat tour
Guatapé has built a name for itself as a getaway from Medellin, in part, due to being on the shores of the sprawling Guatapé-El Peñol Reservoir, a 22 square kilometer man-made lake.
The most popular activity on the Reservoir is exploring it on a boat tour. In addition to enjoying the views of Guatapé and Piedra el Peñol from the water and learning more about the area and its history from a local guide, you’ll also get to cruise by one of the former mansions of the world’s most famous druglord, Pablo Escobar.
The easiest way to join one of these boat rides is part of an all-day Guatapé tour from Medellin, like this option or this option.
Alternatively, if you prefer to not visit the town as part of a tour group, there’s several small agencies in town that you can reach out to on WhatsApp regarding tours, like Boat Tours Guatapé or Boat Tours and Hang Gliding Guatapé.
I’ve also heard fun things about this more luxurious cruise, offered by Yate Majestic, which includes a boat ride, either lunch or dinner, and two cocktails. The tickets for this cruise are definitely on the pricier side for Colombia (starting at around $45 USD per person) and the food is reportedly not very spectacular—BUT the cocktails are strong and there’s two hot tubs on board!
9. ATV tour
One of the most thrilling things to do in Guatapé is to enjoy the ATVing trails in and surrounding the town. With its landscape of the rolling Andes Mountains and dense jungles, this area was basically made for ATVing!
There are a handful of all-day tours to Guatapé from Medellin, like this option, where you’ll ATV AND shoot paintball guns around Pablo Escobar’s property in Guatapé(!!!). or this option, which includes a one and a half hour ATV ride through the jungle.
Alternatively, if you’d prefer to get to Guatapé on your own, there’s a handful of agencies that offer ATVing in the area, like Ecoventure.
Even if you’re staying in Guatapé overnight, there’s definitely pretty limited agencies that offer ATVing in and around town, though, so I’d recommend booking your tour of choice ahead of time!
10. Walk along the Malecon
Just a short walk from the center of town, there’s a one kilometer long boardwalk that flanks Guatapé’s pier and shoreline, offering beautiful views of its colorful boats, the lake, and the surrounding green mountains.
This malecon was newly rebuilt in 2019 and offers something for everyone, with a sweet little playground for the kiddos and a couple of floating bars, like ADC Shots, for the grown-ups.
Justin and I spent an afternoon strolling around the Malecon at sunset and it was the absolute perfect way to end our time in Guatapé!
11. Go kayaking or paddleboarding
For a more active way to get out on the reservoir, consider renting a kayak or paddleboard for the day. Not only is the scenery from the water absolutely stunning, but, depending on where you launch from, you could theoretically even paddle out to one of the little uninhabited islands in the lake.
There’s a handful of rental shops in Guatapé, like this shop or this shop. Alternatively, there are several hotels in the area that rent out kayaks or stand-up paddleboards to guests, like Boata Hotel, La Madriguera, and Casa Encuentro Ecolodge.
12. Glamping
One of the most unique aspects of Guatapé, in my opinion, is that it’s become something of a mecca for glamping accommodations, from geodesic domes with private hot tubs at Domus Glamping Guatapé to sleek lakeside cabins at Porto Marina Hotel and even bubble domes at the aptly named BubbleSky Glamping Guatapé.
So if you’re considering spending the night or simply love quirky accommodations, Guatapé has you covered!
How to get to Guatapé
Most travelers visit Guatapé as either a day trip or weekend getaway from Medellin, using a few different options of transportation.
Getting from Medellin to Guatapé via Bus
The cheapest option—and the way that Justin and I got to Guatapé—is by the public bus.
In Medellin, you can either take the Metro or grab an Uber to the Terminale del Norte bus station. There’s conveniently a metro station, Caribe, that will take you right across from the street from this bus station.
From here, you’ll want to go down a floor to find the ticket offices of the various operators. These offices are numbered—head to either #9 (Sotrapeñol) or #14 (Sotrasanvincente and Guatapé La Piedra) to purchase a ticket to Guatapé. Busses depart approximately every 30 minutes and cost 20,000 COP ($4.85 USD) per person one-way. The ride should be a bit over two hours.
We went on a bus operated by Sotrasanvincente and Guatapé La Piedra and it was generally a fine experience. There were definitely a few drawbacks—there was no air conditioning and the bus driver allowed several buskers on the bus, which made for an occasionally awkward ride. Generally, though, it was a cheap and easy way to get there.
You can buy your return ticket back to Medellin at the office, right where the bus drops you off in Guatapé for 20,000 COP.
Getting from Medellin to Guatapé via tour
As mentioned previously, there’s tons of options that transport you from Medellin (usually including picking you up at your hotel!) to Guatapé and back again, with a variety of meal and activity options.
To be honest, many of these tours are quite affordable and wind up being a pretty decent value, as compared if you were going to just take public transportation there. For example, many tours cost around $35 for round-trip transportation, breakfast, lunch, and a boat ride in Guatapé, whereas you’d pay around $10 to just get to Guatapé using the bus.
Here’s a few options to consider:
- Guatapé tour with boat ride: This option is a screaming deal if you ask me, including roundtrip transportation (including hotel pickup) to Guatapé, breakfast, lunch, a boat ride, and a stop at Piedra el Peñol—all for under $40!
- Private tour to Guatapé: If you prefer something a bit more exclusive, this tour offers all of the same things as the one above—but just for your group!
- Private tour to Guatapé with Helicopter: This tour is quite similar to the private option above, but also includes a helicopter ride, which tons of guests have cited as being the highlight of their entire time in the Medellin area.
Getting from Medellin to Guatapé via Taxi or Uber
Theoretically, you could get a taxi or Uber from Medellin to Guatapé, which would cost around 165,000 COP (or $40 USD one-way).
However, unless you’re willing to take the bus back, I wouldn’t recommend relying on a taxi or Uber to get back to Medellin. Uber is basically non-existent in Guatapé and, unless you have a hotel arrange a taxi for you, it would be challenging to find a driver that would be willing to drive you all the way back to Medellin.
How to get around Guatapé
Guatapé is a pretty teeny and walkable town.
And, for places that are too far away to walk, like Piedra el Peñol, there are plentiful tuk-tuks that are more than happy to give you a ride. Depending on the driver and how good your Spanish skills are, you can expect to pay about 10,000-15,000 COP for a 15 minute tuk-tuk ride.
Tuk-tuks are cash only so be sure to have some on hand!
When to Visit Guatapé
Given how close Guatapé is to the equator, its temperature is pretty consistent there, ranging from the low 70s to mid-80s.
However, Colombia does have a wet and a dry season. So, if you’d prefer to skip out on the rainy weather, I’d suggest coming between December and March, when you’re more likely to have clear, sunny skies.
How Long to Stay in Guatapé
Most travelers visit Guatapé as a day trip from Medellin.
You can definitely squeeze in seeing most of the highlights of Guatapé in around eight hours or so—but you’ll be navigating all of these sites at the same time as other day trippers. For example, we were on one of the first buses from Medellin to Guatapé of the day and headed straight to Piedra el Peñol. We still enjoyed our time at The Rock, but the viewpoint from the top was definitely super crowded and chaotic.
So, if you have some flexibility in your Colombia itinerary, I’d definitely suggest spending a night in Guatapé so you can enjoy a quiet evening and early morning in town—without needing to fight with throngs of other day- tourists.
Where to stay in Guatapé
If you decide to stay overnight in Guatapé, there are plenty of hotels to choose from. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Hotel Chromatic: If you’re looking to be in the heart of the action, this property is one of the best options, located right in downtown Guatapé. In line with the town’s colorful buildings, each room has a bright monochromatic style and, while they’re on the smaller side, they’re the perfect home-away-from-home while you’re exploring this charming town.
- The Brown, Autograph Collection: For a bougier experience, The Brown is definitely one of the most upscale hotels in Guatapé, with a gorgeous pool and hot tub overlooking the lake, a spacious terrace to soak up the views, and incredibly warm service.
- Domus Glamping Guatapé: If glamping is more your speed, Domus is the way to go, perfectly balancing feeling immersed in nature with luxury. Despite the fact that you’re “glamping”, the experience feels on the bougier side—for example, the staff will deliver your breakfast or lunch directly to your geodesic dome!
There’s so many fun things to do in Guatapé—we hope you have a blast in this quirky little town! Do you have any questions about visiting? Let us know in the comments below!
