Páramo, Plains & Colonial Villages in Colombia - 9 Days

Day 1: Arrive in Bogotá

Welcome to Bogotá! Meet your driver at the airport and transfer to your hotel. After settling in, set out to explore Colombia's largest city. Check out the food scene as you wander the cobblestone streets of the historic La Candelaria neighborhood, where there are plenty of trendy restaurants to choose from and colonial-era landmarks to discover. You'll also find excellent museums, shopping, and street food.

Day 2: Hike in Chingaza National Natural Park

Set out early this morning to La Calera in the Chingaza National Natural Park, the starting point of today's gentle hike. Here you will explore the alpine tundra landscape, or páramo, seeking out the endemic (and highly endangered) spectacled bear, as well as the other native species like deer and condors. Enjoy a traditional lunch in the park and return to Bogotá in the early evening.

Hiking duration: 4 hours

Day 3: Fly to Yopal - Explore Los Llanos Orientales

This morning you will transfer to the Bogotá airport for the 50-minute flight to Yopal in the Colombian savannah (also known as Los Llanos Orientales). Meet your driver and continue northeast to Hato Berlín (2 hours) where you will spend the day exploring the grounds of a typical ranch of the region. Enjoy an ecological walk to observe the local wildlife as you work your way along a stream, through the savannah, passing by palm tree woods (1-3 hours). If you're lucky, you may spot groups of howler monkeys, endemic bird species, caimans sunbathing by the river, and the world's largest rodent, the capybaras.

Return to the ranch to have lunch before setting out for a second nature walk that ends with a sunset canoe excursion of the Garcero Nature Reserve (2-4 hours). From here, you will transfer to a nearby finca (farm or ranch) in San Luis de Palenque for a well-deserved meal and rest (20 minutes).

Day 4: Day trip to Hato LosDeseos

Start the day right with a home-cooked meal fresh from the farm before setting out on the mostly paved road to visit Hato Los Deseos (1.5 hours). Discover local traditions, including llanero cattle herding as well as participate in the day-to-day llanero (plainsman or cowboy) related activities. Break for lunch and a rest, and then in the afternoon, you will have the option to go on a nature walk, horseback ride, or ride a tractor to observe the Garcero and take in a beautiful savannah sunset (1-3 hours). You'll return to your accommodation in San Luis de Palenque in the evening.

Day 5: Day trip to the Encanto de Guanapalo Nature Reserve

After a home-made breakfast at the finca, you'll head out to the Encanto de Guanapalo Nature Reserve (1 hour) where you'll transfer into a 4x4 vehicle for an off-roading experience of the reserve. On the safari you'll be able to see capybaras, small deer, turtles, endemic birds and with a little bit of luck, you may even see an anaconda, a puma, an armadillo or an anteater. If the conditions are right, you will even be able to step out of the vehicle to gain a closer look at the lagoons for better wildlife observation.

Break up the safari with lunch on the reserve followed by a siesta in a shaded hammock. Afterward, continue the safari excursion, this time in a tractor, and go deeper into the reserve. From here, you'll carry on to the Garcero for an evening of birdwatching as the sun goes down before returning to the ranch for the night.

Day 6: Fly to Monguí

Rise early today for a little morning birdwatching followed by a hearty breakfast. Take the rest of the morning at your own pace, enjoying your last lunch on the ranch before you transfer to Yopal (2 hours) for a little gift and souvenir shopping. When it's time, make your way to the airport for your flight to the small colonial village of Monguí in the Boyaca region (4.5 hours).

Day 7: Hike the Páramo de Ocetá

After a restful sleep, take the morning to hike to the Ocetá Páramo in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. En route, you will visit several rock formations, petroglyphs, and Tortolitas ("Sweethearts" in English that are oval-shaped depressions in the rock made by the original inhabitants of the area, the Muisca). You'll stop to check out La Caja del Rey ("The King's Box"), the Ciudad de Piedra ("The City of Stone") where you'll see La Mesa de los Sacrificios—a possible human sacrificial site—the Penagos Waterfall, and the Black Lake or Laguna Negra.

Along the way, you'll stop for a picnic lunch and return to Monguí in the late afternoon.

Hiking duration: 8 hours (with a local guide)

Day 8: Drive to Villa de Leyva - Half-day walking tour

This morning you'll head west to the Andean village of Villa de Leyva (3 hours). Upon arrival, you'll settle into your accommodation before venturing out to meet your guide for a half-day walking tour of the town. You'll start at the very large and central Plaza Mayor and carry on to roam the stone streets, stopping to explore coffee, wool weaving, and handicraft shops, as well as the Mesopotamia Mill (a remnant of the Spanish era), and lastly the Convent of the Discalced Carmelites, a community of Carmelite nuns that took up permanent residence in 1645.

Day 9: Depart Bogotá 

It's time to say adiós to Colombia. After breakfast, enjoy your last moments of Villa de Leyva's idyllic setting before making your way back to the airport in Bogotá (1 hour) for your onward journey.