Hiking in Bogotá
A city surrounded by ancient trails, vertical climate and a biodiversity that can surprise you in a single day.
Bogotá, your starting point to hike Colombia
Few cities in the world are as well suited for hiking as Bogotá. From the savanna, a few hours on the trail take you from the guadua groves of the lowlands to rain-shadowed deserts, from cloud forests to the unique páramos above the tree line.
Since its founding, Fundación Sal Si Puedes has guided thousands of hikers along these paths, sharing a love of the trail and encouraging environmental and cultural awareness among Colombians. Every excursion is a way to discover the country, care for nature and respect the identity of each territory.
From Muisca footpaths to the caminos reales
Centuries ago, the Muisca people built stone-paved foot trails connecting their communities for commerce and communication. They exchanged salt from their mines in Zipaquirá and Nemocón for gold, emeralds, fruits and other crops with lower-elevation settlements. The first Spanish explorers reached the Sabana de Bogotá by following the very trail used by a Muisca salt-carrier.
The colonizers introduced pack animals to the region. As their mules, burros and oxen wore down the Muisca foot trails, they organized work details to widen the more travelled routes. Many of those trails still exist and remain in use; some rural neighborhoods —veredas— are still too remote to be reached any other way.
Colombians call these paved trails caminos reales —“royal roads”— even though many were built after independence from Spain. Once coffee cultivation spread in the late 1800s through the communities west of Bogotá, departments and municipalities built caminos reales to export the beans more efficiently: by mule train to the steamboats on the Magdalena River, and on to markets in North America and Europe.
Stone footpaths to trade salt, gold and emeralds between communities.
Pack animals widened the routes; the caminos reales were born.
1800s: caminos reales built to export beans down the Magdalena River.
Several ecosystems in a single hike
The vertical climate around Bogotá offers unforgettable experiences amid the flora and fauna. You will hike among guadua and bamboo at lower elevations, traverse rain-shadowed deserts and climb through cloud forests up into the unique páramos above the tree line —sometimes all in a single one-day hike!
Colombia boasts the largest number of bird species in the world, but depending on the altitude you will also encounter a wide variety of butterflies and other animalitos —and perhaps a sloth or another mammal will appear in its natural habitat. The landscape delivers dramatic views of Andean mountains and valleys, punctuated by cascades tumbling from the humid páramos to the brooks and streams that feed the Magdalena and Amazonian river systems.
Although on occasion you may hike through government-managed nature and forest reserves, you will more likely be walking along public trails still maintained and used by local campesinos as they tend their fruit orchards, groves of sugar cane, coffee farms, dairies and cattle ranches at different elevations.
Everything ready so you just walk
The same bus that drops you off at the start of the hike picks you up at the end, so you can safely leave a change of clothes, snacks and personal items for the end of the walk.
All hikers meet near the El Campín football stadium. Departure is early in the morning; the exact time is confirmed the Friday before, depending on the destination.
Expect two to three hours on the bus each way. Along the way the group stops for a “second breakfast” before reaching the destination.
Accident insurance is included for the full duration of the hiking excursion.
The musical scale: from Do to Si
No one is left behind
We know everyone hikes at their own pace, so each excursion has two —sometimes three— guides. The lead guide leaves colored ribbons at trail crossings, which are picked up by the sweep guide, who makes sure every hiker is accounted for.
Regular rest stops gather the group (and take in one of the spectacular views), with a longer pause for lunch at midday. Each hiker brings their own meal.
How to book your spot
You can pay by credit card, or stop by the Sal Si Puedes office and pay in cash or by card, in the Colseguros building in central Bogotá. Office hours are Monday through Friday.
Sign up on Mondays and Tuesdays before the weekend excursion and you get a discount.