Cocuy and Chicamocha : Ice to Desert

• Visit Bogota: a historic city that boasts a world-class gastronomy and music scene, as well as history, culture, science and art museums
• Hike from your high-altitude lodge at Cocuy National Park to view the Campanillas Peaks and ice-carved granite face of El Púlpito del Diablo
• Join a three-day rafting expedition for a 107 km descent of the Chicamocha River Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world
• Tandem paraglide flight with professional pilots in the Chicamocha Canyon
• Relax with a day in Barichara, a quaint town with cobblestone streets that was nominated into the Colombian People’s Heritage Network

You’ll be greetedcat Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport before being transferred to your hotel located in the historic centre of the city. Enjoy free time to begin exploring the Andean capital with recommendations from your guide. Discover Bogotá’s renowned gastronomy scene with many restaurants within walking distance from your hotel, based in the hip Candelaria neighborhood that is experiencing a revival from its colonial roots to an artistic future.

Depending on your flight arrival time, meet a bilingual guide for a unique city tour of Bogotá.

After an early breakfast at your hotel, your guide will meet you to begin a scenic drive through Bogota’s countryside to the town of El Cocuy (8 hours). Sample regional cuisine with a lunch break at the picturesque town of El Paz del Rio. Stop along the way for photographic views of the Andean mountain range. In the afternoon, visit the town of El Cocuy before driving 40 minutes to your high-altitude mountain lodge located at the border of Parque Natural Nacional del Cocuy (PNNC). Stay overnight in comfortable lodging at the trailhead of PNNC.

What to Bring for Today:

• Appropriate clothing: lightweight pants, breathable shirt, jacket, warm layer  
• Hiking boots
• Sun-hat, wool-hat
• Sunglasses
• Repellent
• Sunscreen
• Refillable water bottle
• Camera

After a typical Colombian mountaineer’s breakfast, begin a day hike that starts only a few steps away from your breakfast table. Journey through the Sierra Nevada wilderness section of the park that accounts for merely 12% of the 1,000 square miles of terrain and 15,000 vertical feet within Cocuy National Park. Take a puma’s walking trail to look out for condors soaring around the snow caps of the Campanillas and the ice-carved granite face of El Púlpito del Diablo, the Devil’s Pulpit.

Walk through fields of 15-foot-tall plants called Frailejones because they are thought to resemble hooded monks in silhouette. Learn from your guide about how the U’Wa indigenous cultures, and how their reservations make up half the park’s domain, including some of the 700 species of endemic flora in Cocuy. Return to your mountain lodge for dinner and a restful night in comfortable beds.

What to Bring Today:

• Appropriate clothing: lightweight pants, long shirt, rain jacket, warm layer
• Hiking boots
• Sun-hat, wool-hat
• Sunglasses
• Repellent
• Sunscreen
• Camera
• Refillable water bottle
• Change of clothes (End of activity)

After breakfast at your mountain lodge, begin a 3 hour drive to the put-in of the Chicamocha River beside the small town of Capitanero. If you’re feeling extra active, replace the drive with an advanced guided mountain bike ride. Otherwise, enjoy a scenic drive through an array of landscapes– from mountains to sculpted river valleys and desert.

Meet your river guides at the Capitanejo bridge for a lunch alongside the river. After lunch, begin an adventurous afternoon of rafting on the first whitewater section of the Chicamocha River (Class 3-4). Enjoy swimming downstream in the flatwater sections of the river to keep refreshed and cool (the average temperature of this desert canyon is 84.2 F to 104 °F, depending on the season).

Set up camp on the riverside and enjoy a hearty fireside meal while relaxing on the beach and listening to the sounds of the water. Camp overnight in the typical Colombian style, sheltered hammocks.

What to Bring Today:

• Appropriate clothing: shorts or bathing suit, T-shirt, lightweight bottoms
• Sunglasses, hat
• Sandals or adjustable tennis shoes (No flip flop sandals)
• Repellent
• Sunscreen
• Extra clothes (End of activity)
• Headlamp

After a campfire breakfast, paddle for three hours on intermediate whitewater (Class 3 to 4).
Stop for lunch at a secluded beach and enjoy a swim. Hike under the shade of trees alongside the
Rio Onzaga to reach the Onzaga waterfalls. The Chicamocha Canyon is a truly marvelous place
and was nominated as a possible candidate to be named the 7 natural wonders of the world.
Deeper than the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, the canyon is two kilometers in depth and
227 kilometers in length. Its river charges through 264 hectares of national park.
On this expedition, explore the canyon by day and camp in comfortable tents on riverside beaches
by night. Enjoy hearty fireside meals and a relaxing ambience by a campfire under the stars.

What to Bring Today:

• Appropriate clothing: shorts or bathing suit, T-shirt
• Sunglasses, hat
• Sandals or adjustable tennis shoes (No flip flop sandals)
• Repellent
• Sunscreen
• Extra clothes (End of the activity)
• Headlamp

After breakfast, begin a multi-sport adventure as you begin rafting through Chicamocha National Park until you reach the Pescadora Bridge. Continue rafting with your guides, or meet your paragliding instructor for a 20 minute tandem flight over the rim of the Chicamocha canyon.

As you fly, soak up incredible vistas of the awe-inspiring gorge. Enjoy a bird’s eye view of the river as you descend into the canyon to land on a wide beach on the river where your raft crew will meet you to continue on the river. Set up a riverside camp and enjoy a night under the stars close to the historic town of Jordan.

What to Bring Today:

• Appropriate clothing: shorts or bathing suit, T-shirt
• Sunglasses, hat
• Sandals or adjustable tennis shoes (no flip flop sandals)
• Repellent
• Sunscreen
• Extra clothes (End of the activity)
• Headlamp
• Refillable water bottle

Today, drive 2 hours from the small town of Jordan to discover the historic town of Barichara, declared “prettiest village” with a dedicated national monument in the 1970s by the Colombian government. In Barichara, shop for artisanal crafts, meet the friendly town locals, and try the town’s famous yuca empanada and carne oreada, sun-dried steak. Stroll leisurely through the colonial, clay-colored stone streets that belong to the Colombian People’s Heritage Network.

Enjoy a traditional lunch in the tree-lined plaza and admire the packed- earth whitewashed walls of the houses with terracotta roofs and wooden balconies. Stay overnight in a high-end boutique colonial style hotel.

What to Bring for Today:

• Walking shoes
• Camera
• Sunscreen, sunglasses, hat

After a delicious breakfast at your hotel in Barichara, drive to Bogota (5 hours), with stops along the way for lunch and town visits. Upon arrival to your hotel, located in the Candelaria neighborhood of Bogota, unwind from the day with a relaxing massage or visit a resident art gallery. We highly suggest a last celebratory evening at Gaira Café, a renowned restaurant and music venue, founded by one of Colombia’s most beloved musicians, Carlos Vives.

We say goodbye today. After breakfast at your hotel, enjoy a free morning in Bogota before an airport drop-off to El Dorado International Airport (30 minute drive from your hotel). Thank you for visiting!

Extend your trip by 1 day and 1 night to stay in the adventure town of San Gil.

On Day 8, drive 30 minutes from Barichara to San Gil for an active day hiking, mountain biking, rappelling, or rock climbing with an adventure guide. That night, stay in a boutique hotel close to the hanging moss sanctuary of Parque El Gallineral in San Gil.

On Day 9, drive from San Gil to Bogotá (5 hours) to depart from Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport on Day 9 or 10 (depending on flight availability).

What to Bring on Your Extension:

• Appropriate clothing: active sports clothing, sturdy walking shoes (no flip flop sandals)
• Repellent
• Sunscreen
• Extra clothes (end of the activity)

Extend your trip by 1 day and 1 night to stay in Las Mesas de los Santos, the indigenous territory of the Chibcha, the Muiscas, and the Guanes.

On Day 8, drive 2.5 hours from Barichara to go on a guided hiking, mountain biking, or rock climbing adventure tour in Mesa los Santos. That night, stay in a traditional Spanish-style hacienda in Mesa los Santos and enjoy Colombian meals prepared by the estate’s chef and the town’s high-quality organic coffee.

On Day 9, drive 50 minutes to Aeropuerto Internacional Palonegro in Bucaramanga, the capital of Santander department, to connect to your international flight from Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport on Day 9 or 10 (depending on flight availability)

What to Bring on Your Extension:

• Appropriate clothing: active sports clothing, sturdy walking shoes (no flip flop sandals)
• Repellent
• Sunscreen
• Extra clothes (end of the activity)