All You Need To Know For a Guatape Day Trip From Medellin
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The day before I started writing this post, I took a Guatape day trip from Medellin with my girlfriend, 3 years after doing the same thing on my own.
Our hostel, the famous Los Patios which was rated the world’s best large hostel in Hostelworld’s 2020 HOSCARs, did tours to Guatape for 220,000 Colombian pesos (£42/US$53) per person.
I’ll let you in on a little secret however. You can do it for far less than this independently, and you can take as much time as you want rather than having to go at the pace of the tour group. We each spent 74,000 pesos (£14/US$18) on return bus tickets to Medellin and entry to the rock. More detail on costs later.
Guatape is famous for two things: the rock (El Peñón de Guatapé) and the town. In a day trip, you can easily visit both before heading back to Medellin.
Let me share all the information you will need ahead of making this trip.
How to Get to Guatape From Medellin
You will need to take the bus from Medellin’s main bus terminal, Terminal del Norte. You can find these by heading down to the bottom floor when you arrive, and purchasing them from one of the offices on the right-hand-side from when you come down the stairs.
Getting to Terminal del Norte
The Best Way – Uber
If you don’t want to worry about waiting around for public transportation, use Uber. This is what we did, and it costs around £5 (US$6) for a one-way trip from El Poblado, the main tourist base in Medellin, which is most likely where you will be based.
The Cheap Way – Medellin Metro
Medellin has a metro system, with Caribe Station being the one you need to get to for Terminal del Norte. Standard fares with no connections cost 3,430 pesos (£0.66/US$0.83) for a one-way trip if you have a personalised Civica card, and 3,900 (£0.75/US$0.95) if you don’t.
Integrated fares with multiple connections across the metro and bus network vary in price, but will never cost as much as double the standard fare.
A Civica card costs 10,900 pesos (£2/US$3) and can be recharged at most metro stations as well as many convenience stores and supermarkets.
The Way to Avoid – Local Buses
Don’t take buses within Medellin. Long-distance buses to other cities and towns are generally okay, but local buses with many stops have an above-average rate of armed robberies.
Now, odds are you probably won’t encounter a robbery if you just use the bus a handful of times. But with a decent metro network and Uber being relatively cheap, why take the risk?
Getting From Terminal del Norte to Guatape
Several companies run buses including Coomotor, Sotrapeñol or the company we used, Sotrasanvicente.
I recommend going with Sotrapeñol as they’re slightly cheaper than the others at 20,000 pesos (£4/US$5) for a one-way trip.
I have a fairly neutral opinion on Sotrasanvicente and would neither say they’re particularly good or bad.
The journey takes around 2 hours, although we started to hit rush-hour traffic on the way back and were held up by an accident in which we saw some poor motorcyclist lying motionless on the road after his bike had collided with a lorry.
Even then, we only took around 2.5 hours to get back.
Buses run from 6am-6:15pm with anything from 10 minutes to 2 hours between departures. Use Redbus to check schedules.
When you buy the ticket, just ask for “Guatape”, it makes no difference whether you’re going to the rock or the town. The price is the same.
You can only pay in cash. Remarkably for such a mainstream tourist destination, bus companies haven’t quite embraced card payments as of February 2025, therefore you will need to bring some pesos in your wallet.
You will be assigned seats when you buy the ticket, and have to sit in these seats. A ticket collector will come throughout the journey to check your ticket.
When you arrive at the rock, the collector will say “Piedra del Peñol” which is one of several names for the rock. Listen out for the words “piedra”, “Peñol” or “Peñón” which are all words locals use to describe this landmark.
Get off the bus quickly, as buses in Colombia don’t hang around and will move before passengers have had a chance to get off. I’d suggest trying to get in the middle of a group of people getting off for the safest departure.
I have a scar on my hand from a 2022 Colombian bus incident where I got off, the driver didn’t stop, and I slashed my hand open against the edge of the door. I won’t be sharing the picture from that day as it isn’t pretty!
To reach the town, just wait until the bus reaches the terminal, as this is the last stop. At least there you can get off safely.
The Costs of a Guatape Day Trip from Medellin
On both my Guatape day trips, I opted against a tour, as 220,000 pesos (£42/US$53) is a lot when you can do it for under half the price.
This is the cheapest way to visit Guatape from Medellin, with prices rounded to the nearest £1/US$1:
- Metro to Terminal del Norte: 3,900 pesos (£1/US$1) – this is assuming you do not have a Civica card which will make it even cheaper
- Bus to Guatape: 20,000 pesos (£4/US$5) – this is with Sotrapeñol, other companies charge 22,000 pesos
- Entry to El Peñón de Guatapé (the rock): 30,000 pesos (£6/US$7)
- Tuk tuk between Guatape’s rock and the town: approximately 15,000 pesos (£3/US$4) – different drivers will charge different rates, therefore this is a rough approximation
- Bus from Guatape to Medellin: 20,000 pesos (£4/US$5) with Sotrapeñol
- Metro back from Terminal del Norte:3,900 pesos (£1/US$1)
Total costs: 92,800 pesos (£19/US$23)
You can walk from the rock to the town in Guatape, however the one road between the two will take around 50 minutes, it has thin paths (on the sections where it has paths at all), the traffic comes fast, and we may well have narrowly escaped a mugging there. More on that a couple of sections down.
Visiting El Peñón de Guatapé: The Giant Rock
When you arrive, you will be dropped by a petrol station on the main road if you take a bus from Terminal del Norte as we did. If you do take a guided tour, then you will be taken directly to the car park by the rock which saves you from the first set of stairs. Lucky you!
Anyway, from the main road, you need to head up the stairs directly next to you. They ascend in a zig-zag shape, and eventually give way to a road.
It takes about 10-15 minutes to reach the top. This is your first test ahead of the rock itself!
From the car park there’s a lot going on. You will soon be greeted by all sorts of restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops selling anything ranging from mini statues of the rock, to Pablo Escobar fridge magnets, to other Colombia-themed trinkets you can take home to your friends and family.
In all fairness, restaurant prices outside the rock aren’t bad for such a touristy destination, and were actually cheaper than anything we found in the town.
Head to the closest bar to the rock on the right, and you can walk upstairs to signs which say “Guatape” and “Colombia”, although you must purchase from the bar for permission to take photos.
On the left just before the rock is a restaurant called Asador El Carbon. Avoid this place as it attempted to scam me and may try the same with you…
Then it’s time to head up the rock itself. A sign outside tells you that it has 659 steps. Although that’s just to the first part of the summit. It’s actually 740 steps to reach the very top.
It took us 22 minutes to walk to the top of the 659 steps, and another 5 to reach the actual top. Making it a 27-minute climb, at a relatively average pace with a handful of short stops to catch our breath.
At the first “top” you will see a bunch of places selling food, drinks and souvenirs. The real top takes you up a narrow spiral staircase where you will often have to pause as there isn’t room for two-way traffic in there. People coming down will have to go through a shop halfway down, so there is a semi-one-way system I guess…
Anyway, the real top is where you get the best views of the surrounding lakes. It’s one of my favourite viewpoints in Colombia, and perhaps even South America. I would say it’s better on a clear day though.
During my first visit it was sunny and the views were incredible. During the second the skies were grey, and whilst the views were still great, they weren’t as good as they are with blue skies.
Unfortunately for you, what comes up must go down, which means that once you’ve finished enjoying the views, you will have to walk all the way down the stairs again.
The way down can be more challenging, as you head into a cave-like environment where water drips on you and the surface can be slippery if the weather has been bad.
The stairs can be quite thin at times, so watch your footing, as the only first aid point on the way down is after the exit. On the way up there is at least a first aid stop around halfway up.
Your legs may feel like jelly when you reach the bottom, as this is a bit of a workout. However, it’s well worth it and I’d recommend adding Guatape to your Colombia itinerary, or even as part of a longer South America trip.
Getting From El Peñón de Guatapé to Guatape Town
Once you’re done with the rock, I suggest checking out Guatape’s stunning town before you head back to Medellin.
You will see some tuk tuks, which are small colourful vehicles in the car park in front of the rock. You will see a few more if you head back to where the bus dropped you off.
It should cost you roughly 15,000 pesos (£3/US$4) for a one-way ride to the town. Be wary of dishonest drivers who may try to take advantage of tourists and charge ridiculous rates.
Now it is possible to walk to the town, as I did successfully in 2022. However I do not recommend walking between Guatape rock and the town.
This is because it is not safe anymore.
It always lacked a proper path, meaning you walked very close to the road and had to step into ditches on the side to avoid oncoming traffic.
However, it is also remote and on sections of the road you will be the one person or people around.
We attempted walking, and made it around 25 minutes towards the town (just over halfway) before a motorcycle stopped on the opposite side of the road.
The motorcyclist looked at us, then he looked forward to see if any traffic was coming, before looking at us again, then the traffic from behind, before another glance towards us.
He got off his bike when he saw the coast was clear and started reaching for something.
Now this is Colombia. We’ve heard enough stories from locals and tourists alike to know that gunpoint robberies are not entirely uncommon, especially in places like this where there was no one else around.
Luckily for us, traffic started to come again and the rider seemed to get spooked.
I picked up a couple of rocks just in case he came to attack. However rock beats scissors, not gun. Therefore they wouldn’t have been much use if the object he was reaching for was what we thought it may be.
When the traffic came, I waved down a tuk tuk desperately jumping in the air waving my arms like a lunatic.
Unfortunately, it was full of passengers and went straight past.
Seconds later another one came. This one stopped and we got in whilst asking how much it would cost to get to the town.
The driver was a great guy who said 6,000 pesos (£1/US$1.50). What he didn’t realise was that he could’ve said 60,000 and we would happily have paid in that moment.
The motorcyclist disappeared in the other direction. Whether he turned around or not, we will never know. Our tuk tuk was fast enough to take us to the safety of Guatape’s busy small town which has heavy tourist traffic and a handful of armed police officers to keep everyone safe.
The moral of the story: you can save some money by walking closer to the town, but it really isn’t worth it. Just take a tuk tuk.
Exploring Guatape Town
The town in Guatape is great fun. It is best known for brightly-coloured zocalos (the lower part of a building) all across the town.
Many of them have images which represent the traditions, cultures and lifestyles of local people.
Across the town, every single building is painted in bright colours, many with detailed zocalos, and a lot with interesting patterns on the doors and windows.
Even the tuk tuks are brightly coloured. Guatape is an Instagrammer’s dream.
I must admit it became a lot busier between my 2022 and 2025 visits, with much larger tourist crowds the second time around.
You have to get away from the centre to take photos without people constantly walking past. Either that or head to the town early in the morning before you do the rock.
There’s a central square around Parque Principal de Guatape which is home to Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Carmen de Guatape, the town’s stunning Catholic Church which continues the theme of being aesthetically pleasing, not just on the outside, but on the inside too.
The square is full of restaurants (I recommend avoiding them as they’re mostly overpriced tourist traps) and a few souvenir shops.
The majority of shops however are in the side streets. Many of them sell Colombia, Guatape and oddity-themed merchandise ranging from standard fridge magnets, to Pablo Escobar-branded coffee, to cannabis-infused beer (something advertised in many shops along the side streets here) and much more.
Guatape is definitely one of my favourite day trips in Colombia. I would recommend going to see both the rock and the town for the best experiences.
What Else Can You do in Guatape?
Whilst I’ve already covered the best things to do in Guatape on a budget, there are a couple of great activities you can enjoy if you have a little more cash to splash.
One is to take a boat ride across the lake. The lakes are pretty stunning, and you can enjoy then from a different perspective if you take a boat tour.
GetYourGuide hosts a bargain US$36 Guatape tour which takes you up the rock, on a boat, and includes breakfast and lunch. It has a rating of 4.9/5 from over 8,000 reviews. You can book that tour right here 👇👇👇
Guatape rock and boat tour with breakfast and lunch included from just US$36 🪨🛥️🍴
If you’re really feeling flashy, you can even take a helicopter tour which allows you to see the rock and the lakes from the skies above.
Check out this private helicopter tour from Medellin which also includes a boat ride
12-hour Guatape private helicopter, boat, rock and town tour from Medellin🚁🛥️🪨⛪
Consider taking one of these tours to add a bit of style to your day in Guatape!
Is Guatape Suitable for Elderly or Disabled People?
Unfortunately, elderly and disabled people will not be able to fully enjoy everything has to offer, as the 659+ steps are the only way to get up, and there is no lift or other alternative.
The rock is privately owned, and there are no age-related or disability discounts available.
Of course, any elderly or disabled people who are able to walk up and down over 1,100 steps can still go to the top of the rock.
However, anyone with mobility issues may struggle and wheelchair users will not be able to get to the top.
If this applies to you, then don’t be discouraged from visiting Guatape. The rock is still cool to see from the bottom, you can see some of the beautiful lake views without leaving the car park, and the town is still a really fun place that you can visit without issues.
Unfortunately, Colombia falls short here in making one of its marquee attractions accessible for everyone.
