La Ciudad Perdida: Everything You Need To Know
If you’re debating on whether the excursion to the La Ciudad Perdida is worth it, then this is the right spot. For the short answer, it is 1000% worth it and you should book it in a heartbeat. This post is going to break down exactly what you need to know beforehand and how to save 50% off your tour. It’s a 4-6 day journey which is very taxing on your mental and physical health. Overall, the experience is one for the books. Let’s get started with some tips, some more info breaking down the experience & post hiking!
Tips To Know Before Booking Your Tour
- Go during the dry season in Santa Marta(November to early May). If you’re going from May to mid-November, you’re going to be soaking wet and might not get a great view. At the end of the day, you guys might be super lucky, so do what you feel is best.
- Book at the end of the year for a 50% discoun.: In addition, we offered to pay in cash and they said yes! Book with Baquianos Tours and message them on WhatsApp! They’re super helpful and can answer any questions you may have! (Discounts are subject to change but hey, at least you tried! ) Message them here & click the What’s App button on the bottom of the screen. They’re the booking service, but you’re going to go on the tour with Teyuna Tours! Once you coordinate with them, they’ll pick you up from your Airbnb/Hotel! Check them out here
- Carve out a free day or two after the hike to recover. Nothing would be worse than jam-packing your schedule and needing that rest.
- Stay at Taganga Beach with Hotel Mirador Bar y Restaurante. We didn’t have it planned intentionally, but heading after to Taganga Beach and staying at the Hotel Mirador Bar y Restaurante was THE PERFECT EXPERIENCE! Chat with them on WhatsApp here (+57, 3157275250) and their prices are very affordable (30USD/night!)
Packing Tips: What To Bring & Leave Home
- Only bring 2 outfits. From the one you’re wearing & an additional one, you’ll find yourself cleaning your clothes in the river that night and letting it hang to dry.
- Bring your smallest backpack- that’s all you’ll need. At the tour guide’s office, there’s a place for them to store your suitcase and additional bags so this is your chance to downsize. The hike is so difficult so don’t bring a heavy bag that’ll weigh you down.
- BRING SOAP: It’s not as sanitary as you’d like so it’s really easy to get sick on this tour. Bring soap & hand sanitizer.
- BRING TOILET PAPER: Never realized how much of a luxury wiping with paper is. You’ll want to just throw a roll in because at every stop they charge you for paper.
- BRING LOTS OF CASH. Off the top of our head, we paid 10,000 COP to have the motorcycle bring our bag up. We got sick and paid the indigenous communities to bring us down on mules which cost me 100,000 + the motorcycle down which was 20,000. That’s already 130,000, so use your best judgment, but I’d rather be safe than sorry!
- Invest in Zoleo. Zoleo is a device that connects to your phone via satellite so you can communicate with your family while on the hike. The pros are that your family gets to know you’re safe and the cons are that it’s a bit expensive and they make you pay for a whole 3 months of the e-service, even though the trip is only 4 days.
Planning The Logistics: Getting to Santa Marta
- Your best bet is to fly into Cartagena. It might be worth it to pay a little extra for the non-stop route. I only say that because we had a layover and ended up waiting in immigration for THREE WHOLE HOURS. If there’s a way to plan to get there earlier in the morning, that might be ideal.
- Rent a car! I read several blogs about whether it’s worth renting a car and honestly, for our needs, renting a car was the best bet. When I am in an unfamiliar area, depending on buses doesn’t pay. I’d rather pay a bit more to feel more secure. This was the right move because we would have missed whichever bus we got due to the long immigration line. Thankfully, they had one more automatic car, so keep in mind you have to specify that you want an automatic car. They have a rule where tourists can’t drive on the road past 12am, so we made it out JUST IN TIME!
Vlogging the Experience:
The La Ciudad Perdida Hiking Experience:
Here’s the map for a visual that describes the trip from start to finish. If you’re trying to show family and friends what you’re doing beforehand, this is a great image to show them that visualizes it perfectly.
Hiking The 4-Day Trek to La Ciudad Perdida: Day 1
- 7-8 AM: Your Teyuna Tour group will pick you up from your Airbnb/hotel (if you requested that) or meet up with them at the Teyuna Tours office in Santa Marta right here.
- 8-9 AM: Check everyone in, finish paying (our deal was to pay the rest in cash for a 50% discount), then they’re going to put your other bags in the back room! Things can get super cluttered so make sure you have your passport at ALL TIMES!
- 9-11AM: Drive up to El Mamey and go to a quick rest stop. This is your last change to grab toilet paper without paying a lot, snacks, and send that last text out to family before starting the hike.
- 12 PM: Arrive at El Mamey and eat a delicious meal. This is your last chance to relax, because it gets tough from here.
- 1PM-4PM? Hike 8km we get to our first base camp, Camp Alfredo or Adan. I am just guestimating the timing so I think it varies per group.
- 4PM-nighttime: Get settled in your bunk bed, swim in the little swimming hole, relax & eat a delicious meal. Typically, if you’re prone to getting sick easily, don’t drink the juice because your stomach can be sensitive to it.
- WHERE DO YOU SLEEP?: As shown in the video, there’s a series of bunk beds along each of the base camps with mosquito netting covering us while we sleep! I particularly loved listening to the rana ranasss 🐸 (frogs). It was so peaceful and so special listening to the beautiful sounds of nature! Listen to the sounds of the jungle, the frogs, birds and more! It truly is an experience of a lifetime
Trek to La Ciudad Perdida: Day 2
- 7AM: Wake up and get ready to hike some more! The first hiking day, we hiked about 8km and today we’re hiking double that! Any Emperor’s New Groove fans? When we started our early morning hike, I understood what Pacha said when the hills sing ( plz watch the movie)
- 9-12PM: Learning about the indigenous communities was probably my favorite part because I love how open the Kogi community was with sharing their culture and traditions with us. The Wiwa community preferred no interactions since they felt resentment from the conquistadors attempting to take over their land. We learn that the mules are very helpful to society because they carry goods & trash up and down the mountains
- 1-2:30PM We had a little rest stop in the river to cool off and had a delicious bowl of soup for lunch. THIS IS WHERE I THOUGHT WE WERE DONE FOR THE DAY AND BOY WAS I MISTAKEN. We then found out we had a WHOLE LOT MORE HIKING TO DO.
- 3-6PM: If it weren’t for the peaceful views, I would have given up and I’m really thankful our tour guides at Teyuna for being so supportive!
- TIP: DO NOT DRINK FROM A WATERFALL: we drank water from it through our filtered water bottles and that’s where it all goes downhill 😅😅
Day 4 of Colombia: Day 3 Hiking The 4-Day Trek to La Ciudad Perdida
- 6AM wake up call, eat breakfast & then we started the hike up to La Ciudad Perdida!
- 8AM-10AMWe had to cross the Buritaca River & climb up over 10000 stairs and do some more hiking until we reached….LA CIUDAD PERDIDA!
- 10AM-12PM: Hanging out at the top of La Ciudad Perdida and learning more about the history!
- 12-3PM: Hiking back to the basecamp we slept the night before to eat lunch
- 3-6/7PM: Back to the last base camp of the night (where we had lunch the day before)
Facts About La Ciudad Perdida
We finally made it to La Ciudad Perdida, an archeological site of the ancient city of the Sierra Nevada which predates Machu Picchu over 650 years! With peaks reaching 18,000 (we weren’t even close to the top!), there are many more indigenous tribes the higher you go. The indigenous partnered with our tour guides to offer them the experience, but out of respect for their tradition, they’d like to keep the tribes higher up in the mountains just for themselves. Thank you to the Tayrona people (descendants of the Tairona) who were kind enough to let tourists into their homes and places of worship.
The only reason why the indigenous still have the land today is because the Spanish were not able to conquer it. To the Spanish, La Ciudad Perdida was coined “the green hell” The environment was too tough for the Spanish to conquer and has been preserved since. From the bugs to the terrain, the guerilla warfare came in handy, luckily! Currently, it’s a part of the Global Heritage Fund to prevent it climate change, jungle overgrowth & unsustainable tourism.
Getting Sick on The La Ciudad Perdida Hike
The same morning of our hike up, my boyfriend started not feeling well and it was only a matter of time before I started feeling sick too. I think it was the water we drank from the waterfall, but regardless, we could not complete the hike so the indigenous people guided us through the jungle on their mules.
After this trip, I unlocked a new fear, getting sick on vacation, and not just any trip, A HIKING TRIP. This is my detailed account of getting sick with the hopes of showing you that travel isn’t always as glorious as it seems. These character-building moments teach me more about myself than when I am exploring.
This is why I LOVE traveling. You unlock and discover new parts of yourself you didn’t know were there. Traveling is more than just museums, history & excursions. To me, it’s a lifelong journey of self-development, building awareness of the world around you, growing more empathy & becoming a better person! Instagram reels only captures 4 minutes, so if you want to listen to the whole thing, check it out on my podcast!
Day 5 of Colombia: Day 4 Hiking The 4-Day Trek to La Ciudad Perdida
After the whole chaos, we were feeling 1000% better. If you don’t know what I’m talking about- check out the past video and podcast episode to get a glimpse! It might be you do watch it can help you prepare and learn from my mistake!
As eager as we were to start hiking our tour guides told us to take it easy and ride the mules to the bottom of the mountain. After taking the mules down, we had a chance to take the motorcycles and boy let me tell you, those 6 hours of hiking we did only lasted 20 minutes on the motorcycle.
REFLECTION & RELAXATION AHEAD: Hiking La Ciudad Perdida was an incredible experience and rest assured we will be back to hike this again. I’m so proud of us for tackling the obstacles we faced and still managing to enjoy ourselves. We were given our last meal and then driven to the office to pick up our luggage and to our hotel!
Post 4-Day Trek to La Ciudad Perdida: Relaxing at Taganga Beach
We didn’t have it planned intentionally, but heading after to Taganga Beach and staying at the Hotel Mirador Bar y Restaurante was THE PERFECT EXPERIENCE! Chat with them on WhatsApp here (+57, 3157275250) and their prices are very affordable (30USD/night!)
It WAS A LIFESAVER and a gift from the heavens after the journey we went through on the hike. What I loved most was how relaxing it was. From the hammocks outside our room and ocean views to the calming breezes and a 5-minute walk to the beach and did I mention there’s a whole bar and restaurant upstairs? The food is all made in-house and it’s so fresh. We loved all the juices, the cows tongue, steak, rice, chicken, and eggs all at an extremely affordable price. We were enjoying ourselves here while feeling ourselves recover from our intense hike and it was EVERYTHING. Now I just have to take my parents here because I know THEY’D love it!
There You Have It
I feel like this hike isn’t spoken about enough. With that said, I would love to open up the conversation and help anyone who is planning a trip to know what to expect id things go south! In my podcast, I go in depth on exactly why we got sick and how we overcame it. Once again, a HUGE thank you to Teyuna Tours and their wonderful and knowledgeable guides for making us feel 100% safe and secure hiking this amazing adventure. If you’re looking to travel here soon let me know in the comments and I can see if I can get you a bigger discount!
what do you think?