Villa de Leyva and Iguaque National Park

Villa de Leyva is a small town about 3.5 hours north of Bogota. It has been a national monunment since 1953 and has been kept in a very traditional condition. All of the buildings are still white washed and the streets a cobbled.

Villa de Leyva is very popular with the residents of Bogota who regularly visit for weekends and many people have holiday homes in or around Villa de Leyva. Consequentially Villa de Leyva is very touristy but it is still worth a visit.

Around Villa de Leyva the countryside is very beautiful and there is plenty of hiking opportunities.

Getting There:Buses go from Bogota Terminal, during weekends and holidays there are regular buses. Try Cundinamarca as the first bus company. Tickets are about 20,000COP.

Map:This is a Google Earth file which contains pins for the sights around Villa de Leyva. You can download the file here. You can also see this map in Google Maps.

Villa de Leyva is adequately covered in guide books and elsewhere on the internet. Here is a list of useful resources rather than repeating information here:

Poor But Happy Travel Guide to Villa de Leyva

We found the information here to be accurate, the buildings are all painted white again now.

Colombian Highlands Hostel and Tour Company

The hostel is about 15 minutes walk outside of Villa de Leyva but it is a very well run hostel and the views from the terrace are great.

Villa de Leyva at Hostel Trail

Tips of things to do and places to stay.

Map of Villa de Leyva courtesy of Colombian Highlands Hostel.

Poor But Happy Travel Guide for Trek to Laguna de Iguaque

We used this guide for the trek in the National Park Iguaque. The trek is really beautiful and worth it. Just tell the guys at Villa de Leyva bus station that you want to go to Iguaque and they will make sure you get on the right bus.

Below is a map of the terrian covered on the trek, note that the cloud forest is very wet and muddy.

The bus drops you off at the shop and you then walk for 45 minutes to the administration where you must pay your entry fee. You then follow a path to the accomodation and walk behind the huts, the path then winds up through cloud forest. Once out of the cloud forest you must walk steeply up hill to about 3,600metres. You then follow the path around the hill side before dropping down to the laguna.

Map of Walk to Laguna de Iguaque (courtesy of Google Maps).

This walk took us about 6 hours and covers the major sights that are accessible on foot. At the start of the walk you pass a cycle hire shop just before you leave Villa de Leyva, it would be possible to complete this tour by bike.

The tour goes past the blue pools, the fossil and "Infienito" (the Muisca Archeological Park).

Map of Walking Tour of Villa de Leyva
Click for Bigger Image

From the main plaza in Villa de Leyva walk to the bus terminal and take the next right hand turn. Walk down this road and take the third left past a bike hire shop and Villa de Leyva football ground.

Eventually you will walk up a long hill, at the top of this hill on the right hand side of the road you have good views over Villa de Leyva. When you come to a small hut selling fossils there is a gap in the fence on the left. Cross this and follow the track down the hill to the blue pools. Where the track branches take the left hand branch.

Return to the main road the same way you went down. Continue along the road, when the road turns left and starts to head down hill you can cross to the right hand side and find a track that cuts off the corner.

You will reach the fossil shortly which costs 2,000COP to visit.

Continuing along the road keep an eye out for a building with "Aire Libre" written on it, take the right hand turn directly opposite. Follow the track through nice shrub land to reach the Musica Archaeological Park. This costs 3,000COP to enter

Finally continue along the track to return to Villa de Leyva.