Guatape



Guatape is often a day trip that tourists take from Medellin, but we had been recommended to spend a few days there, and as we are trying to embrace slower travel, that’s what we did. Guatape is a very pretty town, with brightly coloured buildings, set on the banks of the huge man made lake. It is famous for ‘the rock’ of Penol and for being the base for water sports on the lake.


We took a local bus for less than £5 each from Medellin up the winding roads to Guatape. It took a couple of hours and offered some great views along the way.


We stayed at Lake View Hostel on the recommendation of Becky’s cousin, and it was a nice spot, at the edge of town overlooking the water. The staff were very helpful (more on that later) and they offered activities out on the lake. The town itself is packed with cafes, restaurants, bars, and craft shops. It has become a firm fixture on the backpacker trail, and a popular place for daytrippers.


For the kids we were delighted to find a large playground in town next to an excellent 3g crumb football pitch that was accessible when various school and youth teams weren’t using it. This was particularly nice one mild evening when we walked down after dinner and the kids could join in with locals and Ali got involved with a kick around too.



Guatape was a great place for a few days of relaxation before we headed up to the heat and humidity of the Caribbean coast. We certainly appreciated spending a few days relaxing rather than rushing through a day trip up from Medellin.


We had some spectacular weather while we were in Guatape, with very warm sunny days and big thunder storms over night. On our final night this reached a crescendo, with an enormous storm and rain pouring down from the sky for hours. The lightning lit up our room and the thunder shook the walls. We watched as the rain turned the roads outside the hostel into a river and wondered if it even might move a motorbike parked across the street.


In the morning all was calm again with a light cloud covering, looking likely that it would burn off and bring about another sunny day. We chatted to the kids about the storm, and they had slept through it entirely, and headed downstairs for breakfast so we could be ready for our taxi to the airport back in Medellin at 11.


The staff greeted us with the news that the storm had caused a significant landslide on the road to Medellin and no traffic would be able to get through until the afternoon at the earliest. We checked the maps and there was no workable way around it, so we started to figure out if we could move our flight back a day and what impact this would have on the next leg of our trip. The concern with this being that further heavy rain could cause further landslides, and no one was certain when the road might re-open. Becky and I were just complementing each other on how calmly and positively we had taken the unexpected turn of events when the Nick, one of the British owners of the hostel, said that it would be possible for us to make our flight if we took a speed boat across the lake past the landslide and were picked up by a taxi there. The catch was we needed to leave in the next 15 minutes to make sure we would arrive at the airport in time. 


This turned into one the most exciting experiences of our trip, and we all felt it was a ‘race across the world’ moment, with our bags loaded up in a speed boat bouncing across Guatape lake. The plan worked perfectly, and we made our flight with time to spare. The cost was only about £50 more than planned, less than rearranging the flight and/or the excess on our insurance.



Guatape was a great place to stay as a family, and we were so lucky to have been recommended to stay at the Lake View Hostel as without their help we would have faced major disruption for our onward journey. We would firmly recommended anyone to stay with them in the future!


Guatape highlights


Kayaking out on the lake

We took two double kayaks out one morning for a few hours to explore the lake and see the town and wider landscape from the water.

It was wonderfully calm and quiet, and a decent work out for us too as the kids tired quite early on!






Climbing the rock

This is the biggest tourist destination in the area and definitely worth a visit. We went nice and early in the morning in a tuk-tuk to avoid the crowds (definitely worth it as it was getting crowded by late morning when we left). The views are stunning after a step and sweaty climb up. There are loads of coffee shops, restaurants and crafts stalls around the base too.

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