Road trips, driving and cars in Colombia, with maps and practical advice on how to get to some of the most amazing corners of this large varied country.

El Cocuy: the icy roof of Colombia

Here’s how to hike to Colombia’s tropical glaciers in the pristine mountains of El Cocuy, Boyacá. Posted January 2025. See related posts: Mavecure, Colombia’s Sacred Mountain, or Hiking up to Bogotá’s Cerro Aguanoso and La Hondura: Boyacá’s hidden canyon Why travel to El Cocuy? The town itself is a sleepy backwater nestled in the vast mountainous folds of Boyacá, one of Colombia’s most rural Andean departments. The national park which bears its name – Parque Nacional Natural El Cocuy –

Mavecure: hike the sacred mountain of the Orinoco.

Visit Mavecure, ancient granite monoliths rising thousands of feet above Colombia’s jungles of the Orinoco.

Plan Peru: trek to Choquequirao

The Peruvian Andes hide dozens if Inca ruins, including the amazing Choquequirao site, sister settlement to Machu Picchu. It takes a tough 4-day hike to reach there.

Plan Peru: world wonder Machu Picchu

If you’re based in Colombia, don’t forget to visit Machu Picchu, in the Inca heartland of Peru. It’s easy to get there with direct flights to Cuzco.

Rafting the Guejar Canyon

How to raft the beautiful Guejar Canyon in Colombia´s Llanos region, a day´s drive from Bogotá.

Salento and Cocora: Colombia´s charmed valley

The rural town of Salento, with its Valle de Cocora, in heart of Colombia’s Quindío province, was a popular tourist spot even before Disney film producers rocketed the region to fame (and prices rises to match!) with their Oscar-winning film ‘Encanto’.

Diving in San Andrés

The clear warm waters of San Andrés offer perfect diving, here´s some information.

Getting on Bogotá’s buses

Colombia’s capital has a vast bus network that reaches every corner of the city. But being Latin America’s most congested metropolis, many journeys are slow. You might want to take a good book to read. Here’s how to make the most of Bogotá´s buses. This was posted in June 2023, so check links for updates. For other transport stories from the Big Bog see: Make Driving Fun, or Bicycle Tribes of Bogotá, or Dying for a Breath of Bogotá Air,

Venezuela’s incredible Orinoco river delta

In 2022 I worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the delta of the Rio Orinoco, known locally as the “Delta Amacuro”, supporting local health services. This vast wetland of swamps and jungle on Venezuela’s Atlantic shore is home to the Warao, one of the country’s largest ethnic group. This blog was published by MSF in May 2023. Rounding a bend of the Rio Orinoco, we startle a large river dolphin that leaps high in front of the boat. It hangs there

On the roof of Colombia in El Cocuy National Park

Hiking to Colombia’s tropical glaciers

Climbing up to tropical glaciers in Colombia’s El Cocuy National Park is one of the continents great thrills, and it’s not too difficult, assuming you are a hiker and already spent time in Andean altitudes.

1 2 3 4 »