El Peñón de Guatapé - Colombia

El Peñon de Guatapé, also called El Peñol, is a giant monolith located 86km northeast of Medellín in the province of Antioquia. It can be easily reached by taking one of the local busses that leave from Medellíns “Terminal de Norte”, and the bus ride will take a bit more than one hour. The climate in this area is at about 20 to 25°C on average troughout all year.

So what can you expect?

Once you climbed up el Peñón, you can expect one of the most beautiful sceneries I have seen until now. I’m really not too much into scenery but this place is truly amazing. Keep in mind that at about 2,2 thousand meters above sea level, climbing up the stairs of the over 200 meters, from the ground, high Peñón is more exhausting than you might think.

I guess it’s best to let a few pictures speak for themselves.

El Peñol

This is what the surrounding area of El Peñol looks like - picture is taken from the top of El Peñol

To sum it up, I think El Peñón and the Town of Guatapé make a really good day trip if you happen to be in Medellín. Especially if you find Medellín stressful, which I don’t but I can imagine some people will, this will be a great way to take a break from the city and escape to the beautiful nature of Antioquia. You can round it up with a trip to the nearby picturesque town Guatapé where you can order the typical dish for this region: the “bandeja paísa”.