After over a month of almost continual travel in hot climates – except for a few weeks in Monteverde and La Fortuna – I was ready to take another refreshing break in the mountains to reset my beach timer. I love beaches, but if I only went to beaches for a whole year, the whole world would just look like one giant beach after a while. After two weeks in the beach paradise of Bocas del Toro in Panama, I decided it was time for me to head down to Colombia – and visit the famous mountainous coffee region of Salento. From the verdant hillside coffee ranches, to the majestic 60 meter wax palms that tower over the Cocora valley; Salento is the home of coffee and enchantment in Colombia.
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Contents:
- Transportation
- Accommodations
- Valle de Cocora
- Coffee Ranches (Fincas)
- Horseback Riding
- Tejo
- Trip costs for 6 days and 5 nights in Salento, Colombia
- Final thoughts on Salento, Colombia
Transportation:
Salento is a 10 hour bus ride from Bogota, or a 7 hour bus ride from Medellin. With flight prices quite low within Colombia; I would recommend flying in rather than busing in – flights can be as low as $40-50USD. There are two airports you can typically fly into to visit Salento: Pereira and Armenia. I found a great flight deal from Panama City to Pereira, so flew into that airport. But in hindsight, Armenia has more bus connections to Salento than Pereira – so if I were to do it over, I would chose Armenia airport rather than Pereira.
From Pereira or Armenia airports, you’ll have to take a taxi from the airport to the central bus stations in either city to get to the buses that reach Salento. From Pereira, the taxi fare is anywhere between 12,000 COP – 16,000 COP – it’s a good idea to ask the driver how much it will be to the Terminal de Transporte or make sure the meter is running, as I know someone who was charged 40,000 COP by an opportunistic driver. There is a 4000 COP airport surcharge that is added to the fare you see on the meter.
From the Terminal de Transporte in Pereira, there are buses that run to Salento until around 5:30pm – so make sure you select a flight with enough time for you to get to the Terminal de Transporte if you want to avoid paying a taxi all the way to Salento (150,000 COP or $40USD). The bus fare between the Terminal de Transporte in Pereira to Salento is only 9000 COP so it’s definitely cost effective to take the bus rather than a taxi – unless you can find some travelers to share a taxi to Salento.
Accommodations:
I stayed at El Viajero Hostel in Salento, and found the property to be beautiful, and the staff to be very helpful. I stayed in a 6 person mixed dorm, and on the first night, just before getting into bed while pondering what to do the next day, I was asked by all my new dorm-mates whether I wanted to go to the Cocora Valley with them at the crack of dawn the next morning – of course I said yes! The group of us ended up hanging out together for the next few days before we branched out our separate ways. How quickly friendships can be made with people from completely different countries and walks of life is one of the most amazing things about travel – for me it’s as much about the people you meet, as it is about the destination.
Another great property is the Coffee Tree hostel – which also boasts beautiful views, and is quite centrally located.
Valle de Cocora:
Visiting the Cocora Valley was one of the highlights of my trip. Wax palms – Colombia’s national tree – some as high as 60 meters (150 feet) tower over a lush valley and cloud forest. The Cocora Valley is so magical, it’s the main setting for the award-winning film “Encanto” – or “enchanted” that takes place in Colombia. It’s an animated film, but I loved it. Highly recommend watching it before or during your visit to Colombia – as it hints at many aspects of Colombian places, life and culture. There’s even a small clip when they’re playing Tejo – which I highly recommend playing while in Salento.
The easiest way to get to the Cocora Valley is to take one of the many “Willy” jeeps that go there from the town square in Salento. These collective jeeps leave in the morning and will take you back in the afternoon. There’s no set-schedule. As soon as the jeep is full, it will leave. And when I say “full” – this means all the seats are taken, with 3-4 people hanging off the back of the jeeps (no joke, see photo). If you are apprehensive about being one of the ones that needs to hang off the back of the jeep, try to be one of the first ones on the vehicle. I’m told it’s quite fun to be standing on the back of the jeep – but definitely less so if it starts to rain.
There are several trail options to choose from once the jeep gets to the Cocora Valley. There’s a shorter out-and-back loop that should take abut 1-2 hours, and then there is the more challenging loop trail which takes approximately 4-6 hours to complete. I recommend going the counter-clockwise route – turning to your right once you leave the jeep area and follow the trail from there. This route will take you through the challenging jungle section of the hike first, then hiking up to the viewpoint at La Montana, before hiking back down through towards your start point through the iconic wax palm trees. It’s recommended to do the challenging uphill section first as coming down the section in the other direction could be more challenging if there are afternoon rains (which is common in Salento).
Coffee Ranches (Fincas):
Aside from visiting the Cocora Valley, visiting a coffee finca is THE thing to do in Salento. There are more coffee fincas than you’ll likely have the time to visit in Salento. You can buy tours to all the surrounding coffee farms from the Willy Jeep ticket kiosk in the town square (same place where you get your Jeep tickets to the Cocora Valley). Two coffee ranches that I would recommend are Finca Buenos Aires and Finca de los Acasias.
A ticket to Finca Buenos Aires costs 38,000 COP ($9.50USD) including round trip jeep transportation and a 2 hour guided tour. Finca Buenos Aires is a family-owned small-scale organic coffee farm that is at the end of the coffee route in Salento. In addition to coffee, the farm also grows fruit trees and vegetable gardens that the guided tour takes you through. Finca Buenos Aires does a wonderful job of walking you through every stage of the coffee growing process, to harvest and processing, as well as a tasting.
Finca los Acasias is also a small-scale farm located a little closer to town. Cost of entry and transport from the Willy Jeep kiosk is 24,000 COP ($6USD). The tour at Los Acasias is a little shorter lasting about 1 hour, and also walks you through the coffee harvesting process and a tasting.
Horseback riding:
Salento is an amazing place to go horseback riding. I went for a horseback riding excursion that took us up steep mountain paths and down into river crossings. For the price charged horseback riding in Salento is well worth it (if you’re a horse person). The trails might be a little intense for a complete beginner.
Tejo:
In 2000, Tejo was declared the national sport of Colombia. The game a bit like playing horseshoes or lawnbowling – but with explosives. Cancha de Tejo Los Amigos (see map) allows you to play Tejo for 5000 COP per player ($1.25USD). The goal of the game is to throw a small metal disk towards a metal ring set a bed of clay with envelopes of gun powder placed on top of it. If your disk hits one of the gunpowder packets it will explode. If you can hit the middle of the ring and explode one or more of the packets, you get the most points. Turns out I’m remarkably good at this game – particularly when I throw with a beer in the other hand. Recommend that you avoid wearing the clothes that you’re going to be wearing to the airport if you have a flight – not sure how much gunpowder residue gets everywhere!
Trip Costs for 6 days and 5 nights in Salento, Colombia:
- Accommodations: $56.61 USD
- Transportation: $24.38 USD
- Airfare Panama City to Pereira: $69.05USD
- Colombian SIM Card (30 days with 9GB data): $8.75USD
- Excursions: $32.25USD
- Food and Dining: $69.13USD
- Souvenirs: $15USD
Total: $275.17USD
Final thoughts on Salento, Colombia:
Salento is magical. There is something otherworldly about places like the Valle de Cocora and its 60 meter wax palm trees where you may be lucky enough to see condors soaring. The numerous coffee farms that line the verdant, misty hills that encircle the town, produce some of the world’s best coffee while still employing small-scale farming methods that embrace traditional methods and relationships between all the people that grow, harvest, roast and sell the product. Throw in a game of lawn bowling with explosives (in the form of Tejo) while downing some beers with some new friends, and you have yourself a pretty amazing experience in the little town of Salento. I would thoroughly recommend a few days or even a week in Salento to gain some truly unforgettable experiences in the heartland of Colombia.