Guatapé and the Peñol Rock: 702 Steps and Colombia's Most Colourful Town

It's 702 steps to the top, and the view from up there is one of those that justifies the effort. The Peñol Rock is a 220-metre monolith rising alone out of a landscape of islands and water, about two hours from Medellín.

Next to it sits Guatapé, probably the most photographed town in Colombia. You can see both in a single day and they complement each other perfectly: the climb in the morning, the town in the afternoon.

The Peñol Rock

It's a formation almost seventy million years old, a single piece of rock emerging from nowhere. For centuries it was venerated by the Tahamí people, who considered it sacred.

Its present setting, ringed by water, isn't natural. In the 1970s the El Peñol-Guatapé reservoir was built to generate electricity and the valley was flooded. The original town of El Peñol disappeared under the water and was rebuilt elsewhere. That archipelago of green islands you see from the top are the summits of the old hills.

The climb

A concrete staircase wedged into a natural crack in the rock zigzags to the summit. 702 steps.

The climb takes between twenty and forty minutes depending on your pace. It needs no special preparation and people of all ages do it, but it's continuous and there are no shortcuts. There are landings and drinks stalls on the way.

One detail that reassures many people: the staircase is enclosed with railings on both sides. It isn't an exposed route, though anyone with severe vertigo should know you can see the drop.

Price and opening hours

• Admission: around 35,000 COP per person.
• Hours: 8:00 am to 5:00 or 6:00 pm, every day.

Prices are indicative and may change.

Go up early. By mid-morning the staircase fills and the climb becomes a slow queue. The sky also tends to be clearer before midday: from about two in the afternoon it often clouds over.

At the top

The summit has a multi-storey viewing tower with food and drink stalls. The 360-degree view over the reservoir and its islands is the image everyone knows from this region.

The town of Guatapé

Guatapé is known for its zócalos, and it's worth understanding what they are before you arrive.

They're the painted relief friezes running along the lower part of the house fronts. The tradition began in the early twentieth century, and each zócalo says something: the trade of the person living there, an animal, a religious motif, a scene from daily life. On a bakery you'll see bread; on a fisherman's house, fish.

In other words, it isn't tourist decoration: it's a visual record of the town's life, maintained across generations. With that in mind, a walk through Guatapé reads completely differently.

What to do in town

• Calle del Recuerdo and Plazoleta de los Zócalos, the streets with the most elaborate façades.
• The waterfront, on the edge of the reservoir, where the boat trips leave from.
• A boat trip across the reservoir, passing close to the islands and the submerged ruins.
• Try the trout, the local dish thanks to the reservoir.

Getting there from Medellín

Guatapé is about two hours from Medellín by road. By public transport, buses leave from the Terminal del Norte fairly frequently.

Most of our travellers do it as a full-day trip, mainly because combining the bus, the climb and the town independently means keeping one eye on return timetables — and the last bus of the afternoon tends to be very full.

What to bring

• Trainers. You're climbing 702 steps.
• Water and sunscreen. It's considerably warmer here than in Bogotá or Medellín, and the staircase is exposed.
• A light jacket or waterproof. The weather here turns quickly.
• Cash for admission and the stalls.

Can you skip the climb?

Yes. You can visit Guatapé without going up the rock, and it's still worth it for the town and the reservoir. There are also viewpoints from the road looking onto the monolith without climbing at all.

But if your knees allow it, go up. It's one of those things you remember years later.