After our stay in Medellin, trying to figure out next step of our trip was quite challenging. We knew we wanted to spend sometime away from big cities but Colombia is so full of amazing places but choosing which is hard. Thankfully, the evening before a chit-chat with the hostel manager cleared our mind and our path for the next destination: the laid-back town of Jardin was the winning candidate.
Hopping down the bus at the “terminal” on a Friday afternoon feels like a blessing but it’s not until we reach the plaza that a breeze of overwhelming amazement paint our faces. People wearing cow-boy hats discussing over a cup of tinto, horses being parked outside the most colourful plaza we’ve ever seen and the latest hit by the Vengaboys being played at the radio. We’re finally here – the real Colombia we were looking for!
Walking around town is definitely the heaven for travel / street photographers out there. The colours of the houses, the typical look of locals and the beautiful alleys make it the perfect spot to have some great memories to bring back home.
And if you’re lucky enough like us to see a thunderstorm while in town, the ambience is gonna get even more magic!
Things to do in Jardin
SEE THE VIEWS FROM THE CABLE CAR
Just on the outskirts of town there is a very old cable car which takes people from one side to the other side of the hill above a river. The ride is nice and the views are pretty cool too for the 4000COP price.
There used to be another “newer” cable car that brought people up to a mirador called Cristo del Rey (the Christ statue that you can see from the main plaza) but it hasn’t been working for the past two years (July 2018 UPDATED).
HIKE TO THE CUEVA DEL ESPLENDOR
The cave is located around 12km from town and what makes it the top-rated activity in town is the waterfall going through it. Usually guides will offer you horse tours to the cave (tours vary around 60-70’000COP/each) but if you’re a fit hiker in 5-6hours you can go and come back to Jardin.
Entrance price to the cave is 30’000COP per head.
PARQUE NATURAL JARDIN DE ROCAS
This natural park is literally the garden of an old lady where for some reason many individuals of the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock (rare funny-looking bird) have decided to reunite to feed. The park is open early morning (5.30am-6.30am) and late afternoon (4pm-6pm) which are the times when the bird can be seen.
The entrance to the private garden is 10’000COP per person.
SIP A TINTO IN THE NIGHT
After dinner all locals meet up in the plaza and sit down at one of the several Cafeterias to chat, watch people pass and warm up sipping a tinto. This is a nice cultural scene to take part during one of your nights in Jardin and its also a nice way to enjoy the nighttime ambience.
TRY OUT THE TROUT
Amazingly enough, one of the local dishes here is trout. Many restaurants and local comedores cook it with mushrooms, garlic, ajiaco, butter and many other versions which are definitely worth a try. If you don’t wanna spend the 15-20’000COP to get a full trout menu, you can always to opt getting an almuerzo executivo (lunch of the day) for 6000-8000COP and ask them to have fish instead of meat. Same taste but half the price!
How to get to Jardin
From Medellin getting to Jardin is pretty straightforward. First take a taxi or an Uber from El Poblado to the Terminal South for 5000-6000COP (unfortunately this terminal is not connected to the metro) and then head toward the ticket booth #2 (Transporte Suroeste Antioqueño) or #22-23 (Rapido Ochoa).
Any of these two companies will do the exact same route (passing through Andes) taking 3h30min at the price of 26’000COP per person.
As for the timings, both companies seem to have buses running at an interval of 1h30min from 5am to 5pm but you better check out in person or call to have more precise info. On Sundays there’ s also an additional evening bus leaving at 6.30pm.
If you’re coming from any destination in the South then you’ll have to head to Riosucio first and from there just take one of the three daily buses (early morning, noon & early afternoon) run by Cotransrio or Rapido Ochoa.
The journey takes about 2h45min and it costs 20’000COP per person.
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