Complete Guide to Hike Valle de Cocora

By Connected Horizons

Who hasn’t read about the famous wax palms of Colombia? Located at a short jeep-ride from the well-known town of Salento, hiking the Cocora Valley is a must for all those loving hiking and breathtaking landscapes. Here follows our all you-need-to-know guide for having a blast in this beautiful place.


How to Get There

The moment you step into Salento you figure out that hiking the Cocora Valley is THE activity to do in town which all people from kids to oldies plan to do while there. For this reason, finding transport that goes there is very very easy.

All you need to do is head for the main plaza of Salento and look out for where the willies (the way they call old jeeps here) are parked. There you’ll find a small ticket booth with timings for Cocora, Finlandia and a couple more towns.

Jeeps for Cocora Valley in main plaza of Salento

Theoretically, jeeps leave every hour starting at 6.30am to 5.30pm from Salento and the last jeep being at 6.30pm from Cocora. But it’s not always like this! Given the high flow of tourists in morning hours, sometimes jeeps leave when full meaning every 10-15min!

At the booth you can buy your two-way journey for the price of 8000COP or just opt for a single way (4000COP) and walk your way to/back.

Keep in mind that even though those jeeps look small, the driver won’t hesitate in loading up at least 10-12 people!


Hiking Map of Cocora

Choosing Your Route

Once in the Cocora Valley, the jeep will drop you off at a parking lot located just 100m from the start of the hiking trails. Generally speaking, there are two well-marked trails that visitors usually take, (1) Shorter that goes straight to the Wax Palm Wood and (2) Longer that encompass the both the lower and higher part of the valley, finishing up in the Wood.

Short Trail | Easy | 5km | BLUE PATH
For the shorter trail you just need to exit the parking lot, turn left and after the asphalt road there where the trails starts. Just follow that for about 10-15min and you should reach a small ticket booth at the base of the Wax Palm Wood. This trail is easy and doesn’t require any specific level of fitness.

To complete the trail loop it takes 45min.

Long Trail | Medium | 17km | RED PATH
There are two ways to hike the longer trail and it really only depends on what you prefer seeing last. This longer loop path has plenty of lookout points overlooking the valley and without doubts is the best trail you can take if you’re planning to have a full-day in this beautiful place.

(OPTION 1) The official way is to hike the short path but instead of turning for the short loop, you just keep heading uphill until you reach a bigger path overlooking over the valley. That path will gradually head up toward the highest point find at Finca Montaña and then head down inside the forest following a river until you’re back at the parking lot.

We crossed three suspension bridges on the way to Finca Montaña

(OPTION 2) The “unofficial” way, becoming more and more the main one, is to do the official path counterclockwise so that the Wax Palm Wood will be the last thing you see. By hiking this way the climb up to Finca Montaña is much steeper but once on top you’ll enjoy views over the valley throughout the walk until you’ll eventually ends up in the wax palm wood itself. To take this path just head toward where the road ends and turn right at the blue-painted gate.

Short route all straight, long one take a right on the blue gate

Either way, to complete the trail loop takes around 4h, including stops.


White bracelet is given when you pay the first ticket booth, the light blue one at the second booth

Entrance fees and such

The two trails also have different entrance costs which are paid at 3 ticket booths scattered along the valley (check the map).

·On the shorter trail before the Wax Palm Wood there’s a ticket booth that will charge you 2000COP

·On the longer trail there are three ticket booths. Two of the ticket booths are located at the beginning of the trail, whether you do the official way or counterclockwise, will charge you 2000COP only once (in other words you only pay at one of the two). The “second” ticket booth is located on the segment of the trail that connects Finca Montaña to the wood and there they charge you 3000COP

First ticket booth found on the long route

In total, to do the short route the cost is gonna be 2000COP and the long route 5000COP.

Check a short clip we made about the Cocora Valley!

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDz68sV9tXA[/embedyt]


PLANNING A TRIP TO COLOMBIA? CHECK MORE GUIDES BELOW!


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