2-Day Private Tatacoa Desert Tour from Bogotá: Amazing Wildlife, Scenery and Starlit Sky
4.1
8 Ratings
Embark on a thrilling 2-day private tour from Bogotá to the Tatacoa Desert. Explore its unique wildlife, stunning scenery, and gaze at the mesmerizing starlit sky. Choose between a refreshing swim in a natural pool or a visit to the Villavieja Paleontological Museum.
Duration: 2 days
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights

Start of the Adventure to Tatacoa Desert

Neiva - Discover the unique fauna and landscape of the Tatacoa Desert in Colombia, the second largest arid zone in the country, during this two-day private trip from Bogotá.
Start your journey at 6 a.m. with a van that will look for you until your place of accommodation. Leave Bogotá traveling towards Neiva and the Tatacoa desert in a journey of approximately 7 hours.
On the way you will pass through the department of Tolima and its picturesque rice fields. You can also try a typical plate “Lechona” or a local “Tamal” from Tolima.

Villavieja - We will reach the municipality of Villa Vieja where we will start the road to the Tatacoa Desert. This dry region is the second largest arid zone in Colombia after the Guajira peninsula.

Desierto de la Tatacoa - This dry region is the second largest arid zone in Colombia after the Guajira peninsula, and is characterized by two types of rocks with different colors: red rocks in the area near Cuzco, and gray ones in the area near “Los Hoyos”. As you discover the desert, check out the local wildlife, including birds, snakes, spiders and ocelots. Even if you do not see any creatures, you will surely enjoy the spectacular landscape of the desert.

Astronomical Observatory Tatacoa - Have a fun astronomical adventure where you can learn and visualize the night sky in the ideal place.

What's Included
  • One night’s accommodation included
  • Convenient hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Expert desert guide for an insightful journey
  • Travel comfortably in a private, air-conditioned vehicle
  • Breakfast provided to start your day right
  • Medical assistance insurance for peace of mind
  • Bilingual logistic support for seamless communication
What's Not Included
  • Food and beverages not mentioned in the tour
  • Tips (optional)
Additional Information

Discover the unique wildlife and scenery of Colombia’s Tatacoa Desert, the country’s second largest arid zone, during this private two-days trip from Bogotá. Observe the area’s birds, snakes, spiders and ocelots, get the chance to swim in a natural swimming pool in the middle of the desert and discover the starlit sky during the vist of the astronomical observatory.
You have the option to change the natural swimming pool or the tour along the River Magdalena to the Villavieja Paleontological Museum.

  • Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
  • Make sure to have sun protection with you
  • The duration of transfers are approximate, the exact duration will depend on the time of day and traffic conditions
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.1
(8 Ratings)
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1 star
Hvwriter
Mar 17, 2023
A Great Experience!! - Such an amazing journey....my son-in-law and I had two incredible days with Lorena, our guide and Emilio, our driver. Trekking through the gray desert and enjoying the red one...staying over at the colorful Oasis hotel....eating local foods outside on the porch at the Sal Si Puede restaurant in Villavieja...it was "all good!" We will never forget our ferry crossing of the flood-swollen Magdalena River!! Even though cloudy skies curtailed the "dark sky" experience for us, we highly recommend this adventure!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Rick
Oct 21, 2021
Greatfull experience at Tatacoa Dessert - The trip to the Tatacoa Desert was a beautiful experience. The trip was made absolutely amazing by my wonderful guide named Cindy. She is a super nice person to be with and she tries to explain everything to you as best as possible. In one word. Awesome!
Review provided by Viator
Laura
Aug 21, 2018
Awesome experience - We had a great experience just the three of us going to the Tatacoa Desert. The guide was very nice, informative and very helpful with all questions/problems concerning our Colombia trip. We booked the trip in English - and her English was very good. Since we had to get back earlier to Bogotá on the second day, they were more than willing to accommodate that wish! Altogether a nice trip!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Saolson27
Jun 28, 2023
Cool destination, too much time in the van - First let me say, the Tatacoa Desert is really cool and worth visiting. We really enjoyed our tour of the red desert, grey desert, valley of the ghosts, and visit to the natural pool. However, I would strongly recommend traveling by plane to visit Tatacoa. The drive from Bogota was simply too long, especially in only two days. The tour description says "approximately five hours." This is a blatant falsehood. The drive took NINE hours. I understand it was a holiday weekend, and the traffic was denser than usual, and the guide can't control that. But to be off by four hours is to mislead customers about the true length of the journey. Neither the guide nor driver gave any warning that the trip would take longer than expected, and grew very defensive when we asked about the route. What's worse than a nine hour drive when you were expecting five? A nine hour drive crammed into a middle seat in a tiny van while holding your backpack on your lap. The van was really too small to comfortably hold that many people for more than a few hours. Really unfortunate, considering we spent the majority of the two days in the van. We had several miscommunications with our guide, mostly because she didn't seem to know what the agenda was and kept telling us contradictory things. We approached her about this on the second morning and asked for her to clearly lay out the schedule so we knew the plan. Yet despite this, we had another miscommunication that day when she tried to cut a key part of the visit (the valley of the ghosts) from the itinerary without telling us. It was re-added to the agenda after fierce protesting from us. She also did not translate what the local guide said into English. Most of us speak Spanish, so it was okay, but the tour was supposed to be in English and she did not even check that all of the group could understand. Altogether, we were pretty disappointed with this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mariamoller_l
Jul 11, 2022
Disappointing - Considering the price (even if it’s a private tour) it was very disappointing. The girl who was our “guide” and translator had such a lazy and indifferent attitude. It all seemed like she didn’t want to do the tour. She spent a lot of time on her phone taking selfies and doing her own videos and photographs. In the desert with a local guide (who seemed eager to teach us a lot about everything) she didn’t bother to translate half of what the local guide said and also she fell behind several times and couldn’t even hear the local guide speaking but didn’t seem to care unless we specifically asked her to translate (which we had to do several times). The desert is very unique and our hotel was reasonable but our whole trip was very much affected by the bad guidance.
Review provided by Viator
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June 2024
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