Zipaquira Salt Cathedral and Guatavita Lagoon Tour: South America's Wonders from Bogota
4.5
43 Ratings
Zipaquira
Discover the wonders of South America on a day trip from Bogotá. Explore the Zipaquirá Salt Cathedral and visit the mystical Guatavita Lagoon, where the legendary 'el dorado' originated. Perfect for outdoor enthusiasts!
Duration:
10 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
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Highlights
- Catedral de Sal de Zipaquira - This full-day tour will take you to two places of interest located within Bogotá’s savannah. Zipaquirá’s Salt Cathedral; a majestic cathedral built inside of the largest salt-rock deposit on earth. Here you’ll see the how Catholic symbology and contemporary engineering converged in the construction of this gigantic temple.
With materials from this former salt mine and using lighting effects, sculptors created innovative interpretations of the Catholic Via Crucis that you will be able to see throughout the cathedral. Here you will learn about the creative process and the symbology behind the sculptures.
- Zipaquira - After exiting the cathedral, you will head to Guatavita, passing through the colonial village of Zipaquirá, famous for its various buildings that were declared national monuments.
- Laguna de Guatavita - The second stop, Guatavita Lagoon, a mystical and sacred place for the Muiscas, will give you a glimpse of what Paramo ecosystem looks like while you learn about the famous legend of El Dorado, Muisca cosmology and its relation to the lagoon.
After a stop for lunch, you will be driven through a countryside road to Guatavita where the sacred lake hides among mountains and mist. Inside this natural reserve, you will learn about the connection that the ancient Muiscas had with nature. Moreover, you will understand the symbolism behind the gold offerings that awoke the gold rush of Spanish treasure hunters.
Finally, after returning to Bogotá, you will be taken to your hotel or to any other point of your convenience.
What's Included
- Hotel pick up and drop off
- Lunch included
- Entry tickets to the Salt Cathedral and natural reserve
- Expert guided tour in your preferred language
What's Not Included
- Optional tips and gratuities
- Personal expenses
- Unspecified food and beverages
Additional Information
Visit one of South America’s wonders, the Zipaquirá Salt Cathedral, and see the beautiful Lake Guatavita (Laguna de Guatavita) on this day trip from Bogotá! Explore the magnificent salt mine of Zipaquirá and see the famous cathedral up close. Then, visit Laguna de Guatavita, where the famous ‘el dorado’ legend originated, and see the Indigenous Cemetery and the Tominé Reservoir. If you’re looking for a fun outdoor activity, this is the perfect day trip for you!
- We recommend wearing comfortable clothes and shoes.
- A medium-high amount of walking is involved; you must be of average fitness and able to walk
- Guatavita Lake is closed on Mondays (or Tuesdays if Monday is a bank holiday).
- Changes on the tour may occur due to external factors.
Location
Catedral de Sal de Zipaquira
Carrera 6 Calle 1, Parque De La Sal
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.5
(43 Ratings)
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382shanac
Apr 4, 2023
Great trip! - We had a fantastic time on this tour. Our guide, Jaime, was amazing and answered all our many, many questions, giving us plenty of time to see both the Salt Cathedral and Guatavita. (Both are amazing places, and well worth the visit.) Lunch was fabulous, and we appreciated Jaime's assistance in ordering! Both the guide and the driver were so kind and helpful. We really appreciated being picked up and dropped off where we were staying, and loved the yummy snacks and coffee at a great little bakery along the way. It was a long day with traffic and distance. I'm not sure it would've been as great if we'd had small kids along -- too much driving -- but we enjoyed the day very much, and truly appreciated our guide and driver!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
John
Jan 12, 2023
Awesome experience! - Great experience visiting the salt cathedral and Guatavita. Excellent prompt service and an extremely knowledgeable tour guide in John. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lucina_t
May 7, 2022
Wonder of Colombia - The salt Cathedral is amazing . We never saw anything like that . Very interesting also the 14 stations of the cross are works of man and God. The tour guide is very knowledgeable . He explained to us all the details and facts about the salt cathedral
Review provided by Viator
750cristinau
Dec 22, 2019
Zipaquirá and Guatavita - Our tour Guide Raul Posse was very knowledgable and friendly we had a great day and looking forward for the next week to other tours we booked with Impulse tour Co. We highly recommend them!
Fue un dia fantastico con un guia excelente que tiene gran conocimiento de este tour, Raul Posse con carisma y buena actitud! Recomiendo altamente esta empresa de turismo Impulse!
Gracias
Review provided by Tripadvisor
913worldtraveler
Dec 14, 2019
Unique Cathedral built into an Old Salt Mine - Had a great afternoon tour with Raul. He has an excellent command of the English language as he spent 12 years in Australia and he has an easy going personality.
The Salt Mine is a unique experience. When the Mine was no longer profitable they decided to convert it into a “cathedral.” It is not an official church as it is a tourist site. You walk through the Mine and pass by 14 stations of the cross. They were each unique carvings in this cave like stricture but I would only rate them a 3 overall and not worth it by themselves - the feature is the finish - a carved dome transition to 3 large church like structures. The main one with a huge cross is beautiful.
Overall the tour is about 5 hours as it is a 90 minute drive in each direction. A worthy activity for an afternoon or morning.
Again it isn’t an official church due to its commercial nature and there are lots of shops, Rock climbing wall - it is a for profit venture - so that detracts from its holiness.
Overall a pleasant way to spend some time in Bogota but it is not a must.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ann
Jun 11, 2019
Excellent day trip from Bogota to the Salt Cathedral and Guatavita Lagoon - We were in Bogota for a family wedding, so we scheduled a family day trip to visit the Salt Cathedral and Guatavita Lagoon. There were 5 of us. Juan Escobar was our guide. He was excellent. He was so knowledgeable and informative. He showed up on time to our hotel with a roomy mini van for all of us. We traveled comfortably to the lagoon first. We were on a nature tour/walk that was in Spanish, he was able to translate everything for us in English. Then we stopped at a great restaurant for a delicious lunch just outside of the Salt Cathedral. He guided us through the cathedral with historical and interesting information. We were all so happy with this trip. I highly recommend this trip.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Elmadaeu
Jan 3, 2019
Two excellent tours - I took two tours with Impulse Travel: The "Zipaquira Salt Cathedral and Laguna de Guatavia Day Trip" and the "Weaving Peace"tour. Both tours were very well guided and very interesting -- I was happy that I opted for the private tours as it let me go through at my own pace and ask questions as we went.
The organization was fairly straight forward, although because I wanted to take the tours between Christmas and New Years, it took a bit of time to confirm that restaurants and other stops would be open.
My tour guide for the Zipaquira Salt Cathedral and Guatavita Lagoon was great: really describing the history and significance of both sights in clear detail. Of the two stops, Guatavita is exceptionally beautiful.
The Weaving Peace tour was also exceptionally well done (despite an early snag) -- my tour guide on that tour and I hit it off very well and it was more like a long wander through the city with a close friend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
10306
Jan 1, 2019
Informative and fun tour of the Salt Cathedral - Based on a friend’s recommendation, we contacted Impulse Travel to arrange a tour of the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira (we left off the Laguna de Guatavita). We were very happy with the experience.
PRE-TRIP SCHEDULING: The company was easy to deal with over email in advance of our trip (though sometimes they did not reply as quickly as we would like). They gave a variety of options and were eager to assist.
TOUR: The tour itself was excellent. Juan, our guide, showed up on time. His command of English was quite strong. He was full of information and happy to share it. He provided helpful and interesting information during the drive and during the tour, and was eager to answer all of our questions. We were with a small child, so he was very flexible when we needed to meet her needs. He also gave us some great tips for other things to do in Bogota. The car was clean and comfortable.
The day after the tour, we visited Montserrate on our own and bumped into Juan, who was leading a different tour. My daughter kept asking “Why can’t we go with Juan again?” : )
M
COST: I looked at one other company and the price was comparable. But I got the impression that if we booked the package from Colombia, after arriving in Colombia, it might have been cheaper. But that’s just speculation.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Anon3200
Dec 21, 2018
You don't have to be Catholic to have a spiritual experience in this magnificent place - The Cathedral is built in an old salt mine and it is mesmerizing. The miners worked all day and then at the end of the work shift went back in to carve out all of the crosses along the way. There are 22 stations each representing a different point in Jesus's journey. The Cathedral focuses on the 3 main stages of the life of Jesus, his birth, his death, and his redemption. Every Sunday, Mass is said in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin. Because of the dimness of the lighting, photographs do not do justice to the majesty of the crosses and the scenes including the Nativity and a Pieta sculpture. This is a must see when you are in Bogota. It's a bit of a ride from the city but definitely worth the time.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Live2travel10662018
Feb 18, 2019
Do NOT book a Salt Cathedral trip with Impulse travel through Viator!!! - I booked private return transportation to the Salt Cathedral from Bogota. All I wanted was a driver to take me there, wait, and take me back. I booked through Viator Tours which used Impulse travel. I had a choice of pick up time and chose 10 am. At 8:30 the driver arrived at my hotel. I wasn’t ready. I rushed and got out for 9. To my complete surprise there were two other people in the van. So much for the private tour I booked. We went to a small village, walked around, had a snack and then headed off. I wasn’t sure what was happening. We then went to Laguna de Guatavita for a 2 hour hike. This was the trip the other two had booked, not me. By the time we got to the Salt Cathedral it was 3:30. We arrived back in Bogota after 6. Impulse Tours sent me an email that day apologizing for the confusion. There was no confusion. They purposely joined me with another tour without notice instead of honouring the one I booked. I wrote them an email of complaint asking for a partial refund since I did not get a private trip. The email went unanswered. DO NOT BOOK with this tour company. You may not get what you paid for and they don’t care. There are plenty of other more reputable companies you can use.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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