Jardín, Paradise found.

Although I don’t visit Colombia as much as I could; every time I fly in to Medellin, I make sure to reserve a window seat for my flight.  Endless shades of green covering a majestic mountain range give me butterflies and mixed feelings of  excitement and sadness. A feeling of being home but also feeling like an outsider because I’ve been gone for so long.

Ok, enough romanticism for the day.  This story has a happy ending! no pun intended. On my last visit to my beloved Medellin; I traveled to several pueblos outside of the city but  Jardín definitely stole my heart.

Most tourists tend to flood the town of Guatape, in spite of the fact that Jardín is referred to as the most beautiful pueblo in Colombia. It’s said that the city and its traditions have not changed much since the town was founded 150 years ago.

To get there:

1.  Get a cab or an uber thank you Jesus!  to Medellin’s South Terminal and go to window #2 (Transportes Suroeste Antiqueno).
2. Purchase a bus ticket to Jardín for $25,000 pesos ( $9 US).

Bus ride: Aprox. 4 hours.

When you arrive, you’ll see a colorful colonial town surrounded by mountains. There’s a main plaza that was declared a national monument in 1985 and it’s full of hotels, restaurants, bars and cafes. You’ll see cool looking men wearing cowboy hats and ponchos, some of them on horses, some with a bottle of aguardiente in a liquor holster attached to their pants!

Presiding over the square, you can appreciate a neo-gothic styled cathedral that steals the show.

Below, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

This cathedral was built  from hand-carved rock extracted from a local quarry.

The interior is even more impressive!

Where to stay: There’s plenty of hotels, hostels and farm houses or haciendas.

I stayed at Jardín Hotel and it was perfect! It’s in the middle of the plaza and just as colorful as the city. Price : $90,000 pesos / night.

Cable car: A Must! For only $6,000 pesos you can go up a mountain to a mirador where you can get a bird’s eye view of the town. On top of this mountain, there’s a small cafe/restaurant surrounded by coffee and plantain trees.

View of the entire town of Jardín from the restaurant’s mirador in the mountains.

Other activities:

• Hiking
• Paragliding
• Horse riding
• La Cueva del Esplendor: A waterfall inside of a cavern. Ideal to get there by horse instead of hiking. Hotels should be able to arrange that.
• I definitely  recommend a night of drinking with locals at Blanco y Negro bar y discoteca!

Checkout the remake of La tierra del Olvido to see some of the amazing, diverse and beautiful landscapes of Colombia.