12 Things You Need to Know About The Lost City Trek, Colombia
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Completing the Lost City trek or La Ciudad Perdida was something that had been on my to-do list ever since I started planning my trip through Latin America. For those unfamiliar with this, it’s a multi-day trek through the jungle and mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Northern Colombia to the ancient lost city formerly known as ‘Teyuna’.
It’s thought that the city was constructed around 800AD by the native Tayrona people, who later fled the city due to the Spanish invasion. The city was ‘rediscovered’ by looters in 1972 before archaeologists began careful excavation of the city in 1976. However to the descendants of the Tayrona people the city was never lost at all, but it simply became known to the world.
I went into this trek expecting something completely different to what it was, a lot of the blog posts or articles I had read were clearly not all that up to date. So keep reading to discover the 12 things you need to know before doing the Lost City Trek, Colombia.
This hike is not an easy one
Now I wasn’t expecting this to be a walk in the park, it's 4 or 5 days of walking between 4/7 hours a day and I’m not the most athletic person. But the thing that surprised me was how up and down the trail was. Don’t expect to dawdle along in nature. The constant uphill battles to just go downhill and then back up uphill 15 minutes later was a challenge that nearly had me turning back around. It’s also worth noting to get to the Lost City you will be faced with 1200 steps. Also calling them steps is a stretch, due to their old age, the ‘steps’ are basically worn away tiny pieces of stone. My point here is this trek requires both physical and mental determination. Arguably more of the latter is required to get you through this trek.
Mini Rundown of our 4-Day Trek
Day 1- After about 3 hours on the bus from Santa Marta and having some lunch we started the trek around 1ish, a 4-hour walk to the first camp.
Day 2- Started walking at 6 am, a 3.5-hour walk to the lunch spot and another 3.5 to the camp for the night. (The most physically demanding day in my opinion)
Day 3- Started walking at 6 am, 30 minutes to the Lost City stairs, all 1200 of them to be exact. Spent around 2.5 hours exploring the ancient city then a 3-hour walk to that night’s camp.
Day 4- As usual 6 am start time, 3-hour walk before a cake and coffee stop, then another 3-hour walk and happy days you made it back!
The views over the Sierra Nevada are beautiful
Easily my favourite part of this hike was the views of the surrounding mountains and jungle scenery. You’ll walk past viewpoint after viewpoint where you can see the stunning landscape of the Sierra Nevada. Even though waking up a 5 am isn’t everyone's ideal situation, seeing the sunrise throughout the mountains is an image I will never forget.
You need to be on the watch for mules, bulls and other livestock
Now we were warned about this on our first day, but I didn’t see it becoming the danger it was. The indigenous people move their supplies around mainly on mules and usually shout out when they are behind you, so you can get out of the way. Make sure not to stand on the cliff edge side of the trail whilst letting the animals pass as you don’t want to get thrown off a cliff edge by a mule.
On our 3rd day of walking, I was slightly ahead of Josh at one point and turned around to see where he was. That is when I saw 3 bulls about 15 metres away from Josh and the bulls were not stopping. My amazingly timed turn around and scream to get him to move thankfully resulted in no bull-inflicted injuries, but let this be a lesson to you, stay vigilant on the trek as you won’t always be warned if there are 3 angry bulls charging at you.
You can expect to share this experience with a lot of other people
Now this is the one thing I think is portrayed on the internet incorrectly, I had read many articles about how untouched and tourist-free this place was. I mean I should have realised most places that don’t see mass tourism don’t have multiple articles about them, but we live and we learn.
I had imagined it being an off-the-beaten-track activity, again my own mistake. However, I want to make sure you don’t go in with that expectation. We were constantly in hoards of people walking along the trail, the camps were overfilled and don’t expect the Lost City to look like what it does on Instagram.
You’ll find Indigenous groups live along the trail
4 indigenous groups live in the Sierra Nevada and they are all descendants of the Tayrona People, those who built the lost city, they are called Wiwa, Kogi, Arhuaco, and Kankuamo. Whilst doing the Lost City trek you will walk past typical Wiwa and Kogi villages and will likely hear a lot more about their culture during the trek.
These indigenous groups believe the Lost City is a very sacred place and also believe that Pachamama (Mother Earth) is a goddess who needs to be protected. The Lost City is closed to visitors in February in order for them to perform spiritual cleansing and restore the surrounding nature.
You will sweat like you never have before
You can expect hot weather here no matter what time of year you visit the Lost City and the humidity is high. So roughly about 15 minutes into walking you can expect to be dripping in sweat and you’ll just have to ride the wave. For anyone with long hair, I recommend keeping it up and out of the way. Also when it comes to what to wear, just opt for breathable, light material clothes, I opted for linen shorts and sports bras. It’s also worth noting at night it can get quite damp, so don’t expect the heat to be drying any of your clothes.
You have to take a guided tour
It is not possible to do the Lost City trek without a registered tour company, there is also a fixed price for the 4-day tour which as of 2023 is 1,750,000 COP per person (around £300). The tours include accommodation, meals, a local guide and a translator if required. I was also told the indigenous communities receive half of the price of the tour, I don’t know if that is a fact.
As all companies charge the same, when it came to choosing a tour company to go with, I stupidly did little to no research. I don’t love being negative, but I don’t recommend going with Expotour, which is who we did it with and here is why.
They took more people on the expedition than they had beds for.
They told us they provided drinking water before booking the tour, to be told at the first camp that it’s not recommended to drink their provided drinking water as it might make us sick.
It’s rumoured they don’t pay female guides the same as male guides for doing the same job, which I am not in support of at all.
We met someone who had been bitten by a dog on his first night at one of the camps. He was told the dog hadn’t been vaccinated against rabies, yet if he were to turn back early in order to get the rabies jab, at the advice of a doctor, he would receive no refund nor would he be allowed to continue the trek another time.
I don’t believe we had the same experience as other groups when it came to learning about the Lost City, the guide seemed like they didn't want us there.
Hiking in the rainy season would make this a lot different
I absolutely can’t imagine how hellish this would be if it were to pour with rain during this hike. We got so lucky as we did this at the very start of the rainy season, the beginning of April. Yet we not once got caught out in the rain, it only rained when we were already under shelter at the camp. Some of the trails are clay-like mud and I can’t fathom walking up or down those hills in heavy rain, it would be like a slip and slide, not to mention the river crossings. It’s worth considering when you visit the Lost City as I know I wouldn’t have mentally handled this trek in the rain, the rainy season is from April to November.
This area has seen a lot of change in the last 20 years
You may read other and much older articles or blog posts about seeing police/army with guns on the trek. Not once did I see this, but it is essential to understand a little background of why there was unrest in this area. The Lost City trek is safe for tourists in 2023.
In the late 1980s to early 2000s, the Sierra Nevada was home to a lot of coca leaf plantations, unfortunately, the government's efforts to combat this not only hurt the cartel's pockets but the livelihood of local working people. They released herbicides over the Sierra Nevada in order to eradicate illegal plantations, however, this rendered many working people out of work as well as rendering the land useless for any other sort of legal crops.
Pack light as you will be carrying your bag
Pack only the essentials as trust me you won’t want to be lugging pointless items around. The recommendation is a 30L bag, but honestly take the smallest bag you can fit your stuff in. My packing list looked something like this:
Bug spray, suncream, toothbrush+paste, soap, deodorant, hairbrush, bin bags(for any wet clothes), trainers, underwear, socks, 2 tops, 1 pair of shorts/linen trousers, bikini, leggings to sleep in, a jumper for camp, waterproof, towel and a packet of skittles for each day. I wish we had taken some flip-flops for the campsite
Don’t expect fancy accommodation
The camps are basic don’t expect much, you’ll get a bunk bed with a mosquito net and a blanket. However, sometimes they take more people on the tour than there are beds, meaning you’ll be in a hammock or sharing your bed. All the camps have bathrooms and cold water showers so you can wash the day's sweat away, or head to the river to cool down.
The route is the same there and back
I don’t know how I didn’t know this fact before setting off on this hike, but for some reason, I thought it was a loop. I ended up finding this quite mentally challenging, after struggling with the walk on day 2 I was really nervous about how tough day 4 would be because I knew exactly the terrain I was facing. I do think if you do the 5-day trek, on the final day you take a slightly different route but otherwise you plod along the same trails.
Top Tip - Stay at La Guaca Hostel in Santa Marta the night before your trek, I recommend this because they will store your luggage and also have lockers for your valuables. So if you are travelling with laptops, cameras or any other valuables you don’t really want to leave in a luggage storage room you can feel reassured knowing they are locked away. Thanks to Along Dusty Roads for this recommendation, without that info, I would have been trekking with my laptop.
Honestly, I set my expectations of the Lost City trek too high; unfortunately, it didn’t end up being what I imagined. But that’s okay because I’m not going to fall head over heels for every travel experience and there is plenty of moments I did enjoy.
I would be interested to hear other people's experiences on the Lost City Trek, especially if you have a good tour company recommendation, so let me know your thoughts in the comments below. And as always if you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them.
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