Paisa Tours: Guide to Medellin and Colombia


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Paisa Country (Central Colombia):
Medellin City
Medellin Hotels
El Penol
Antioquia's Oriente
Santa Fe Antioquia
Rio Claro
Coffee Country
Los Nevados Park








Los Nevados National Park


Los Nevados National Park (or Parque Nacional Los Nevados in Spanish), provides some of Colombia's finest trekking scenery. The National Park is extremely high, with various snow covered peaks. It can get very cold, and you'll need to allow time to acclimatize if you plan on spending the night.

Manizales is the nearest town to Los Nevados National Park, and from here you can arrange a full days tour into the Park. Generally, you depart in 4WD early in the morning and return late in the afternoon - you'll go right up to the refuge and snow line, have a bit of time for some trekking, and return to Manizales via some nearby hot springs (a spa hotel - either Termales del Ruiz or Termales de Otono). Various tour operators in Manizales offer such day tours. Trekking enthusiasts might consider arranging an overnight package - packages of up to 4 or even 6 nights trekking and camping can be arranged in Manizales.

There is just one hotel inside of the park itself, called El Cisne, a lovely, very comfortable lodge operated by Aviatur (camping is also offered there). Another campsite/refugio just outside of the Park itself, but still in a lovely setting is Refugio Arenales. In addition, there are also the spa hotels attached to the hot springs mentioned previously.

The best months to visit Park Los Nevados are October and November and from March to May - it's drier and less cloudy during these months, so the views are more spectacular.

While Manizales is almost always the staging point for a visit to Los Nevados, it is also possible to access (by foot) the Park from the South. There's routes into the path from Ibague, Parque Ucumari and also Valle de Cocora - these are long but very scenic trekking routes involving overnighting in simple refugios. Guides can be arranged locally.

See the section on trekking in Colombia for other ideas, or see the video of Los Nevados.


Los Nevados, Colombia:
Los Nevados Park, Colombia
Trekking to Los Nevados Peak.

Trekking in Colombia
Los Nevados National Park, Colombia.

Manizales:
Manizales, Colombia
Manizales and Los Nevados in the background.

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