Salento: 7 Must-Try Activities
Salento is a small town at 5,300 ft elevation in the Quindío department: the coffee region. Despite its small size, with around 7,000 inhabitants, it has a lot to offer in various areas. There are many coffee farms to visit around town, mountains to explore, a valley with the tallest palm trees in the world, its Jeeps converted into mini coffee shops… and let’s not forget its kind people!
Mural at the mirador.
Without further ado, here is my list of seven must-try activities in and around Salento:
2. Go up to the observation platform (mirador)
3. Bike Tour in the Valle de Cocora
4. Play Tejo!
Walk Around Town
You can see most of the town pretty quickly, but the main plaza is quite pretty with its park and its church, the colorful streets are charming, and you can check out restaurants or cafés to try out during your stay (it is a popular destination, there are plenty of options!).
If you come to Salento after having explored Bogotá or Medellín, you’ll appreciate how peaceful it is to walk around here. But beware the town is built on a hill, so it’s full of ups and downs, even right in town.
On the main plaza you’ll find Jeeps called Willys that have been converted in micro coffee shops: don’t hesitate to buy a drink and savor it in the parc.
While exploring town, you can also take a look at different places that offer tours, in case you haven’t planned excursions ahead of time.
And most of all: in the northwestern part of town, there are two panoramic viewpoints:
Go up to the Observation Platform
The view from the mirador is worth all the steps, I promise: this region is so green and hilly!
Don’t forget to turn around every once in a while on your way up to check out the view of town from there. It’s a great excuse for breaks.
If you forgot your water bottle, don’t worry. There are vendors at the top. You can definitely go there more than once if you want to experience different views: shades of greens during the way… or a pastel sunrise if you wake up early enough!
There is a trail between the two viewpoints, so you can go up one way and come back down another!
Bike Tour in the Valle De Cocora
Salento is the perfect access point to this magnificent and luxuriant valley where the national tree grows: the wax palm tree. It’s the tallest palm tree in the world and can reach up to 200 ft!
The company Salento Cycling (which you can find at the entrance of town) offers a day trip by bike which is the perfect way to see these beautiful trees : they drive you up into the valley where you can hike to a gorgeous picnic point in the Carbonera (9480 ft high)… and then you bike down back into town !
A truly great day, full of colors and emotions ! And if you make new friends during the tour, a perfect activity for the evening is to try out the game of tejo:
Play Tejo!
Tejo is the national game in Colombia : On wooden box filled with clay, a metallic circle is placed and small doses of explosives attached to it in little white envelopes (see photo).
You must throw a heavy puck on the box, and if it touches the metallic circle, it will react with the contents of the envelope and produce a little explosion!
Of course, there are many places in Colombia where you can play tejo, but Salento is perfect for the following reasons:
1) It won’t be as crowded as in bigger towns
2) It’s be cheaper than in bigger towns
3) There will be fewer people to hear you scream: even if you anticipate and expect the explosion, it will surprise you!
Hike in the Páramo
The reason we came to Salento in the first place was to be able to hike and explore the Nevados National Park.
The company Páramo Trek organizes tours of two or three days, where you sleep in fincas, former farms converted to welcome backpackers overnight. These are very simple places, with co-ed dorms and bunkbeds, a wood oven and simple food… but everything tastes better after a long day of hiking. And to warm up, there is nothing better than a cup of aguapanela… a hot drink made from sugar cane.
One of the characteristics of the Parque Nacional de los Nevados is an ecosystem called Páramo: typical of the Andes mountains, between the forests (that you will go through at the beginning and end of the hike) and the glacier. On my photos you can see a plant called frailejone.
There is often fog and mud, but the view is worth the effort: you might even see a sea of clouds! Beware of altitude sickness, as this trip might take you over 13,000ft. Don’t forget to hydrate and keep a slow pace.
Visit a Coffee Farm
The Quindío department is famous for its coffee, and there are several coffee farms near Salento. We rented a mountain bike in town and asked about a good route to explore for a few hours around town… and the Acacias coffee farm was on the way to go down to the Quindío river: about a 40-minute walk, or faster in bike… but remember that the whole area is hills, so it’ll take longer to get back: I actually had to walk my bike up the last stretch…
The visit was really interesting: we were able to walk the property and see coffee beans at different stages of their development, learn more about the drying and grinding processes… and of course the visit ended with a delicious cup of hot coffee. It was really fascinating to see all the steps that coffee takes before ending up in our cups, not something we often think about.
An added bonus on this visit was the many species of birds we were able to see in their natural environment…
Admire the Fauna and Flora
There is so much wildlife to see in and around Salento: lizards, birds, insects and more!
We had the chance to admire many different species of birds, and even a stick insect while in the Valle del Cocora. The toucan was a formidable surprise during our trek in the forest leading to the Páramo.
Everything is so colorful in Colombia: the animals and the flowers too! While observing flowers, you might see more… the area is known for its abundance of hummingbirds.
Take the time to look around you, in town while having coffee, at the mirador, or during one of your tours!
We were really smitten with Salento. We initially had planned only three days, mostly to do the Páramo hiking trip, but once we discovered the biking tour and the coffee farms, we knew we’d need more time.
It also felt like a great place to take a breather during our month-long adventure in Colombia. That’s how we ended up staying a whole week! If you have time, I’d recommend it. It was a great break for us, between Medellín and Bogotá.