Did you know that deep in the Colombian jungle, hidden amongst the mountains, and far away from any sort of modern-day civilization, lies the ruins of an ancient pre-Colombian empire? The remnants of a fallen city that were so secluded & wild that not even the Spanish conquistadors could find it. A place so shrouded in mystery that new sections are being discovered all the time, many of which are thought to still house extensive gold treasures& sacred artifacts.

Welcome to The Lost City, or «La Ciudad Perdida» en español.

Virtually unknown to the outside world for centuries, the Lost City was «discovered» in the 1970s by local tomb raiders. After a few years of ransacking, the Colombian government stepped in to protect this sacred archaeological zone. Poco después se abrió para el turismo. The only way to see them is by braving a 4-5-6 day, 47km hike through the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the highest coastal mountain range in the world.

Being a big time outdoors adventure guy, I’m constantly exploring nature and looking for the next exciting thing to do. So when I found out about the Lost City trek & the journey involved, my heart leapt at the prospect of such a mysterious escapade. It’s been on my radar for years, and after finally doing it the other week, I can sayit’s even better than I thought it would be.

The actual ruins of The Lost City are much more impressive & extensive than photos online would lead you to believe. además, half of the joy of the Lost City tour is not just in the destination, but in the journey. Absolutely spectacular mountain scenery & views, wild and dense jungle, cascading waterfalls & refreshing swim holes, delicious food/timely snacks, more than adequate trail shelters for accommodations, and in my case, como he elegido para hacer el recorrido conMagic Tour Colombia, fun, hilarious, & extremely knowledgeable guides.

I was inspired to write an article (my first in a long time) about this once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Inevitablemente, mucha gente va a ser seguro si son para una aventura tales, on the fence about if a 4-5 día de caminata es siquiera vale la pena para ellos. Aquí hay algunas razones por las cuales el trekking a la ciudad perdida, sin duda, es…

El paisaje

Casi no hago la caminata ciudad perdida por diversas razones, and I just about let a comment from a fellow backpacker almost tip the scale away from it at one point. He said, «I don’t know, I love hiking, but hiking through the jungle not so much. It’s the same scenery all the time, I prefer to hike in the mountains with views.»

After hiking to La Ciudad Perdida & back I can 100% confirm to you that this is an incredibly scenic hike. The path has considerable elevation gain, leading you up and over mountains, out onto ridges, through meadows, and into the depths of jungle all the same.

La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta es una muy hermosa sierra, and you’ll have no shortage of inspiring views every single day.

The food

The food was absolutely delicious, and that’s not just my fat, finish-your-leftovers-off-and-maybe-yours-too @$$ talking. I heard pretty much everyone in my group remark about how impressed they were with the food at least once if not multiple times.

Fresh fruit, eggs, bread & jam in the mornings. Rice, lentils, soup or some sort of meat for lunch, and a variation of fresh veggies, rice, beans, pasta, chicken, beef, or fish in the evenings.  Los vegetarianos tomar el corazón al saber que los chefs están dispuestos a improvisar platos alternativos, así, and one girl who was a vegetarian in my group was quite satisfied.

Something that really surprised and impressed me was the attention to sanitation & cleanliness the entire cooking staff undertook. EVERYONE who cooked for Magic Tour wore hair nets & sometimes latex gloves while in the kitchen. I’m serious when I say that I had never even seen this during my travels in all of Latin America, and the fact that they adhered to these 1st world standards in the middle of the jungle was all the more impressive.

además, every 1-2 hours on the trail between campsites we were always welcomed with snack stops. Fresh watermelon, pineapple, naranjas y las galletas que reponer nuestra energía& tide us over until the next meal. Water was readily available at all times and always sterilized.

The accommodations

Esto no era tanto de un asunto mío de cara a la selva como mi estilo de vida en el camino me ve durmiendo en camas de verdad sólo una fracción del tiempo. Habiendo dicho eso, I can understand how it may be more important to others considering doing the Lost City trek, so I wanted to cover it as well.

Para dar cabida a la afluencia de turistas occidentales que crece cada año, comfortable bunk beds and hammocks, complete with full mosquito nets have been fashioned.

Por supuesto, at the end of the day I was so tired that I could have fallen asleep face down in a mud hole, pero aun así, I was happy to lay down on the supportive mattresses & soft pillows that were provided.

Bathrooms were well-maintained and clean, with toilet paper, and even hot water showers in some of the camps!

The indigenous cultures

Hay 4 different indigenous groups in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta: the Kogi, Wiwa, Arhuaco, and Kakuamo. All are direct descendants of the Tayrona, the people group who constructed the Lost City.

The Kogi & Wiwa are by far the most prevalent in the area. A lo largo del camino se encuentra con un buen número de ellos, selling juice or snacks to passing tourists, riding horses & driving cargo donkeys, or simply walking through the jungle to hunt or go about their daily lives. La gira también te lleva a través de múltiples pueblos Kogi, donde se puede obtener una mirada de primera mano en dónde y cómo viven.

A pesar de que el viaje a la ciudad perdida es así en el mapa turístico ahora, es evidente que estos grupos indígenas han hecho un gran trabajo conservando sus tradiciones & customs. Their traditional garb, primitive villages, shaman-centric ceremonies, long hair & barefoot appearance – these are really jungle people!

I’m more used to dealing with the indigenous groups of Mayan descent in Mexico & northern C. América, so coming face to face with Kogi & Wiwa people felt really different & wild. Everyone I interacted with was really nice as well!

The swimming holes

¿Hay algo mejor que tener un producto natural & refreshing swimming hole in the middle of the jungle to jump in after hours of sweaty hiking? Gracias a Dios que no hay escasez de cruces de ríos en la caminata a La Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City).

Ahora estoy en una especie de natación agujero / catarata / fanático del río, y yo puedo decir que estos son algunos agujeros de natación sólidas! Clean and deep, cool but not cold, with rocks to jump of, and fed by gushing waterfalls to boot.

Seriously, every single place that we stopped to swim at had waterfalls cascading into the river – my type of places! Make sure to bring your GoPro!

Nuestro guía experto

It’s so important to have a good guide on trips like this. I always say that without proper knowledge of the background & history, ancient ruins are nothing more than a pile of rocks. Me alegro de que fui con la compañía de viajes que hice, because our tour guide Juan Carlos was EXCELLENT!

Juan Carlos has been working in the Sierra Nevada for more than 20 años. He originally went to the Lost City as a «guaquero» (a tomb raider), and quickly fell in love with the place. As the archaeological zone became protected, Juan Carlos became an apprentice of sorts under Frankie Rey, la legendaria tumba Raider volvió guía que era, literalmente, la primera persona para ofrecer tours a la ciudad perdida. That means that Juan Carlos has been involved with tours to the Lost City longer than pretty much anyone in the biz.

Juan Carlos was accompanied by a translator named Arnie for all of those who didn’t speak Spanish.

Between the two of them, we not only learned everything about the history of the Lost City, the ancient Tayrona civilization, y la corriente, local indigenous communities & their customs, but also about all the local flora & fauna in the area, and current sustainable & restorative efforts in the park. It seemed that every kilometer or so, Juan Carlos would stop and point out some sort of medicinal/useful plant and explain us the process.

También debo señalar que Juan Carlos era hilarante! Having the knowledge is only half the battle of being a tour guide, and Juan Carlos combined his informative stories with engaging jokes and playful banter. He really made the entire experience more enjoyable.

Even if Magic Tour Colombia didn’t have everything else on point, I would recommend choosing them as your tour company for this reason alone.

I don’t want to do any mud slinging, but I heard some questionable stories about various guides with other companies. For example, a certain group, which brands itself as the only indigenous-owned tour company, doesn’t offer much of the actual history & hechos sobre la ciudad perdida. They instead tell their groups that the city was «created by the gods.» Another person told me that their guide (yet another company) forgot to sterilize their water and the whole lot of them got sick.  Sólo digo…

The actual ruins

A quick Google image search of «The Lost City» yields semi-inspiring results. They are mostly populated with slight variations of the same exact photo – the view of the round, green terraces with the mountains in the background. Si bien este es sin duda uno de los tiros más pintorescos de la ciudad perdida, it is by no means the extent of the ruins.

In fact, because of it’s subpar documentation online, I signed up to hike the Lost City with «it’s not the destination, but the journey» expectations. I figured, even if the ruins aren’t grandiose & awe-inspiring, the overall experience of a multiple-day hike through the wild, Colombian jungle will make it worth it.

However, immediately upon arriving to the ancient 1,000+ stone staircase that leads you from the river’s edge up to the ridge of the mountain where The Lost City begins, it’s apparent that something truly special awaits at the top.

You finally reach the top of the staircase a sweaty, out-of-breath mess, but all is forgotten the moment you crest the ridge and step into this magical, sacred place. Moss-covered walls rise up in front of you. Rustling, árboles verdes & vides mecen revelan-múltiples capas de terrazas & the remains of temples in almost every direction. A myriad of stone paths & twisting staircases lead you up through the forest and around to even more levels.

If I had to choose an «OH WOW» moment, it would be when, after climbing yet another mossy staircase, I finally reached the upper levels of the city.

The main terraced area stretched out in front of me, rising level after level up the spine of the mountain, flanked on the left by a cascading waterfall 100’s of feet tall.

En este preciso momento un grupo de tucanes voló a través de mi línea de visión y que fue inmediatamente transportado en el tiempo hasta el pico de la civilización Tayrona. The buildings reconstructed themselves before my eyes, el bullicioso centro de comercio llegó a la vida con sus grandes masas de personas, bartering & negociación, and music filled the air. I seriously lost myself for a moment – lo que un encantador& mystical place!

The ruins sit on 86 acres of jungly mountainside, the vast majority of which still has not been uncovered and restored. Apparently, 169 terraces have been excavated, while many more, buried under centuries of jungle overgrowth, still haven’t seen the light of day. La extensión de la ciudad excavada consiste en bases de niveles múltiples de casas antiguas, plazas, & temples that hug the mountainside as they fan out & expand from the main area. Our tour spent almost 3 hours wandering through the Lost City (La Ciudad Perdida), and we could have spent even longer.

It’s still not too touristy

I hiked La Ciudad Perdida during Semana Santa, Latin America’s week long celebration of Easter, which is THE busiest time of the year to do anything or go anywhere.  Mi guía me dijo que había probablemente «3 veces más personas esta semana de lo normal.» Even so, it wasn’t ese lleno de gente.

That’s because, although the trek to the Lost City is growing on the international radar, it still isn’t super well-known and popular. Apparently La Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) only sees about 9,000 people per year, as opposed to more than a million/year at Machu Picchu. There’s no telling how long it will stay like this though. Juan Carlos told me that every year there are more tourists than the last, and it seems to be just a matter of time before it blows up.

Seamos honestos, the idea kind of sells itself. Who doesn’t want to want to add finding a Lost City deep in the Colombian mountains to their list of accomplishments? I would recommend going now before it becomes a cliche activity and before hordes of tourists do God knows what to the surroundings.

I also would like to mention that my group with Magic Tour Colombia fue el primer grupo en llegar a las ruinas de la ciudad perdida de los cerca de 15 grupos que dejaron al mismo tiempo. Our guides got our butts in gear the morning of the 3rd day, knowing how important it was to arrive to the ruins before the masses did. Having the entire Lost City to ourselves, if only for 15 minutes or so, was truly special and a feeling that will stick with me for a long time.

You have to earn it

The saying «nothing good comes easy» can definitely be applied to the Lost City trek. Invertir varios días para alcanzar cualquier cosa es en última instancia más gratificante que las tareas de gratificación instantánea. So is a multiple day hike to a secluded destination 10x more rewarding than visiting the drive-up, step-out, and take-a-picture destinations. I mean, you don’t think the Lost City got it’s name from being on the side of the highway, did you?

The feeling you get when you finally sit down on the higher terraces and look out across the main plaza of the ruins, with miles of valley & mountains stretched out before you is difficult to put into words.

You’ve spent days of strenuous hiking up & over the Sierra Nevada to get here. You’ve endured the 90% humidity of the rainforest, braved the incessant mosquitos, and hiked through sacred, indigenous territory, todo para llegar a este momento. Ahora hemos descubierto una ciudad tan remota que ni siquiera los conquistadores españoles’ probing expeditions led them here. Todo esto es parte de lo que hace la experiencia de ciudad perdida tan poderoso y memorable. You’ll never forget this accomplishment.

También lo hacen los The Lost City Trek Ahora!

Hay un montón de ruinas arqueológicas de explorar todo el mundo, pero ninguno que yo sepa que la oferta lo que la caminata hacia la ciudad perdida (La Ciudad Perdida) does. Most Mayan or Aztec ruins you can practically drive right up to. Y, por supuesto Machupicchu ofrece el día múltiple caminata hasta el Camino Inca, which I plan on doing, pero está tan comercializado estos días que tipo de falta el encanto y el misterio que tiene la ciudad perdida.

I also understand that it can be hard to justify spending 4-5 days hiking through the jungle to do anything. If you’re the type who doesn’t like hiking/camping/not having your first-world luxuries, then this hike is probably not for you. But if you’re an adventure junkie or outdoor lover like me, this is an absolute MUST-DO activity. I hope this post has shown you some reasons why!

Go now while trekking to the Lost City is still relatively unknown & unique. Surely in the years that come it will be overrun with tourists and will lose some of its appeal. And go with a tour company that knows what they’re doing and values your personal experience, even though they’ve already done it 1,000 times. Gracias Magic Tour for ensuring that I had the trip of a lifetime, I’ll never forget it!

Essential Info:

Magic Tour Colombia

Facebook Page

Phone/WhatsApp: +57(314)571-3645

Email: fanny@magictourcolombia.com

Cost: 850,000 Colombian Pesos (approx. $290USD at time of publishing).  Includes all transport, all food, accommodations, guides, translators, and entrance to park for 4,5, or 6 days.

What to pack:  Not much! The lighter your pack the better.  All of your clothes will get completely wet, so there is no real need to bring a lot:  2x of quick-drying shirts & shorts, 1x of long pants & camisa de manga larga para la noche, 3x underwear, 3x socks, 1x hiking shoes, 1x sandals.  Sombrero, protector solar, bug repellant (DEET), headlamp/flashlight, dry bags for electronics, sunglasses, hand sanitizer, and obviously all necessary medication & toiletries.

When to go:  The dry season runs from December to April, but going in the «off-season» could mean cooler weather, far less people, and more of a chance to connect with locals.