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Hiking is the best way to get to know the natural landscape of an area. Anyone who begs to differ, feel free to comment below with what’s better than breaking a well-deserved sweat while breathing in the fresh air of a new place and catching some knockout views.
I dare you.
Anyways, hiking in Colombia is awesome because this country is full of beautiful trails, many of which don’t even require you to wander too far from the city to trek. This post is going to be regularly updated as we check out more hiking in Colombia over the next several months.
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Medellin
You can’t go wrong with the perfect year-round temperatures Medellin offers. Dubbed the “City of Eternal Spring,” the average annual temperature of the city falls at about 72 degrees F (22 degrees C) and cycles between wetter months and drier months. I’d liken this weather to Southern California, just with more rain that you’d see in its American equivalent.
Medellin itself is not a huge city, with 3 million residents, yet can still feel a bit chaotic, noisy, and, unfortunately at times, a bit smoggy due to its location situated in the valley. Getting out of the hustle and bustle for a hike on the weekends is a great way to spend some quality time reconnecting with nature.
Cerro de las Tres Cruces
Situated near El Poblado in a neighborhood called Belen, there is a trail that you can see from various parts of the city winding up a small mountain near the edge of the valley. This trail is called Cerro de las Tres Cruces, or, Hill of the 3 Crosses. Without being too obvious, this hike gets its name because there are, indeed, 3 crosses that you will see at the top of this hike.
Location:
The trailhead starts right across the street from Colegio Padre Manyanet
How Long is the Hike?
To get to the top of the hike, it is about one hour steep uphill. You’ll certainly break a sweat on this hike, but the fact that this is a hill versus a mountain means you can get up and down this hike in under 2 hours. There are multiple locations to stop, sit down, have a view of the city, or even buy a water or protein shake. The day we went, there was a horse towards the beginning of the hike. We weren’t really sure what that was about.
What to Wear
Colombians hiking on this trail come in some pretty snazzy workout attire. No special workout attire is actually necessary besides a good pair of walking shoes as well as some breathable fabric clothing, a hat for the sun, and sunscreen. Don’t forget sunscreen. Even after reapplying once, we still got pretty burned around our neckline and arms.
What’s There to See?
Breathtaking views of the city: Medellin is so goddamn beautiful! On a clear day, you can see for miles and miles and never get bored looking.
The 3 Crosses: I promise there is a third at the top of this hill, my camera just couldn’t capture all three. Believe it or not, people did not seem too interested in this sight at the top of the hill. I suppose everyone was too distracted by the views of the city as well as the gym just behind this scene.
A Gym: This has got to be the coolest location to get your pump on. We didn’t really notice until afterwards some of the meatheads who were clearly hiking this hill just to get their weightlifting sesh in. I’ve been working on pull ups this month and attempted a pull up on the bar. There were locals here who clearly work out here often and I find the people’s enthusiasm for fitness and wellness to be extremely admirable.
We’re still building up our list of hikes in Colombia to scale and write about – any recommendations on where we should go next ?!
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