LA TATACOA DESERT
In this post, we will describe our experience traveling to the Tatacoa Desert. Therefore, we want to let one thing clear: we made the trip on our own, If you are planning to make it this way.
I hope you read carefully the recommendations that we are going to share in this post, in order to avoid some troubles as we will describe later on.
Even so, if you are one of those who want to go with an agency, we will display the company travel packages for this place, and of course, we are going to give you some recommendations that you can choose the best one.
👉 Click here to get more information about the Tatacoa Desert🐫 .
IN THIS POST, YOU ARE GOING TO FIND LA FOLLOWING INFORMATION:
- How to get to the Tatacoa Desert?
- Route in the Tatacoa Desert
- Lodging near to the Tatacoa Desert
- Available tours in the Tatacoa Desert
- Recommendations to visit the Tatacoa Desert
- Other Hiking routes in Colombia
Let's get started with the adventure ⛰.
[See this post in Spanish version 🇨🇴]
FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT LA TATACOA DESERT
The Tatacoa Desert is the second most arid zone in Colombia after the Peninsula of Guajira. Therefore, it becomes one of the most attractive natural scenarios of Colombia which covers 330 square kilometers of ocher and gray earth with touches of green cactus.
The Tatacoa Desert has two characterized colors: ocher in the Cuzco sector and gray in the area known as Los Hoyos.
THING YOU WON'T WANT TO LOSE IN LA TATACOA DESERT
- Pool in the middle of the Tatacoa Desert.
- Astronomical observatory.
- Walk in the Tatacoa Desert.
- Drink cactus juice.
HOW TO GET TO LA TATACOA DESERT 🚍?
The first thing we had to do was to arrive in the city of Neiva pinpointed in the Huila department. If you want to travel by bus, we are going to mention the duration of the trip, estimated departure schedules, approximate transport ticket cost, and transportation companies that provide the traveling service; on the other hand, if you want to travel by plane, we will show you what is the nearest airport.
-> BOGOTÁ TO NEIVA
The bus ticket costs approximately $85.000 COP. The buses depart from the transport Terminal at 2:15 with a frequency of 1 hour between one bus and the other. The name of the bus company is Cootranshuila.
-> MEDELLÍN TO NEIVA
The bus ticket costs approximately $120.000 COP. The average time to get to Neiva is 13 hours, and the bus companies which provide the service are Coomotor and Bolivariano. Those buses depart at 14:00 with a frequency of 1 hour between one bus and the other one.
-> CALI TO NEIVA
The bus ticket costs approximately $105.000 COP. The average time to get to Neiva is 13 hours, and the departure times start at 23:45, 2:00, 5:00. The bus company which provides the service is Coomotor.
-> CLOSEST AIRPORT
If you would like to travel by plane, the closest airport is the Benuto Salas Airport in the city of Neiva, located 42,8 miles away from Villavieja.
If you would like to search for flights, we suggest you to visit the website Skyscanner , since it allows you to look for discounts of different airline companies.
Once we settled in Neiva (Huila), we had to take a bus headed to Villavieja town in Huila. The trip duration is 90 minutes and the bus ticket costs $15.000 COP. The departure schedules start at 5:00 and 6:00.
We show you the map of the route from Neiva to Villavieja in case you go by motorcycle or car:
When we got to Villavieja town we took a free time to visit the paleontological museum 🏛, which was built in 1984 where around 950 original pieces of Fossil remains of gigantic turtles, sloth bears, crabs and fish dating back almost 15 million years.
Besides, it's the only paleontological museum in Huila which belongs to the middle miocene. The operating schedules are from Monday to Sunday at 8:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 18:00. To grant access to the museum, you must pay $5.000 COP.
Photo by: @backpack.n.us
Before going to the Tatacoa Desert, it is advisable to buy the things we need such as: plenty of water, since in the desert it is so much more difficult to find stores.
Now we are ready to continue our way to the Tatacoa desert 🏜. To take the mototaxi we had to go to the Villavieja park, in this place we found different companies that provide this service.
ROUTE IN LA TATACOA DESERT 🏜️
At this time, we are going to show you the map with the route we made in the Tatacoa Desert where you could observe the places we visited. Take into account that we just made the route by walking in some areas as we will be explaining further
NOTE: If you are traveling by car or motorcycle, you could entrance to the desert without any problem, sometimes with it is high season, they restrict the access of cars, since the mobility is compromised for the tourist.
-> DAY #1
--> GRAY DESERT IN LOS HOYOS SECTOR
We took a mototaxi from the municipality of Villavieja to the region known as Los Hoyos, which lasted around 30 minutes. This is the most remote place of the Tatacoa Desert where is located the natural pool in the middle of the desert 🏜🏊🏼.
SWIMMING POOL IN LA DESERT
There is no better plan to take a dip on a pool to refresh on a sunny day ☀️.So, if you want to access the pool, it costs $10.000 COP per person to enjoy the refreshing shower and observe the gray dunes which are the main characteristic in this part of the desert.
Photo by: @la_vidademike
VALLEY OF GHOSTS
In this place, there is a hiking route which has a duration of 2 hours; therefore, due to time issues, we could not make it. During the route, you could see a place known as Valley of Ghosts, which is a mountain of hardened-sands and is very likely to have ghostly figures.
Photo by: @camiloj_universe
After having taken a dip swim, we returned to our conformable accommodations, we will give you the recommendations of the available lodgings in the lodging section.
Recommendation: If you do not have transportation, and you want to take this trip by your own, ensure that the car or mototaxi you are going to pick up is affiliated to a trusted transport company, due to so many times, you will be offered transport services by particular people.
-> DAY #2
To the next day, we went out to take the route to the region of the Tatacoa Desert that was remaining which is the ‘’Cuzco’’
--> CUZCO
It's one of the biggest attractions of the place characterized by its reddish and ocher colored formation revealing the erosion to which the area has been subjected. The hiking route that we made was a circular hike with a distance of 1,64 kilometers with a time duration of 1 hour walking.
RECOMMENDATION: You should know that in the desert, you could see animals such as the hazardous rattlesnake🐍, and so many of them are found for trails that are not commonly crowded by tourists. That is why, we recommend to make the trip with a local guide.
Photo by: @la_vidademike
After having made part of the trip of the Tatacoa Desert, nothing better to quench thirst than drink a cactus juice🍹😋”; this is a common drink of the zone. The ice-cream shop is near from the Tatacoa Desert Astronomical Observatory🔭. Here, you could charge your phones because it is unlikely to charge them at the lodgings.
--> STAR-GAZING AT LA ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY
Once in our lodging, we settled our things to go to the Astronomical Observatory which has an entrance cost of $30.000 COP. In case you are an amateur at star-gazing 🙄, do not worry because the talk starts by explaining the basis of astronomy in order to understand easier how the universe works 😉🔭🌠. The operating schedule starts from 7:00 to 21:00 everyday.
Photo by: @ruahugo
We hope this information has been useful for all of you, and we just thank you for coming here.
LODGINGS IN LA TATACOA DESERT 🛏️🏜️
At this time, we will share some available options of hotels and hostels we found available and we separated them into two parts. Lodgings in Villavieja and lodgings inside the Tatacoa Desert, and each lodgings has its reservation link on Booking.com.
On our trip, we always use the Booking platform, because this website allows us to check the rate of each lodging, in addition, it allows us to book it free and safely.
NOTE: We do not expect to receive incoming earnings since Booking gives us a little reward when you make a reservation throughout the links we shared in each one of them.
-> LODGINGS IN VILLAVIEJA TOWN
Villavieja is the closest municipality to the Tatacoa Desert, it is just 15 minutes away from it, and you can go by car or motorcycle. You will be able to find marketplaces, and a great variety of restaurants. Now, we will share the best lodgings options that we found in Villavieja.
--> SOLARIS HOTEL
This lodging is found at the center of the municipality of Villavieja. It is a smoke free zone, so it is perfect to spend time with your family. In this lodging, you are going to find
- Communal living, roof, restaurant, and a bar in Villavieja
- The entire lodging has internet coverage
- Hot tub and Karaoke
- Free parking lots
- The closest airport (Benito Salas Airport) is 62 kilometers away from the lodging
👉 Link to book in Solaris Hotel
--> CASA HOTEL ESTELAR
This hotel is found at the center of the municipality of Villavieja just a square away from the museum, and a square from the Principal Park, and this lodging has:
- Communal living, and bar
- Free parking lots, and internet coverage
- The lodging has a paid shuttle to go and return from the airport
- The staff at the 24-hour service can give you advices about the zone
- American breakfast is served everyday in the morning at the hotel.
👉 Link to book in Casa Estelar
-> LODGINGS INTO LA TATACOA DESERT
You should take into consideration that in the Tatacoa Desert, the lack of water is consistent, and the little water which comes out the faucet sometimes is not suitable for human consumption.
Plus, the electricity is supplied through solar panels or power plants. Likewise, you won’t marketplaces; in the fullness of time, the cell phone's signal is terrible because just few mobile phone carriers work near to the Astronomical Observatory
Afterwards, we will show you the best lodgings options that you could find in the Tatacoa Desert.
--> LODGING AT CASA DE CAMPO LOS CACTUS
This lodging is located near to the Astronomical Observatory, and it is equipped with:
- Garden and latin restaurant
- Free parking lots
- The entire rooms of the lodgings have private shower and toiletries
- Some rooms offer view of the mountains
- You can enjoy of a continental breakfast at the hotel
- The zone is perfect to practice cyclism, and there are also bike rental
- The hotel counts with a paid shuttle to go and return from the airport
👉 Link para reservar en Alojamiento casa de campo los cactus
--> TOURIST INN NOCHES DE SATURNO
This lodging is found near the Astronomical Observatory and it is equipped with:
- Local gastronomy restaurants, bar, free parking lots
- All the rooms include private shower and toiletries
👉 Link to book at tourist inn noches de saturno
IMPORTANT: When we were lodged in the Tatacoa Desert, a foreigner was robbed of the luggage and the lodging did not have a register form of the people who were lodged, they could not recognize the person in order to make the complaint.
-> MORE LODGING OPTIONS NEAR LA TATACOA DESERT
Hereinafter, we will share the links of Booking in which you could filter and search for more lodging according to your needs. Furthermore, recommendations to get a lodging that has good comments and rate and good referrals in Booking.
👉 Link to check more available lodging in the Tatacoa Desert
AVAILABLE TOURS IN LA TATACOA DESERT 🧳🐫
Many travelers usually go directly to the Tatacoa Desert. But if you have enough time to spare, give the small town Villavieja, a gateway to the Tatacoa Desert, a try.
Furthermore, Villavieja is also the last stop before Tatacoa, where you can buy reasonably priced water and do grocery shopping, so it is another reason to spend a few moments, and it the the starter point of the tours, there, you could find out the following options.
NOTE: You must keep in mind that agencies do not sell group tours, they will all be personalized, so the more people who will go, the cheaper it will be.
👉 Here you can see all the tour options available
RECOMMENDATIONS TO VISIT LA TATACOA DESERT
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Sun-hat since the temperatures can get up to 40 degrees, it is highly important you must be well-protected from the high temperatures. Moreover, it is a must but wearing a hat at all times will prevent you from getting headaches.
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Wear appropriate clothing such as: long-sleeved sweatshirts with sun protection, buff to cover yourself from dust, thin fabric pants or lycra that have sun protection and glasses, You can find them on our online store.
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Many travelers decide to lodge in Villavieja, since they are going to have more hotel amenities
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Tatacoa Desert is an all-year-round destination, so you can easily incorporate it into your Colombia itinerary no matter what your travel dates are; Moreover, June, July and August are perfect months to visit the Tatacoa Desert which is the dry season in Colombia.
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One of the most important things is to have a water bottle. Not only staying hydrated is super-important, but when you buy a five-liter barrel, you will help to reduce plastic and be a more responsible traveler.
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Make sure you have bug repellent, and even though have a mosquito net
OTHER HIKING ROUTES IN COLOMBIA
Here, we will share some routes that you could make if you are in Colombia
This is the end of the route to the Tatacoa desert, don't forget to follow us on our social networks to see more places like this 👉 Instagram y Youtube.