Guatape Tour
The Guatapé tour is one of the most popular tours in Medellín. It is known for its colorful houses and zocalos and for the monolithic 200 meter (656 foot) tall rock known as El Peñol.
Once a farming town relying mainly on livestock, agriculture, and mining, Guatapé underwent dramatic changes when Empresas Públicas de Medellín built a hydro-electric dam just outside the city in the 1970’s. Now Guatapé’s main revenue comes in the form of tourism for its colorful houses, its large fresh-water reservoir and marina, and the enormous rock, El Peñol that dominates the landscape. El Peñol is a monolithic rock that towers more than 650 feet (200 meters) above the landscape of Guatapé. You can reach the top of this national monument by climbing the 740 stairs that have been wedged into the side of the rock.
SOME FACTS ABOUT EL PEÑOL:
- The rock was first “officially” climbed in 1954 by Luis Villegas, Pedro Nel Ramirez and Ramón Diaz – it took them five days
- The rock is privately owned
- In 2019 the cost to “climb” the rock is $18.000 COP which is a fee that is not covered by most tours (it is covered in ours)
- The rock is approximately 200 meters tall
- There are 740 steps to the top
- There are no elevators, so all food and drink are carried up the rock manually.
- There is an outer staircase for going up and an inner staircase for going down (not inside the rock, just inside the other staircase)
