Parque Arqueológico Nacional de Tierradentro

What an amazing yet strenuous hike to see some very cool ancient sites. This is probably the coolest thing I will do in Colombia and the town and people were so helpful and kind. I hope more people visit!

Be prepared for a long walk uphill to the tombs. Once there you will climb steps 6 meters down and back up. But it was worth it. Beautiful and unique.

Parque Tierradentro is an exceptional place, a must visit if you're in this part of Colombia. Basically, these are subterranean burial sites appr. 1400 year old. It's possible to visit on your own, with public transport, below I'll explain how.

From Popayan, there are several buses daily (schedule attached). The trip costs 40k one way. Takes about 3 hours. The road is terrible, I wouldn't recommend coming by car. On the bus try to take front seats, you'll be jumping and shaking a lot. The bus won't take you all the way to the park, but will leave you at "El Crucero" (search on Google maps). From there it's a 1km+ walk to the park entrance. There is also bus connection with La Plata if you're coming from Tatacoa.

For foreigners, the cost of the entry is 50k. Factor in a night to spend in San Andres, because the last bus is at 4pm, and the sites close at 4pm too, it's impossible to visit everything by then. I visited on Tuesday, and was the only person at each site. The park is very well organized and clearly marked.

Next to the entrance, there is a museum, worth a 15-20 min stop. All the sites are accessed through hiking trails, with beautiful views, some of them - especially Aguacate - quite steep, so keep that in mind. On the first day you can easily visit Segovia, El Duende and El Tablón, and then arrive to San Andres where you'll stay overnight. There is a cheap (30k) hospedaje next to the church. All in all, it will take you 3-4 hours.

The following day you can hike to San Andres site (15 min) and Aguacate (1h 10 min), and then make your way down to take a bus (1 h). I went down towards Inza (gasolinera el Hato) instead of returning to the museum to save myself some minutes of shaking in the bus. I was pretty exhausted by the time I was down.

You'll need to bring water and maybe some snacks, as in the sun the hikes can be pretty demanding. But overall, the combination of the incredible views of the surrounding mountains, pleasant hikes and ancient archeological sites make it a really special place to visit.

Why?? how?? who?? so many questions about this place and not many answers just theories and that's what makes it even more interesting.
So simple yet amusing, that was tierradentro national park for me it was a magical place maybe cause I prefer to visit a park over the "biggest badest" shopping mall.
Now when you visit this park go with an open mind cause it might become very repetitive, and keep in mind that there's different areas that you need to hike to. The hike to the Alto the aguacate Is pretty steep and on the hard side if you start at the museum, there no obvious stairs or path in the beginning, after you cross the bridge just go up, no left or right but up, once on top you'll be rewarded with amazing 360 views of the whole area, and don't forget to bring lots of water and snacks.

Nice, intersting place, we recomending to take local taxi (after ticket office) and start from top of hill. Perfect walking trip.

Incredible site to visit and completely worth the trek to get here. If you just want to do the most noteworthy parts, it's doable as a daytrip from Popayan. Take one of the earliest (6:30am or 7:30am) buses towards Inza, and shortly after you'll arrive at El Crucero, taking upwards of 4 hours because of how awful the roads are. It's about a 20 minute walk to the entrance. From there, you can complete Segovia and Duende in about 2-2.5 hours, then walk towards El Tablon. Watch carefully for the sign since it faces the opposite direction than the direction you're headed. Head back down towards the entrance to view the museum. Should leave you plenty of time to walk or take a collective (if one passes by) to El Crucero or Inza, where you can wait for the bus back to Poayan. The last two both arrive around 4pm at El Crucero but sometimes slightly earlier (happened to me). Hope this helps somebody as it was difficult to find any info online

Fascinating, quiet and challenging. A great combination. Make sure that you stay at La Portada. Confortable, good food and wonderful people!

Stunishing, if you are into archeological site seeing this place in my opinion is a must! It is well organized a and well kept. You must be ready to walk ( in the hills) as to reach each one of the different areas you have to walk and sometimes go through large(giant) steps , ancient stairs to say so. I found the cravings beautiful and the constructions breathtaking. I most definitely recommend visiting this site.

Can't miss. Archeologic park with prehistoric tombs , great hospitality at hotel la Portada

I've never seen anything similar in my life. Stunning.

Very interesting. Please comfortable shows, Wealking is nice but a little bit demanding

Interesting, beautiful and the nature is amazing

Amazing!

Amazing

Un posto cui dedicare due giorni nel proprio itinerario in Colombia, suggerisco di fermarsi una notte e godere appieno del posto. Ci sono più percorsi all’interno del parco, che permettono di visitare le zone archeologiche ipogee sparse per le montagne, in una comunità indio ben forte e radicata, i tempi di cammino vanno dalle 2 ore ai venti minuti a escursione. In ogni punto archeologici vi è una guida che vi accompagna alla visita e vi timbra un piccolo passaporto che viene lasciato all’ingresso, con tutte le tappe da visitare.
Il biglietto costa 65000 cop, un po’ caro ma il luogo è perfettamente attrezzato e impiega molto personale, quindi soldi ben spesi. Un piccolo museo, vicino la biglietteria, è il punto di partenza ideale per la visita

Muy bonita experiencia poder conocer el parque arqueológico y sus paisajes.

1. Cómo llegar: Se puede llegar por la vía de Totoró-Inzá. La mayor parte de la vía está pavimentada y en buen estado. A partir de Inzá la vía no es pavimentada pero igual está aceptable. Los paisajes en esta vía desde Totoró son hermosos.

2. El parque: El parque abre de 8 am a 4 pm. Al llegar hay entrada principal donde se compra la entrada ($45,000 pesos por persona, adultos mayores no pagan, estudiantes a mitad de precio). En este punto hay un parqueadero pequeño para vehículos, hay un par de museos y dos rutas diferentes a dos sitios de interés. La ruta al alto del Aguacate requiere más esfuerzo y tiempo así que es recomendable hacerla muy temprano y con tiempo. La otra ruta lleva a dos sitios que son relativamente sencillos de llegar, el alto de Segovia y el alto del Duende. Es recomendable ir con ropa y calzado para caminar, llevar bastante agua y alimento porque no hay donde comprar dentro del parque, además el clima suele ser caliente. Existen otras dos entradas cerca al poblado de San Andrés, una conduce al sitio donde están las estatuas y está prácticamente al lado del camino, y la otra lleva al alto de San Andrés (y también al alto del Aguacate si se desea llegar por allí). Para conocer todos los sitios es recomendable tomarse dos días (yo fui un domingo y lunes festivo). Se puede llevar perro, pero no se permite entrarlos a las tumbas ni a los museos.

3. Hospedaje y alimentación: Se puede encontrar hospedaje al lado del parque en toda vía desde la entrada hasta San Andrés. Me hospedé en el poblado de San Andrés, en un sitio muy cómodo y limpio, con habitaciones desde $25 mil hasta $35 mil la noche. El sitio también ofrecía desayunos, almuerzos y comidas a $15,000. En el pueblo se pueden encontrar tiendas para comprar bebidas y alimentos.

Finalmente, solo puedo mencionar que fue muy bonito, súper recomendado ir, me pareció todo muy seguro, pero es recomendable siempre viajar durante el día. Visitenlo y disfruten de esta maravilla!

Un lugar maravilloso, muy organizado, las personas a cargo dan la información requerida y necesaria. Las caminatas son buenísimas. Y los paisajes son hermosos y únicos!!!!! Un lugar imperdible en mi bella Colombia.✨💛🌞❣

Es un lugar lleno de historia, naturaleza y misticismo, las caminatas y las vistas desde el alto del aguacate son espectaculares, visitar el alto de la pirámide, las tumbas en Segovia todo queda al rededor del parque arqueológico, puedes quedarte en el hostal mi casita súper cómodo y económico, desayuno y cafe riquísimo, te recomiendo contratar un guía local en el hostal mi casita te ayudan con el guía.

El ascenso desde la taquilla hasta la zona de los hipogeos puede resultar difícil, sobretodo para personas que no estén acostumbradas a caminar. Vale la pena recorrer la casa museo, la instalación es hermosa y muy bien narrada.

Un sitio para apartar sé de lo cotidiano para descansar de la ciudad y la rutina un lugar para conectarse con su amiga de nuevo a nuestros adentros