Caño Cristales - river of colours
Emblematic places
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Caños Cristales River is located in Meta department. It is a destination within the Colombian jungle that is beyond the visitor’s wildest dreams. The intense red of the plant Macarena Clavijera that covers its bed blows the mind of even the most experienced traveller. This will surely be a unique journey which should not be missed from any travellers list.
In order to visit the river it is necessary to arrive to La Macarena village which is only accessible by flight. There are charter flights from Bogota, Medellin and Villavicencio. The only commercial airline company flying to La Macarena is Satena (from Bogota).
We strongly recommend doing the tour in 4 days. Nevertheless, the minimum necessary travelling time is 3 days (established by local authorities).
Day 1: Meeting at Bogota Eldorado Airport at 5:00 AM. Charter flight to La Macarena. After you arrival you will do the registration procedure in the Parks Office and leave your bags in the hotel. Lunch in the village.
In the afternoon you will head to Caño Cristalito which is a small river with the same characteristics as Caño Cristales. OR you will visit the view point of the Guayabero River (the exact activity depends on the authorization of local authorities, it is assigned at the moment of registration, could be different from this itinerary). Return back to La Macarena.
Day 2: Today you will spend the most part of the day in Caño Cristales. In order to get there, first, you will take a boat on Guayabero river for about 15 min, second, you will take a car for about 25 min and finally the last 2 km you will walk since cars do not have direct access to the river. During the following two days you will be hiking on different trails in Caño Cristales visiting the most representative places in the river, enjoying the waterfalls, swimming and resting. We expect to return back to La Macarena village at about 4:00 PM. Night in the hotel.
Day 3: Similar to Day 2 you will return back to Caño Cristales and walk on a different trail. Please bear in mind that exist certain schedules for entering and exiting the river with a purpose to control the tourist flow through the authorized trails.
In the afternoon we return back to La Macarena. In the night we will have a chance to visit the cultural show called “Parrando llanero” where you can enjoy the local music and dance. Night in the hotel.
Day 4: In the morning you will do a short activity according to what the local authority assigns. About mid-day/afternoon you will take a charter flight La Macarena – Bogotá. Charter flights do NOT have exact timings; normally they depart between 12:00 y 15:00. More precise time will be confirmed the night before. End of the tour.
- Please contact us before you book the tour, it is very important since the National Park only allows a certain amount of travellers per day per trail. We will first re-confirm the availability in the park (since it might be changing all the time) and also the flights. We will get back to you ASAP
- The season to visit the River Caño Cristales is from June to November. The exact opening and closing dates can only be known when we are close to the date, since it depends on the actual weather conditions. Sometimes the park opens even in mid-May and if there is sufficient rain, it can last open even up to Christmas.
- We recommend having at least 4 days available for the tour. However, you can also travel in 3. It is the minimum time to carry out the tour (established by local authorities).
- It is absolutely necessary to comply with all the norms and requirements established by local authorities National Parks and Cormacarena
- It is recommended to choose working days for the tour or at least try to avoid the national holidays called “puentes“ in Colombia. This is when the village and the river gets more congested and the bookings should be done at least 2-3 month in advance due to restricted number of travellers permitted to enter the National Park per day
- If you travel on dates which match with the national holidays in Colombia, the price might be higher
- The proposed itinerary might suffer changes due to the decisions of the local authorities, weather conditions or similar
- It is not allowed to visit the river Caño Cristales on the first day of your itinerary – the day of arrival to La Macarena
- Charter flight schedules are not exact but approximate; there may be delays due to weather conditions or logistic management of the airport. Furthermore, depending on your selected date, it is possible that you fly with the commercial airline Satena instead. Retorno.travel is not responsible for any changes or delays which might present
- Charter flights Bogotá – La Macarena – Bogotá are operated on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Satena Airline flights are operated on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays (except the long weekends “puentes” when the Sunday flight is moved to Monday).
- The charter planes could be small for 6 or 8 pax approximately or it will be a bigger plane which has a capacity of 18 pax
- For charter flights the allowed weight of the big luggage is 10kg and 5 kg for hand luggage. For Satena flight it is allowed to check in a bag of 15 kg and have a 5kg hand luggage.
- In La Macarena there is one ATM, but it is better not to rely on it, we recommend bringing cash in Colombian pesos
- All the hotels in La Macarena village are similar and very basic. They are clean and they have private bathrooms (only cold water). Normally the rooms have a fan; some of the hotels have AC. There is only one Ecolodge on Guayabero River with higher standards. Please consult the program “Caño Cristales Ecolodge”
- No fancy and versatile food available in the village. Mostly you can get rice, chicken, beef and plantain. Fish is also possible. If you are vegetarian of vegan, please let us know and we will arrange special meals for you
- The cell phone signal in La Macarena is quite weak. The only operator which functions is Claro. Few hotels offer wi-fi
- You need to carry a prove of a valid vaccine against Yellow Fewer (does not apply for travellers over 60 years of age)