12 tips for visiting Ciudad Perdida (the Lost City), Colombia
Ciudad Perdida – also known as Lost City in English, or Teyuna by local indigenous tribes – is indisputably one of the most interesting archaeological sites in Colombia and the whole of South America.
However, to get there you have to take part in a multi-day trek. It’s not for the faint-hearted; the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, where Teyuna is located, is hot, humid, hilly and full of mosquitos. The route is challenging on its own, without adding in the temperature and humidity!
I visited in April 2023 and really enjoyed it. I found it to be difficult but doable, and the motivation of reaching Teyuna, as well as the encouragement of my tour group, kept me going!
Within this article, I’ll give you my top tips for visiting, to help you plan for the Lost City trek.
Still making your mind up about visiting? Check out: how to visit Ciudad Perdida, Colombia
1. Bring lots of toilet roll
There are toilets located at each campsite along the trek, so you don’t need to worry about locating them. They are of decent quality and are fairly hygienic, which was a pleasant surprise!
However, of the three campsites we stayed in, only one had toilet roll. We only brought a couple of packets of tissues between us and almost ran out of toilet roll by the end of the trek, which would’ve been interesting…
I’d recommend bringing your own roll. Alternatively, you can pack several packets of tissues which makes for easy packing – but make sure to bring multiple, as you’ll need them.
2. Keep the weight of your backpack to a minimum
I can’t stress this enough – the lighter your backpack, the better! When you’re heading up long hills, sweating like crazy and with your shoulders aching, you will thank yourself for not bringing much and for making it as easy as you can for yourself.
Truly – no one cares if you are smelly or sweaty. It’s the same for everyone; as soon as you exit your campsite to begin the trek each morning, you will be as sweaty as the day before. There’s no shame in it.
Don’t worry about packing plenty of spare clothes or bringing lots of extra items just in case. Your back will thank you for it!
My article on preparing for the trek includes a handy packing list, which gives you an idea of what’s essential to bring.
3. Have travel insurance
On any trip, having travel insurance with a decent health policy is important. However, for the Lost City trek, this is even more important.
The route to Teyuna is not easy. The topography is uneven; the jungle is dense; there are plenty of uphill sections and muddy areas, and the odd sharp drop. It’s also very remote.
Therefore, medical evacuation is super difficult. You just can’t get vehicles or helicopters to the majority of the route, so getting you out in the worst case could be problematic – and costly.
It might also be quite painful. Whilst hiking we saw a girl being taken down the trek on a mule in absolute agony, yelping over every bump – it looked super traumatising!
It’s hard to avoid the hazards where you could injure yourself. Just make sure you are super careful where there are hills and drops, and have travel insurance to cover yourself if the worst happens.
4. Tell your cook about dietary requirements early
The food along the Lost City trek is generally very good quality, and we enjoyed all of our meals. Food was plentiful and freshly cooked, and normally consisted of meat or fish, rice and a couple of sides, so there was always something tasty to eat.
However, it’s not easy to get supplies in and out of the campsites along the route. Therefore, it’s essential that the cook knows if you have any dietary requirements before setting off.
Most likely, your tour operator and guides will ask you to confirm your dietary requirements before setting off so they can make sure they can cater for you. But if they don’t, make sure that you reiterate them at the start of the trek so that the chef knows!
One minor thing to note about the food is that there will probably be bones in your meat and fish. However, this is completely normal for Colombia and to be expected.
5. If you’re a glasses wearer, bring your contacts
One of the most irritating things about the trek was my glasses. I figured they would be easier to wear than contacts because I wasn’t sure about hygiene about the campsites and if I’d be able to easily wash my hands.
This was absolutely the wrong choice! As my face was so sweaty the lenses kept steaming up and the glasses kept sliding off my nose. It was sooo irritating.
Be like my sister and bring your contacts if you have them!
6. Bring spending money
On the trek to Ciudad Perdida, there’s plenty of things to buy, like beer and soft drinks at the campsite, and souvenirs and snacks at the many stands along the route. It’d be the absolute worst if you don’t have enough pesos to buy yourself a juice when everyone else has.
Therefore, I’d recommend bringing some Colombian pesos to cover whatever you’d like to buy.
To give you an idea on pricing, a beer was 8,000-10,000 COP ($2 – $2.50 / £1.50 – £2) and we bought bracelets on the way back for 2,000 COP ($0.50 / £0.40).
7. Bring Swimwear
The thought of arriving at Ciudad Perdida was not the only encouragement I had to finish the trek each day – I also kept going for our daily dip in the river.
Each campsite is located by the Buritaca River – Camp 1 having a beautiful plunge pool with cliff jump, Camp 2 having a spacious riverbed with a cave and waterfall, and Camp 3 being a great chill spot. This means you can get an afternoon dip and can cool off, before later getting fresh in the showers!
You’ll therefore need to bring swimwear so you can join the rest of your group in the water.
8. Have a couple of recovery days afterwards
After the trek, unless you are an ultra-fit marathon runner or expert hiker, you will need a few days of recovery.
I’d recommend booking yourself a few days at a location where you don’t feel pressured to keep exploring and can just flop, such as Minca, Palomino, Costeño Beach or Buritaca.
One thing I would not recommend is to head to Tayrona National Park straight away. Whilst the entrances to the park are super close to the entrance to the Lost City trek, have a few days of no hiking before you go somewhere like this. Two others in our group planned to do this, but ended up spending the day at their hotel pool instead – and I don’t blame them! We visited three days after completing the trek and were knackered enough.
Before booking your accommodation afterwards, you’ll need to…
9. Check where you can leave your bags before booking
Our tour operator (Magic Tours) allow their hiking groups to leave luggage at their office in Santa Marta, which is great if this is where you’re beginning and ending your trek.
However, what we didn’t realise was that they also permitted storage of bags at the restaurant in El Mamey where we began the trek. This meant that we could go straight to our next destination without double backing to Santa Marta, saving us a lot of time. I would check with your tour operator when booking if you can do the same!
Just to note, the luggage storage was not secure at all so I would not recommend leaving any valuables there.
10. Bring a portable charger
The campsites do have electricity so you can bring plugs and charging cables.
However, plug sockets are limited and we didn’t find any near the tables where you’d be spending most of your spare time. Therefore, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to charge devices where you can see them, which doesn’t feel particularly secure.
It’s also worth mentioning that our adaptor and charging cables went missing at one of the campsites, as did a few other items within our group, so it’s easy to lose (or have taken) things that are not with you or in your bed.
I’d therefore recommend bringing a portable charger so you can charge your devices in front of you, whenever you want!
11. Avoid the Lost City trek if you don’t like bugs
If you have a fear (or just generally dislike) bugs and nature, the Ciudad Perdida trek is probably not for you. There’s a lot of mosquitos and other insects.
In fact, we were advised to move our bags and shoes off the ground at night in case any creepy crawlies got in… This is the jungle after all!
I would just avoid this trek if you aren’t a fan of insects.
12. Bring an open mind
The trek to Teyuna is hard, and the conditions are challenging. There will be points of the trek where you might just want to give up.
Therefore, the best thing you can do, regardless of your physical fitness, is to keep being resilient and have an open mind. In my opinion, the trek is a mental challenge more than a physical one.
Honestly – you’ve got this.
Conclusion
The Lost City trek, whilst difficult, is absolutely doable. I really enjoyed it and found it to be a great experience. I hope these tips help you to have a great one too!
If you’ve already done the trek, what are your top tips? Let me know, as always, if you’ve got any questions in the comments!
After the Lost City trek, why not check out Minca or Palomino?
Other useful sources of information
- Check out my articles on how to organise your trek and my personal experience of the route
- The Indie Traveller blog summarises some of the aspects of the trek really nicely. Note that some specific information about the tour pricing and itinerary is slightly outdated!
- I love Along Dusty Road’s list of things to know before undertaking the trek. I used it my own planning for the trek and it paints a good picture of what you’re letting yourself into.
