My experiences of the Ciudad Perdida trek: a day-by-day breakdown
Are you thinking about doing the Ciudad Perdida trek?
Ciudad Perdida – also known as the Lost City in English or Teyuna within the local Tayrona community – is the ruins of an ancient city, located in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada mountain range.
However, to get to Teyuna, you have to trek through dense jungle on a return trip normally lasting four days. Therefore, it’s a bit of an undertaking and not for the faint-hearted. But, in practice, what is it actually like?
I visited Teyuna in April 2023 and kept a log of my experience, which I’ve adapted to match what a typical visitor will do. Therefore, I’d figure I’d share this and some more information about my own visit, in hopes of giving potential hikers a better idea of what the trek is actually like.
Arranging your own trip to Teyuna
Before we get onto my personal experience, you might want to read about the history and logistics of organising your own trip. Well, I’ve got you covered – my handy article on how to visit the Lost City will help you with this!
It also includes an convenient packing list and FAQs to help you decide whether you’d like to visit and what to pack if so.
A day-by-day breakdown of the trek to Teyuna
I’ve broken down the structure of the trek below. Just to note, I did the four-day trek so this is what I’ve included. There are approximate timings to give you an idea of how long each section of hiking works and when meals are.
Day 1
8 – 9 am: arrive at your tour agency in Santa Marta. You’ll then depart from the tour agency in a 4×4 or minibus. (Note: some tour operators will pick you up en-route if you are staying further east; just ask the agency!) We stayed within a few minutes’ walk of the tour agency which made getting there much easier.
10:30 am: register for the trek at the entrance to the national park. We weren’t required to provide any documents or further information, but were given a wristband. After this you’ll continue along a bump road to the start of the trek.
11:30 am: arrive at El Mamey, the village that marks the start point of the trek, and eat lunch with your group; this was the first time we got to meet them properly.
12:30 – 1 pm: set off! Today you’ll need to trek around 3 hours, with a break every 20-30 minutes. This section of the hike is quite an intense uphill stretch. Up until the first camp motorbikes can also use the road, so expect to see some vehicles. (We forgot how steep this section of the hike was until we were walking down at the end; however the breaks made it very doable, and the views are amazing!)
4 pm: arrive at Camp 1. There are several camps used by the tour agencies, but ours (Magic Tours) used Camp Adan. Immediately you’ll be required to shower or swim in the river, as until you do this you won’t be shown your bed; at Camp 1, there’s a natural pool that you can jump and swim in which is quite nice after a sweaty afternoon! (Don’t be surprised if a fish comes for a nibble.)
Some points about Camp Adan:
- We liked the layout of the camp, which is split over two floors, with bunk beds on both of them. The two floors are connected at the same point to the toilets and showers; therefore, no group got faster access.
- Beds are allocated for your whole group, so you will all be located together, which is nice. This is the same for the other camps too.
- Camp Adan and the other camps do not have any lockers; however, there’s enough space to keep your valuables with you inside your bunk bed.
- There is a no shoe rule in the sleeping area at this campsite. Please respect this – it’s more pleasant for everyone when the floor is clean!
6 pm: dinner. Most dinners are meat or fish with rice and a side, like salad or plantain. As with most traditional Colombian food, expect to find some bones.
7 pm: most likely in the evening you’ll have a debrief from your guide regarding the next day.
8 – 9 pm: bedtime. Note that lights across the camp are switched off between 8:30 and 9 pm, so everyone will most likely be in bed by 9. (It sounds early, I know, but you will be exhausted, and there’s an early morning tomorrow!) We liked that the lights were switched off as it meant everyone was respectful and quiet throughout the evening.
Day 2
5 am: wake. The lights in the campsite will probably come on a couple of minutes before this.
5:30 am: breakfast. At each of these we had a hot drink with a mix of eggs, fruits and carbs (e.g. an arepa or toast).
6 am: set off on the day’s hike. The morning comprises around 8 km of walking, with one early hill, and some mud along the way. Around half way through the morning you cross into indigenous territory and later pass through a Kogui village. There were breaks every 45 minutes or so.
9:30 – 10 am: arrive at Camp 2 for lunch. Depending on your group’s speed, you may have time for a dip in the river. We had time for this and it was lovely! At this river spot, you’ll also find a small cave with a mini waterfall, which makes a fun shower.
10:30 am: lunch.
11:30 am: continue walking. This afternoon comprises around 10 km of walking, taking around 3-4 hours.
12 pm: after around half an hour of walking you’ll reach a hill which our translator nicknamed the “Happy Hour” (as apparently it makes you feel drunk!). It’s one hour of uphill walking, but trust me, it’s not as bad as it sounds and is definitely overstated! If you do the trek, I’d take this hour nice and slow and steady – my sister, Lou, powered through and used up all her energy, making her crash later in the day.
3 – 4 pm: arrive at Camp 3 for the night. They’ll be time for a dip in the river and shower.
Just to note, there used to be two camps in use for the second night. However, in 2022, a landslide knocked out the second of these (Paraiso), so now everyone has to share one camp. It’s an absolute mess and is overcrowded and pretty uncomfortable; there aren’t enough beds, showers or facilities in general. In our group of twelve, three people were in hammocks – there were hammocks between beds, and our guide even had to sleep in a hammock over a dining table. Some people in another group had to sleep in the luggage rack! In this camp in particular you should keep a close eye on your belongings as, due to the cramped accommodation, it’s easy for things to get moved or misplaced.
6 – 9 pm: dinner, debrief and bed.
More: 12 tips for visiting Ciudad Perdida (the Lost City), Colombia
Day 3
5 – 6 am: wake up and breakfast. You can also leave bags which you don’t need for the morning here, as groups return to Camp 3 for lunch after visiting Teyuna. We took a bag containing water and valuables, and left the rest behind.
6 am: set out for Teyuna. There’s a 30 minute walk until you reach the 1200 steps to the entrance. The steps are uneven so be careful. You will sweat a lot but you will feel so proud with every step!
7 am: you’re there! Pat yourself on the back. You’ll have 2 to 3 hours to explore the city with your group. Depending on your tour agency, you might meet the spiritual leader of the community, who lives at Teyuna. (I didn’t get to meet him as he was out of the city during our visit, but our group met an archaeologist who worked with our guide at the Lost City and answered our questions. It was so cool and we felt so privileged to talk to an expert about Teyuna!)
You’ll have time to walk around, although not masses of freedom to explore outside of the route of the tour groups, which is sad as the city is massive and 95% of its area is open to the public. We got to visit four districts out of thirty-six, which isn’t really enough.
10 am: head back to Camp 2. The steps going down are pretty scary so take them slowly! They are steep and uneven and would get super slippery in the rain, so be careful.
11 am: lunch.
12 pm: continue walking, with around 10 km to cover over 3-4 hours. This section includes the reverse route of the Happy Hour, but is downhill so isn’t too bad. Depending when you arrive you get to clap people who have completed their “happy hour” and cheer them on as you walk past!
3 – 4 pm: arrive at Camp 2. This was the most spacious camp of the lot and my personal favourite, although as per usual there weren’t enough loos or showers! There’s time to swim in the river.
6 – 9 pm: dinner, debrief and bed.
Day 4
5 – 6 am: wake up and breakfast. At this point there’s the option to give any excess luggage to mules to carry to El Mamey; this costed 30,000 COP ($7 / £6) per bag for those who took it up. We didn’t use it though as we felt there was no need, given that we had already done most of the hiking.
6 am: set off. There’s around 3 hours walking to reach Camp 1. This includes an uphill section which I personally thought was approaching the pain of the Happy Hour, and you’ll also pass through plenty of mud. The mud made it super difficult, and in this section we got particularly sweaty!
9 am: break at Camp 1 (here, we got juice and cake). You may have the option to swim in the river. We had no time and minimal energy left, so opted out!
9:30 am: continue walking; there’s around 3 hours to go. Immediately there is a painful uphill stretch, but then the rest of the walk is downhill. This section feels surprisingly far and seems to go on forever…
12:30 pm: the end, as you reach El Mamey! There will be one final lunch. There’s also the option to shower before leaving.
1 – 1:30 pm: time to leave! We were taken to the end of the road so we could catch the bus to Palomino, and many of our group were taken back to the office in Santa Marta. (It’s worth checking with your tour operator what options you have when you book so you can arrange your next destination.)
Our experience
I did the four day trek to Teyuna in April 2023. We chose to do the trek with Magic Tours because they had positive reviews online, and also because their office is only a couple of shops down from the hostel we stayed at in Santa Marta (Mr Baboon).
What really stood out for me was how bonding the experience was – everyone in our group of twelve was lovely, and at times, particularly in the evening with a cold beer in hand, it felt like one big happy family. It really is a special experience to share with other people.
I’m not an experienced hiker so I found the physical elements challenging but still do-able if I took the time I needed and remained positive about the trekking ahead. At the start of the first day, our guide and translator discussed my evident concerns with me and really put me at ease.
Our guide’s words were approximately, “If a tiger hunts us, he’ll get us both,” which essentially meant that he’d be at the back of the group with me no matter the circumstances. Though morbid, this really helped me to get over my worries regarding the speed and complexity of the trek, and I felt like the guides really wanted me to have a good experience.
Problems we faced
The biggest flaw of the trek – and unfortunately this is a big one – was the attitude of our translator, who by the end of Day 4 had almost entirely given up the translating aspect of his job.
Our guide, Walter, was one of the first guides to the Lost City and had done over 680 expeditions. He was involved in the conservation programme back in the 1970s and 1980s and had been the local guide on many archaeological expeditions through the Sierra Nevada.
As I was so slow, I spent a lot of time with Walter in the back of the group. Almost every guide, camp worker or local who passed knew him – I heard shouts of “Ah, Walter!” at every encounter! All of the group were all truly in awe.
That’s why we were so disappointed when our translator stopped translating what he was saying. For example, when I asked a question about Teyuna, the translator would answer it instead of passing it to Walter – and, when he eventually did, told me that Walter’s answer was “wrong”.
His general condescending attitude, particularly to a member of the group who stepped up to translate when it became clear he wasn’t going to do it, was really not appreciated.
I came out feeling I had missed an opportunity to learn so much more about the lost city. So, for this reason, I’m not sure I could recommend Magic Tour for the trek without reservations – I just worry that a similar dynamic might occur again on some of their future tours.
That being said, we wouldn’t have had Walter otherwise, so perhaps it evens out!
Ratings
As part of this blog, I give every place I visit a rating so that I (and now you!) can easily compare destinations and decide whether they’re worth a visit. Therefore, I’ve also applied this ratings system to the Teyuna trek.
This is how the trek rated:
- Accessibility: 2/5 – the trek to Teyuna is HARD, there’s no doubt about it. It’s also difficult to access medical help around the city. Therefore, I have to give it a low score for accessibility (although don’t let it put you off!).
- Safety: 4/5 – in decades gone by there have been kidnappings and drug trafficking in the area, which have given this area of the Sierra Nevada a bad name. However, there’s no evidence of any such activities now, and we felt completely safe throughout the whole experience. I’ve reduced the score though because of the dangers associated with the Sierra Nevada (snakes, steep drops etc) and the difficulties involved with evacuation in the event of an emergency.
- Enjoyment: 5/5 stars – despite the many painful moments, we loved our visit to the Lost City!
- Value: 4/5 – for a trek with as basic accommodation as this, it’s hard to believe you’re getting value for money. However, overall I thought the trek was well worth its cost.
Overall score: 3.75/5
If you’ve already visited, let me know if you agree with these ratings! Just to note, the ratings are my personal opinion based on my visit, so you might have a completely different experience.
More: how I rank destinations using the Everywhere Ratings system
Conclusion
Teyuna is well worth a visit, and in my opinion it is only enhanced by the trek. By hiking through jungle and up steep hills to get there, by the time you arrive at the Lost City you will feel pretty proud of yourself – I know I did.
I hope this day-to-day breakdown and the summary of my experiences help you to decide if you’d like to undertake the trek, and if so, to help you in your planning.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and as always, let me know if you have any questions.
After Teyuna, why not head to Palomino, Tayrona National Park or Minca?
Other useful sources of information
- Check out my articles on how to visit Teyuna and tips for your own trek.
- 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.
