🪨 Guatapé & Piedra del Peñol: My Honest Review & Tips

Guatapé, Medellín’s most popular day trip, is a stunning town with a breathtaking artificial lake and an iconic natural wonder called Piedra del Peñol (Stone of Peñol). Using a clear rating system, I share my honest review of visiting it, along with firsthand tips.

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🍀 Lukiih’s Verdict

I highly recommend doing a full-day trip to Guatapé if you’re stopping in Medellín. It was my favorite activity near the city and one of my trip’s highlights.

• A well-rounded day trip to Guatapé has diverse things to do, including climbing up the iconic rock, El Peñón de Guatapé, taking a boat ride on the beautiful artificial lake, and exploring the colorful town itself.
• The experience is very affordable even after accounting for transportation, food, and a guide.
• Minimal preparation is required, as you only need to book transportation ahead and be prepared for the two-hour journey.

Planning a trip? Here’s what to know about Colombia.

🏆 Where Does It Rank?

Visiting Guatapé and climbing the iconic rock formation ranks as the #2 experience I had in Colombia. Here’s how it compares to other things I did on my trip:

	Experience	Location	Overall Rating
1	🌴 Cocora Valley	Salento	8.4
2	🪨 Guatapé & Piedra del Peñol	Medellín	7.4
3	🏝️ Tayrona National Park	Santa Marta	7.2
4	🐒 Amazon Rainforest	Leticia	7.0
5	🎨 Salento	Salento	7.0
6	💧 Minca Day Trip	Santa Marta	6.9
7	☕️ Salento Coffee Farms	Salento	6.8
8	🚡 Monserrate	Bogotá	6.7
9	🏰 Walled City & Getsemani	Cartagena	6.4
10	🎶 Comuna 13	Medellín	6.0
11	🤿 Grande Beach, Taganga	Santa Marta	5.5
12	🚲 Ciclovía	Bogotá	5.2

My Colombia itinerary features the above experiences.

✈️ About My Trip

For context on my review, here’s what to know about my trip:

• I finance my trips and don’t receive sponsorship; this review reflects my honest opinions.
• I visited Guatapé and climbed Piedra del Peñol in 2025.
• My Colombia trip was in January when it was more crowded and expensive.

• Visiting Guatapé is an uncommon experience. I estimate that there are less than 80 colorful towns worldwide with a beautiful lake and a unique rock formation nearby.
• A day trip there is a very memorable experience partially because of the aesthetic of all the diverse activities. The town itself is colorful, the Embalse del Peñol reservoir is beautiful (even if artificially so), and the El Peñón de Guatapé rock formation is majestic.

• Other colorful towns near beautiful bodies of water and geology exist worldwide, including Italy’s Cinque Terre and Austria’s Hallstatt.

• Visiting Guatapé and Piedra del Peñol was very enjoyable. Climbing the 720-foot high rock is very cool – the zig-zagging stairs, which were built into the rock’s natural crevice, allow you to have a breathtaking view of the surrounding area the entire time you’re going up.

• It’s great to leisurely explore the colorful town of Guatapé. You can buy souvenirs, eat local street food, try some delicious ice cream or chocolate for cheap, and take photos of many picturesque streets and buildings.

• The specific Guatapé tour I did focused on food and they delivered. I ate my best “fresas con crema” (strawberries with cream) on this tour and the other snacks along the way did not disappoint. We had a decent lunch while admiring the lake, which is the result of a major hydroelectric project in the 1970s.

• Being the most popular attraction near Medellín, the area is extremely crowded. This is especially true if you’re climbing Piedra del Peñol on a weekend like I did. You won’t be able to pass others because some parts of the stairs are narrow, so you’ll have to move with the crowd.

Piedra del Peñol has a 25,000 COP (about $6 USD) entrance fee if you want to climb it. A typical Guatapé tour costs less than $50, which is very affordable when considering that a complete trip takes close to 12 hours and includes transportation, food, and a guide.

I paid $37 for my Guatapé tour, which I highly recommend because it focuses on food and I thought it was above average for these types of big tour groups.

See my Colombia trip expenses.

• No skill or endurance is required to visit. If you decide to climb the rock, you will need to have some fitness, as it has over 700 steps, and the average person takes about 20 to 25 minutes to go up it.
• Guatapé is a 2-3 hour drive from Medellín. The best and easiest way to get there is by booking a guided tour because getting around is not easy or necessarily cheaper. If you want to do the trip on your own, you’ll have to:
  • Reserve a long-distance shuttle to get to the area
  • Buy boat tickets to see the lake
  • Call taxis or tuk-tuks to travel between the different attractions
• The main preparation you need to do is book a guided tour ahead, and be prepared to sit through 2-3 hours of traffic.

For more detailed tips on my experience, check out my trip planner below.