Cerro Tusa
This definitely isn’t the easiest hike in Colombia, however I loved it!
For those of you looking for a more extreme hike, that somehow, some locals can do in their sandals 🤯 this is the place for you!
What is Cerro Tusa?
Cerro Tusa is a large pyramid like shaped mountain.
It’s has a long pre-Colombian history, and is well known for it’s seemingly man-made pyramid like shape, and it’s pretty bad ass hiking trails.
How Do You Get From Medellin To Cerro Tusa, And How Far Is It?
Cerro Tusa really isn’t that far from Medellin, however due to windy roads, traffic, construction & lesser maintained roads it takes a while. But it’s a beautiful trip up there!
There are 2 Ways To Get From Medellin To Cerro Tusa
#1 Way To Get To Cerro Tusa – Hire a private taxi
- If you ask a friend who lives here you’ll be able to find one easily. Or even ask your next Uber or Didi driver, quite a few of them do private taxi work too.
#2 Way To Get To Cerro Tusa – Take A bus from South Terminal
A shot of Venecia, the beautiful town you’ll get dropped off at if you take the bus
- This is the way I took, and they have buses leave from South Terminal to Venecia (the town next to Cerro Tusa) roughly every hour starting at 6:30 am, although this schedule can change.
- First get to South Terminal
- From there you want to find the bus ticket windows. You’ll be looking for Flota Fredonia (window 25). At the time of writing this, you can’t purchase tickets in advance.
- The price is approx. $5 USD – 25,000 Colombian Pesos and you’ll need cash.
- Then you’ll get a ticket for the next bus for Venecia – a beautiful little town 10 Km’s (~6 miles) from Cerro Tusa.
- Once you arrive in Venecia you’ll see a lot of Motocarro taxis, for any of you that have spent time in Thailand, this will be a nostalgic experience (see video below).
- The price is approx. $3 USD – 15,000 Colombian pesos and you’ll need cash. You can likely barter this price down if you’re that cheap.
- And you’re there!
How Long Does It Take?
- I met up with a couple while near the base of the mountain, and it took us 6 hours total to go up and come back down. We got lost a couple of times, and the girl in the group was wearing worn down sketchers shoes, so that slowed us down a bit. But still a great hike!
- I’ve heard of people knocking it out in 3 hours, and if you’re super fit you probably can!
It’s a bit of a clusterf*** to find the trail
It’s not well marked, and there really isn’t a clear way to outline how to find the trail up the mountain. I had to wonder around for about 30 minutes then I met up with a cool couple, and we eventually found the right trail that took us to the top.
However, you can just wait for a group of folks and ask them the way, or keep hiking with them to find the way.
If you go on the weekend, there are a ton of people up there, so you’ll likely find the right trail eventually
There are two paths to that go to the top, one being the first trail you come across, which is more steep and the other which is more mellow*. I recommend going up the steeper one and back down the more mellow one.
*I use more mellow very relatively here. It’s still steep as F***
A shot near the top of the hike, you’re on all fours for a decent part of the hike and end up above the clouds, but totally worthit!
So do you need a guide?
The short answer is no, but it’s up to your personality type
- Do you enjoy the adventure and fun of getting a bit lost and conquering the mountain with just you and your friends? If yes, you don’t need a guide.
- Do you prefer things a bit more planned, and organized? If so, definitely get a guide.
I make no judgement call on either of the two groups of people above, simply my perception.
If you want a guide you can easily find one via a Google Search, or ask the Motocarro in Venecia to take you to where the guides are (There’s a clubhouse kind of spot not far from the base with guides you can get).
I saw people aged from 6 – 66 going up and down the mountain, it’s an intense hike and incredibly steep. But you can do it!
What Do You Need
- A Can do attitude – seriously this hike’s pretty hardcore
- At least 2 liters of water per person. It get’s pretty hot on the side of that mountain
- Hiking shoes with tread on them – I did see someone doing this hike in sandals, so this isn’t an absolute necessity, but highly recommended.
- Gloves – if you don’t want to get your hands too dirty in the mud
Mud – It’s A thing
While I didn’t come across much mud on the actual inclines of the hike, when you’re walking to get to the trail to go up, there is a lot of mud so be prepared.
Drinking a beer with the buddy I made at the bottom of Cerro Tusa and hiked up with
I’m Not A Doctor Nor A Physical Trainer – Take What I Say With A Grain Of Salt
I’m far from the most active, fit guy in the world but I have rode a bicycle long distances before, and I’m fairly active. On top of this I’m an arrogant American who wants to prove people wrong when they tell me I can’t do something, so my recommendations may not fit for you, and that’s totally fine.
Feel free to check out other sources for more info on whether it’s safe or not. It’s your life brah, and I’ll be here for you either way!
A shot taken from Salzburg, Austria – a killer spot for hiking! Check out my complete digital nomad guide to Austria here.