If you are in Bogotá on business, or simply have a few days in the capital, the best thing you can give yourself is a day outside it. Take three or four days off the hectic schedule, leave the capital behind, and go up into the savanna. My recommendation is a laid-back trip to the nearby town of Zipaquirá, one of the best day trips from Bogotá, and a day you will not forget.
You may find the names of several towns in Colombia quite unlike anything you have met elsewhere. That is one good thing the Spanish colonists did: they kept the original indigenous names of towns and cities across the country. So you get Guatavita, Sesquilé, Tocancipá, Gachancipá, and Zipaquirá. The places themselves are as interesting as the sound of their names.
Arranging Your Transport for the Zipaquirá Day Trip
As anywhere else, there are several ways to handle the excursion. The three principal ones are the Tren Turístico de la Sabana, a hired car and driver for the day, or an organised trip run for you from end to end.
One way to do it is by train. Yes, train. In a city with no real rail transport, how would one manage that, you may ask?
The Old Colonial Railway
There still exist in Bogotá the remnants of the old Spanish colonial railway system, and today they serve visitors to the city. The old company, the Bogotá Savannah Railway, provided transport to the public for over a hundred years, from 1889 until it was liquidated in 1991. Then a small group of four friends got together and created Turistren Ltda, and the service known as the Tren Turístico de la Sabana began operating in 1993.
Usaquén station in northern Bogotá, one of the two city stations where the tourist train begins its run.
The train runs mainly at weekends, for tourists. A diesel engine pulls it on Saturdays and an old steam locomotive on Sundays. Tickets can be bought in advance at either of the two Bogotá stations, and I would recommend taking the train from the quaint Usaquén station.
The journey from Usaquén to Zipaquirá takes about an hour and a half. The restored carriages, running on old but decently maintained colonial track, rock you along across the Sabana de Bogotá at a speed that hardly reaches 30 miles per hour, and there is usually some mariachi-style entertainment on board.
Once you reach Zipaquirá, a shuttle in the form of a little mock train, open-sided and pulled by a tractor, takes you up to the Catedral de Sal. You then buy tickets to enter the subterranean halite mines. After the underground church, the same shuttle brings you back to Zipaquirá station, where you will have time to eat and explore the area around it. A round-trip ticket for an adult under the age of 60 was around COP 70,000, roughly US$18, when I last checked.
Doing Zipaquirá on the Tren Turístico has one major handicap: the whole trip has to conform to the train timings. You may not have adequate time to explore the Plaza Mayor and the nearby Plaza de la Independencia.
Car Hire and a Driver for the Day
Unless you are a railway enthusiast, you may prefer the car-hire route, and that is the one I would recommend. A full day, about ten hours, will cost somewhere in the region of US$250 for two people. The advantage is that the car is completely at your disposal and the driver takes you wherever you want to go, so you see the town as you wish and at your own pace rather than the timetable’s. You will cover more of Zipaquirá, and the route itself can be more interesting, since you can stop anywhere you please for a few photographs of the Sabana de Bogotá.
The drive takes about an hour and a quarter on the Autopista Norte, depending on traffic. If you want the driver to take you through the towns of Chía and Cajicá, the journey becomes about an hour and a half.
It is normally a pleasant drive, and it shows you the unusual flatness of the high plateau, the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. The cityscape gradually gives way to picturesque Colombian countryside, with rolling hills, verdant farmland, and roadside stalls laden with local produce and handicrafts. Zipaquirá is only about 50 kilometres away, roughly 31 miles, but time goes quickly with that Andean scenery outside the window.
I will not go into the organised group tours. I personally find them restrictive, and the cost works out much the same as a private car with a driver, so there are no great savings to be had. If you would simply rather not arrange any of it yourself, the excursion is on our own list as the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá day trip, guided and with a private car and driver, which keeps the freedom of the car and takes the logistics off your hands.
Zipaquirá the Town
Founded in 1600 and classified as a city in Colombia, Zipaquirá had a population of 146,000 at a 2020 estimate. In Chibcha, the language of the Muisca people, one explanation of the name makes it the land of the Zipa, the Zipa being the ruler of the territory.
In the El Abra valley, the area between Zipaquirá and Tocancipá, some of the first evidence of human settlement in the Americas was found. Carbon dating put the bones and carbon fragments at about 12,500 years old.
The Halite Mines
Zipaquirá’s halite mines have captivated the imagination for centuries. As far back as two thousand years ago, local tribes kept the location of these precious mines to themselves, and they played a vital part in the local economy.
During the Spanish colonial era, salt was as valuable as gold, and soldiers were often paid in it. Intrigued by tales of the legendary mines, the Spanish pursued them relentlessly until the well-guarded location was uncovered. Those mines are where the Catedral de Sal is now.
The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá
Deep in the heart of the Andean range, the Salt Cathedral stands as a testament to human ingenuity and spiritual devotion, a subterranean creation inside an ancient halite mine.
Its origins date to the early 1930s, when miners began carving a small sanctuary for their daily prayers within the mine. Over time that humble space evolved into an underground church, and the current version was inaugurated in 1995. Contrary to its name, it is not a cathedral in Roman Catholic terms; it is a living church. Today it is regarded as one of Colombia’s most iconic religious and architectural landmarks, and it draws thousands of tourists and pilgrims every year.
Descending into the Catedral de Sal
Visitors descend some 660 feet below the surface, following a winding path lined with the Stations of the Cross, each one meticulously carved into the halite walls or into the entrances of old mine shafts. The path leads to the barrel vault, the heart of the Salt Cathedral, where a cross standing more than 50 feet high, the tallest indoor cross in the world, rises behind the main altar. Coloured LED lighting picks out the unusual architecture of the church and illuminates the cavernous space, creating an otherworldly atmosphere of peace and quiet.
Beyond its religious significance, the Salt Cathedral is a symbol of Colombian cultural heritage. The mine has a long history of its own, with the indigenous Muisca extracting salt here for thousands of years before the arrival of the Spanish. What it offers a traveller is the intersection of faith, art, and history deep inside the Andean landscape, and it is one of the few sights in Colombia I would call unmissable.
One practical note if you want to bring photographs home. A phone will record the space well enough, but the flash is useless in there, because the walls and the vault are far too distant for it to reach. If your photography matters more to you than that, take a light tripod down with you, or accept a little noise and work at a high ISO instead.
Plaza del Minero
The Plaza del Minero at the mine entrance, with its flags, the miner’s statue, and the small amphitheatre above.
Climbing back to the surface may take a little more effort than the descent did. Once you are back in the sunlight of the Plaza del Minero, or the lack of it if the sky is overcast, the small plaza is worth a few minutes. Climb up to the edge of the little amphitheatre and you can see the newer part of Zipaquirá laid out below.
Perhaps it is now time for a snack. Try a palito de queso, a longish cheese bread, with a cup of coffee in one of the small restaurants outside the mine. A word of warning here: the coffee in these places may not measure up to the reputation of Colombia’s legendary coffee. For lunch, you could head towards the Parque Principal, the old main town square, just a five-minute drive away, or you may prefer to save that for the Plaza de la Independencia.
The Old Town of Zipaquirá
The town hall on Zipaquirá’s main square at dusk, flanked by colonial buildings with wooden balconies.
The most interesting places in the old town are its two main squares. The larger one, the Parque Principal, is typical of old colonial Spanish squares. It has a church, in this case the cathedral, along with banks, the mayor’s office, restaurants, shops, and, as usual, a police station. In Zipaquirá you will also find the town hall on the square, with its unusual architecture. If you go into the cathedral for a quiet moment or to take a few photographs, take care not to disturb anyone praying or a mass in progress.
Once you have had your fill of the Parque Principal, walk to the Plaza de la Independencia, another interesting square just one block away. Facing the cathedral, turn left onto the road directly in front of it, walk one block, and you should be on the square. It was created to celebrate Simón Bolívar’s liberation of the six Andean countries from the colonial power of Spain, and the flags of the countries he liberated fly there. There are more cafés and restaurants on Independence Square than on the main square.
Time for Lunch
Ajiaco, considered a Colombian speciality, served in a clay bowl with rice alongside.
It is finally time for a well-earned lunch. Walk around the square to find a restaurant you like the look of. If it is still lunchtime, there will be staff outside most of the eating places trying to entice you in. You could try an ajiaco if it is available, a sort of soup with a great many things inside it to eat, corn and beef among them. If your diet rules out a mixed meat dish of that kind, ask instead for grilled trucha, trout, with lemon and garlic. Even past lunchtime, most places will take your order and cook you the meal of your choice, or make you a sandwich.
Colombians are generally meat eaters, and vegetarians can sometimes have a few challenges. If you are one of those who do not eat eggs either, please make that clear to the restaurant staff. These days, however, with a good number of Colombians vegetarian, some restaurants will have a vegetarian menu.
Having finished your lunch, you may wish to walk around the square once more for some final photographs of Zipaquirá, the flags especially. After that, it is time to return to Bogotá.
Back to Base, and a Lasting Impression
As you return to Bogotá you will take some very pleasant memories with you, and you will find yourself turning the day over: the Salt Cathedral, and the streets and squares of Zipaquirá. You may also carry back a feel for the lingering presence of Muisca tradition and the long-lasting influence of the Spanish conquistadores. They tend to stay etched on the memory.
A day trip from Bogotá to Zipaquirá offers a genuinely unusual adventure, revealing both the quiet of Colombia’s countryside and the strangeness of the Catedral de Sal, and it will very likely leave you wanting to uncover more of the country’s history and natural beauty.
This itinerary was designed to be done under your own steam. If you would prefer the excursion handled for you, with transport to the town and back and a guide, the details are on our Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá day trip page. And for a fuller picture of how the day fits into a longer stay in the capital, see three days in Bogotá.
Written by
Mano Chandra Dhas ›Founder of Coromandel Tours. In travel since 1975, from Singapore Airlines to Emirates and Carlson Wagonlit, he now curates private journeys through Colombia, Peru, India, and Nepal from his home in Bogotá. Many of the photographs on this site are his.
