The Atlas Obscura Guide To Colombia

84 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Colombia

Updated August 22, 2023

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Unusual Attractions in Colombia

Caño Cristales

Vista Hermosa, Colombia

Caño Cristales

An explosion of natural color known as "the river that ran away from paradise."

Nariño, Colombia

Las Lajas Sanctuary

A dangling church built over a Colombian gorge.

Tequendama Falls Museum

San Antonio del Tequendama, Colombia

Tequendama Falls Museum

This picturesque mansion has gone from opulent ruin to nature museum.

Colorful houses of Guatapé.

Guatape, Colombia

Guatapé

The Andean town where every single building is decorated with a brightly colored frieze.

Villavieja, Colombia

Tatacoa Desert

Unparalleled stargazing, one of Colombia's best observatories, and a swimming pool can all be found in the middle of this ancient tropical forest.

Jardín, Colombia

Cave of Splendor

Enchanting cave with a river crashing through the roof.

The Volcan de Lodo El Totumo

Santa Catalina, Colombia

The Volcan de Lodo El Totumo

The caldera of this mini-volcano has been turned into a naturally heated mud bath.

Ábaco Libros y Café.

Cartagena, Colombia

Ábaco Libros y Café

A cozy bookstore and coffee shop in the heart of Cartagena's Old City.

See All 84 Things To Do in Colombia

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Colombia

La Puerta Falsa

Bogotá, Colombia

La Puerta Falsa

This tiny shop has been serving traditional tamales for more than 200 years.

Street art advertising locally brewed chicha.

Bogotá, Colombia

The Chicharias of Bogota's La Candelaria Barrio

This narrow street is packed with street vendors and bars selling chicha.

Cartagena, Colombia

KGB Cartagena

In the middle of one of South America's most historic walled cities lies a bar with an enormous collection of Soviet memorabilia.

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wants to go to The Chicharias of Bogota's La Candelaria Barrio
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wants to go to Door Knockers of Cartagena
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has been to San Pedro Claver Museum and Cloisters
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has been to Convento de la Popa

Stories About Colombia

Of the 151 species they studied, all of them, including this tree frog, Dendropsophus rhodopeplus (shown under blue light), displayed some level of fluorescence.

Biologists Threw a Fluorescent Frog Rave in the Amazon, for Science

Turns out many of the frogs glow, maybe to communicate.

by Roxanne Hoorn

August 22, 2023

The rugged and infamous terrain of the Darién Gap as seen from the Pacific, off the coast of Panama.

Podcast: Darién Gap

An infamous break in the Pan-American Highway has been in and out the news for more than 100 years.

by The Podcast Team

This tribute to Manuela Beltrán stands in Socorro. It has long been believed that Beltrán, a town merchant, tore up a Spanish edict in the town square, sparking the Colombian Comuneros Revolt of 1781.

Manuela Beltrán Is a Colombian Hero. What If She Never Existed?

Historians have found little evidence of the revolutionary icon.

by Juliana Castro Varón

Podcast: Hacienda Nápoles

Medellín cartel founder Pablo Escobar built himself a sort of Jurassic Park-meets-Disney World resort. Now it’s overrun by hippos.

by The Podcast Team

November 2, 2022

Vendor Mónica Adriana Quimbayo has sold herbs and other plants at her stall in Plaza Samper Mendoza since she was 16.

This Bogotá Market Comes Alive Only at Night, Full of Ancient Plant Lore and Astonishing Biodiversity

Farmers and foragers set up at sunset to sell hundreds of species valued in traditional medicine and ritual.

by María Paula Rubiano A.

The Forgotten Female Revolutionaries Behind Latin American Independence

Perhaps fiercest of all was Manuela Sáenz—spy, archivist, prankster, and companion of Simón Bolívar.

Soriano and Beto, one of his two burros, set out into the Magdalena countryside with books for children who live on isolated farmsteads.

Luis Soriano Had a Dream, Two Donkeys, and a Lot of Books

The schoolteacher’s long-running Biblioburro program delivers reading materials to children in Colombia.

by Jordan Salama

November 17, 2021

FARC rebels in their field kitchen during breakfast hours at the 10th Guerrilla Conference, where the peace accord was being ratified by on September 23, 2016.

How to Feed 10,000 Rebel Fighters for 50 Years

Researchers are studying the cooking traditions of the FARC, Colombia's disarmed guerrilla group.

by María Paula Rubiano A.

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