Guatape is a small town, only two hours by bus from Medellin. I spent one night there but, if you leave from Medellin early in the morning, you can also do this trip in one day. Try to get a window seat in the bus because the landscape on the way to Guatape is amazingly beautiful! The countryside is mountainous and green, there are wide fields with colorful flowers and houses with neatly gardens. What I recognized, while passing some villages, was that a lot of towns have an orange-brown look on the first sight. But if you take a closer look, you will see that many buildings have only one colored facade on the front side and the rest of the house has a basic structure with orange-brown bricks.

The town of Guatape is full of colorful buildings and small enough to explore it by walking. It’s not only famous for foreign tourists, a lot of Colombian tourists are also coming here to enjoy this great place. I passed the white church (Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Carmen) in the center of the town on a Sunday morning. It was very busy and vivid, because after attending the mass, the locals meet for beers in the bars around the plaza and enjoy their Sunday. Guatape is surrounded by a wide lake scenery. There is a walking path around the lake, with street kitchen and vendors selling souvenirs. At the lake you can also do activities like Zip lining, water sports and Boat tours.