Bogota: Zipaquira Salt Cathedral & Guatavita Lagoon Private Day Trip

4.82

(149 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect the air to taste salty before we even got to the entrance of Zipaquira Salt Cathedral. Maybe it was my imagination, or maybe that’s just what happens when you’re thinking about miners and underground tunnels for half an hour in the car. Our guide, Camila, handed us little audio devices (she called them “our translators for the day”) and grinned like she’d seen a hundred people get lost in there before. The cathedral is… well, it’s not what I pictured. It’s dark but not gloomy — more like a cool hush, with blue lights flickering off salt walls that feel soft under your fingertips. I kept running my hand along the wall when nobody was looking. There’s something comforting about it.

Afterwards, we wandered through Zipaquira town square — Camila pointed out a bakery where she used to get almojábanas as a kid. We grabbed some (they’re sort of cheesy bread? Hard to describe but good), then drove out toward Guatavita Lagoon. The road twists past fields and cows and suddenly you’re climbing up into cloudier air. The walk up to the lagoon isn’t exactly easy if you’re not used to altitude — I had to stop once or twice pretending to take photos while secretly catching my breath. Our local guide at Guatavita told stories about the Muisca people and El Dorado that made me realize how much history gets flattened into tourist brochures. He laughed when I tried repeating “Muisca” properly (I still don’t think I nailed it).

The lagoon itself is quiet in a way that sticks with you after — green water ringed by reeds and mist, no boats or noise except wind and birds picking at the surface. It’s hard not to imagine gold sinking somewhere down there while everyone watched from above centuries ago. Lunch in Guatavita village was simple but filling — beans, rice, something stewy with chicken (they had veggie too), plus this sharp local fruit juice I can’t remember the name of now. By late afternoon we were back in Bogota traffic, tired and a bit sunburned but kind of glad for it.