Tatacoa Desert - Armenia route - D5

Here is a long drive that we will make by car to go from Tatacoa desert to Armenia where we will sleep before joining the coffee region... The 5th day of our 3 week itinerary in Colombia will be loaded in kilometers but also in beautiful landscapes ...

Villavieja - Armenia directions

Route Villavieja - Armenia

Departure with Carlos our driver at 7:30 am from our hotel in Villavieja. He tells us that the duration of the trip can vary from 7h to 12h !!! It depends on the traffic, possible accidents, landslides that could be encountered on the neck of one of the Cordilleras of the Andes that we will have to go through.

Indeed, Colombia has 3 Cordilleras of the Andes:

  • La Western Cordillera which is closest to the coast and the lowest of the three (4 m)
  • La Cordillera Central whose highest peak is Nevado del Huila with 5 altitude.
  • and Eastern Cordillera whose highest peak is the Ritacuba Blanco with 5 altitude.

And to go from the department of Huila up to the department of Quindio (coffee region) by road, we will have to cross the col de la central cordillera !

The roads of the impossible

Yes, I'm sure if we had filmed, we could have shown our film in the Roads of the Impossible series!

Indeed, not only did the road have difficult passages, hairpin bends, impressive precipices ... but there was a crazy traffic with crazy drivers, huge trucks that had no recovery on the coasts, which doubled between them without visibility, without momentum ...

We lived this trip as a real adventure, as an experience that we will never live again! The advantage of this kind of experience is that upon arrival, we are well aware that we are ALIVE !!! Some say they need to put themselves in danger to feel alive and well, I confirm!

Breathtaking panoramas

This is the main advantage of taking this route by road. The landscapes are simply grandiose and spectacular!

Crossing the Cordillera Central to go to Armenia

Cheap hotel in Armenia

Finally, we will put 8 hours to make this trip and we settle in at 15:30 p.m. at the hotel that I had chosen as a stopover-hotel in Armenia : the hotel COMFORT.

What did I like about this hotel?

  • COMFORT is a small hotel, very simple but very well placed in a shopping street inArmenia. Thus, it is very easy to go and eat quickly and inexpensively. In addition, the bus station is also very close (convenient for leaving the next day).
  • Its very low price: 23 Euros per night with breakfasts included.

What did I not like about this hotel?

  • The breakfast was not very good and not very filling;
  • The breakfast service was very slow and without a smile!

See this hotel on Booking

CHEAP HOTEL ARMENIA CHEAP BREAKFAST HOTEL ARMENIA

Tomorrow we will leave early to go to Salento

and we settle there for 3 nights: SALENTO

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3 thoughts on “Tatacoa Desert Route – Armenia – D5”

  1. Svitlana Gottmeier

    Bonjour.
    Thanks again for your blog.
    I would like to ask you if you liked the city Armenia? Is it worth staying for half a day to visit the city or is it better to go directly to Salento to spend more time there?
    Thank you in advance.
    Svitlana

    1. Hello,
      We had stopped in Armenia just to sleep because the road was long and we were afraid that it would be too exhausting to go to Salento. But it's true that we should have gone directly to Salento (tampis for the hours of driving) because in Armenia it's blah blah… By going there directly, we save time in Salento so it's surely a good plan.

  2. Svitlana Gottmeier

    Bonjour.
    Thanks again for your blog.
    I would like to ask you if you liked the city Armenia? Is it interesting to visit?
    We will arrive in Armenia at the beginning of the afternoon and I wonder if it is not better to go directly to Salerno to spend more time there.
    thank you in advance
    Svitlana

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