Here's a long drive we'll take from the Tatacoa Desert to Armenia, where we'll spend the night before heading to the coffee region … The 5th day of our 3-week itinerary in Colombia will be full of kilometers but also beautiful scenery…

Villavieja - Armenia directions

Route Villavieja - Armenia

We departed with Carlos, our driver, at 7:30 am from our hotel in Villavieja . He informed us that the journey time could vary from 7 to 12 hours!!! This depends on traffic, possible accidents, and landslides we might encounter on the mountain pass of one of the Andes that we would have to cross.

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 m altitude.
• and Eastern Cordillera whose highest peak is the Ritacuba Blanco with 5 m altitude.

And to get from the department of Huila to the department of Quindio (coffee region) by road, we will have to cross the pass of the 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!

Cheap hotel in Armenia

Finally, it will take us 8 hours to make this journey and we will settle in at 15:30 pm at the hotel I had chosen as a stopover hotel in Armenia : the CONFORTEL hotel.

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

Tomorrow, we will leave early to go to Salento

and settle in there for 3 nights: SALENTO