You can customize this tour according to your needs, times or budget.
“Alto de Letras” is truly a “bucket list” climb for serious cyclists. As Colombia’s most challenging climb, it ranks next to Hawaii’s Mauna Loa as one of the longest mountains passes in the world, which can be done on a road bike.
Through its more than 3,800 meters of gained elevation over the course of 82 kilometers, you’ll discover beautiful landscapes, new scents, and typical villages.
After much dedication and passion, this road cycling trip’s climb is a challenge that will leave you with strong feelings of accomplishment.
We stayed 45 kilometers outside the city to pedal our first ride at 2,300 meters (8,202 feet) above sea level. This region is home to the second-largest flower fields in Colombia, which produce 20% of all the flowers that our country exports. After we’ve met our big challenge, we will relax in natural hot spring pools. To finish the trip, we enjoy the coffee region, challenging ourselves among coffee plantations, learning about coffee, and closing with the best records in our cyclist profile.
Medellín
Salento (Nearest airport PEI or AXM)
From your arrival, you only have to worry about enjoying and pedaling. We pick you up at the José María Córdova International Airport (MDE) or in Medellín if you arrived in the city a few days before.
Our transportation service will take you to the hotel. Our mechanics will assemble and service your bike so that it is ready for adventure. At the end of the afternoon, we will introduce the trip, recommendations, care, and detailed itinerary and we will resolve doubts to guarantee a pleasant and enjoyable trip for everyone.
This day includes dinner, if you arrive very early in the morning we will help you coordinate the logistics and guide you so that you can live in Colombia freely from the first moment until the time of our meeting.
We start the ride at 2,200 meters above sea level, in a region that has been used in recent years by the greatest figures in international cycling (Julien Alaphilippe, Dumoulin, Jungels, Sagan, Froome, Sep Kuss, Annemiek, De La Part, Simon Pellaud) and the Colombian “escarabajos” Rigo Urán, Higuita, Martínez, Tejada, just to name a few. It will not be unusual to meet one of them in our first conditioning round.
You will get to know the famous slopes, one or two slopes, republican towns such as La Ceja and El Retiro, we will do it along previously chosen routes with less traffic and we will stop at the best places for a coffee, a juice or a delicious “buñuelo”.
It will be around 50 km and depending on the day we will stop at an artisan brewery and close the ride in the town with a delicious lunch and a free afternoon to walk, drink coffee, and experience the Antioquian culture.
Approximate distance: 50 km / 31 mi, positive elevation gain: 1,000 m / 3,280 ft
Beginner cyclist option: 40 km/ 24 mi, positive elevation gain 780 m/2,560 ft
Advanced cyclists option: 80km / 50mi, positive elevation gain 1,300 m /4,270 ft
We filmed towards the Alto de las Flores, well known because it was the origin of the Flower Fair in Medellín, we know a little about the silletera culture. We finished the ride in a beautiful hotel located on a nature reserve, there we showered and had lunch to enjoy Medellín in comfort.
On this day, we show you why Medellín was selected as the most innovative city in the world. From the hand of an expert, we will learn the history of Medellín and how we went from being the most violent city in the world to one of the cities with the greatest tourist projection and the best reception. We will visit the most important communes or “favelas” in the city, an example of transformation and social development.
We end the day celebrating with a coffee or a beer in the oldest bar in the city.
Distance: 47km/29.2 mi. +1,057 m/3,467 ft. Ascent: 7.4km/4.6 mi.
Expert cyclists option: 63.1 km/39.2 mi. Elevation: +1,430 m/4,690 ft.
We start with a transfer by car to take care of our legs and avoid traffic.
We ride towards a beautiful patrimonial town that takes its name from the Ondaimas, the indigenous people that inhabited the banks of the Magdalena River. This town is known as “the City of Bridges” with more than 40 of them over the Magdalena River. The tour through one of the flattest areas of Colombia will serve as preparation for the challenge that lies ahead. We are going to experience several climatic zones and a unique landscape. A grape juice in the main market of the town will be the reward upon arrival.
We enjoy the afternoon in a hotel that belonged to the viceroys of the time, with a pool and beer, we make a little chat about what will be our next stage, El Alto de Letras.
Distance: 45.2 km / 28 mi, elevation gain: 328 m /1,070 ft
Letras, The big challenge!
We are going to climb one of the longest slopes in the world. Don’t worry about water, granolas, bananas, and assistance, our logistics of experienced bike, motorcycle, and car escorts will be ready to help you with whatever you need.
The effort and sweat will be rewarded by the amazing landscapes of the route, the small towns and their people cheering you on throughout the ride. The smells, the change of vegetation, and the different crops will make the climb always varied.
Usually, we will make a stop at approximately kilometer 40, but feel free to continue if you don’t want to stop and you want to get to enjoy hot springs at our next hotel in the middle of nature. At night with a big dinner, we will celebrate.
Distance: 100 km / 62 mi, elevation gain: 4,150 m / 13,600 ft
Short option: 80 km / 50 mi, elevation gain: 3800 m / 12,460 ft
Long option: 120 km / 75mi, elevation gain: 4,250 m / 13,950 ft
Colombia produces a lot of very good coffee. Annual production is estimated at 14 million bags (60 kg). In this second part of the tour, we are going to visit one of the most renowned areas, the “Coffee Cultural Landscape”, declared in 2011 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
That area made up of the departments of Caldas, Risaralda, and Quindío, will be our destination in the coming days. We will ride among coffee plantations, we will visit typical towns, good gastronomy and surely we will ride in the famous willys jeep.
Today will not be a “coffee ride” after Letters, surely the legs will feel them. We will make a transfer by car to avoid the city traffic and then we will make a mount with a couple of mountain passes of 3 km and 6 km. We will enjoy a good coffee in a square and then finish at the hotel with a pool, lunch, and a very pleasant climate.
Distance: 63.7 km, Elevation Gain: 1,567 m.
This town has some of the best-preserved architecture in the region, a panoramic viewpoint, fine handicrafts, and exuberant natural reserves full of wildlife.
Located in the highlands of Quindío, surrounded by coffee, with colors that spread in the form of houses to its main square. This picturesque town is also known as El Cerro Iluminado de los Andes, there we will surely travel in a jeep (Willys), a representative icon of the coffee region, we will eat in one of the best restaurants in the coffee region and we will enjoy a brandy to the rhythm of the sauce at night
The ride this day begins with a small transfer of 20 minutes after breakfast, where we can change and have a coffee to start the ride. At the beginning, we can find some traffic but we will be safe, then in the deviation to the left we face our first climb of 5 km, when we arrive at Quimbaya we will make a stop and then finish with a false flat climb and some ramps of around 10 km. Get ready to enjoy one of the best hotels designed for cyclists in Colombia, good food, rest, a jacuzzi, and the possibility of a massage and laundry upon arrival.*
Distance: 54.2km/33.8 mi. Elevation +1,336 m/ 4,480 ft.
*Additional costs apply
Located in the middle of beautiful green mountains in the department of Armenia, Salento has become the image of the coffee region. Good coffees, handicrafts, impressive nature, its trout with patacón, and its incredible view over the Cocora Valley make visitors “enchanted”.
Its architecture from the paisa colonization, with colors and its wood carving work that is reflected in doors and windows, will transport us to another era. At the end of royal street, after visiting the handicrafts, we can go up the stairs that lead to Alto de la Cruz, from where we can see the green Valley and the mountains that surround it.
We start the ride from the hotel, it will be our last stage, we go to Salento (we will have two options depending on the legs) but the idea will be to go up to the wonderful Valle de Cococa, 10km, with a nature that will help us make the climb more enjoyable. Before we will have to reach Salento with a 3km climb that will be the prelude to our last challenge of this wonderful trip.
In Salento we bathe, have lunch and enjoy the afternoon and then close with dinner and celebrate.
Note: people who have to travel that same can do it at the end of the afternoon to make their international connection will have no problem, but it is recommended to spend the night there and fly the next day
Distance: 42.1 km / 26.1 mi. Elevation + 1,217 m /3,993 ft
Challenging option: 78.9 km / 49 mi. Elevation +1,856 m / 6,089 ft
Airport transfer. Homecoming.
