Six stages from the sacred lake of El Dorado to the finish line of the Gran Fondo Boyacá Mundial — through the high páramos and colonial roads of Colombia's cycling heartland. Ten riders. One territory, ridden municipality by municipality — all 123 of them.
Boyacá, Colombia · The Eastern Cordillera
"Where the Andes ride you back."
This began as an act of love — and of reclamation. After riding every one of Boyacá's 123 municipalities, we built Ride The Andes to give this territory back to the world the only way it deserves: from the saddle, at altitude, earned kilometre by kilometre. Not a tour. A homecoming to a place most riders have only dreamed about.
— The founding story · Ride The Andes
A ten-day journey that begins at Guatavita — the sacred lake behind the legend of El Dorado — and ends across the finish line of the Gran Fondo Boyacá Mundial, riding its tenth edition alongside 2,000 Colombians. Six stages across the roads that built a nation of climbers.
We present our routes the way the world's best operators do — with real, published route data you can explore yourself. Every stage lives on Ride with GPS: distance, ascent, elevation profile and cue sheet, so you know exactly what you're training for.
Stage 01PrologueWhere the Muisca offered gold to the gods — the journey opens at the sacred lake behind the legend.
Stage 02BuildFrom the bridge where Bolívar sealed a nation's independence in 1819 to the clay-pot town of Ráquira.
Stage 03RollingAn ancient seabed turned ochre badlands, with real fossils at Gondava on the route — looped around the continent's greatest colonial plaza.
Stage 04QueenDown from the lake to the thermal village of Iza, then the long, field-verified test of Alto del Crucero.
Stage 05CircuitColombia's highest great lake traced in full by bike to the plaza of Firavitoba — then a van over the Alto de Curíes to the lancers' monument at Pantano de Vargas.
Stage 06Race DayThe finale: an official start at the tenth edition of the event your guide directs, alongside 2,000 riders. Medio Fondo option: 103.2 km / +1,403 m.
// Live data from our published Ride with GPS routes. Full telemetry, surfaces and cue sheets ship in the Route Dossier.
Six ride stages threaded through gastronomy, history and recovery — sequenced so your body acclimatises before the big days, and timed so your final stage is an official start line.
Personal reception at El Dorado International, private transfer minutes away. Your bike case enters the crew's custody the moment you land — our mechanic builds and fine-tunes it overnight, ready before you are. Welcome dinner and ride briefing at 20:30.
Van to Guatavita, the town of the sacred lagoon where the legend of El Dorado was born, then an opening spin across the savanna toward Sopó. Lunch at Finca de Rigo, Rigoberto Urán's restaurant and a pilgrimage stop for Colombian cyclists. Afternoon in Zipaquirá on foot: the murals honouring Egan Bernal, then the Salt Cathedral carved 180 metres underground.
From the Puente de Boyacá — where Colombia's independence was sealed in 1819 — on colonial roads to Ráquira, the country's craft capital and town of clay pots. Lunch in Villa de Leyva and the compulsory milhoja at La Galleta. Afternoon: heated pool, sauna and steam, or the Plaza Mayor. Dinner is yours to choose.
An ancient seabed turned ochre badlands — the most unexpected landscape of the tour — with a stop at Gondava, the valley of the dinosaurs, and real fossils from when this desert was a sea. Lunch in Sutamarchán: la fritanga, built around Boyacá's finest longaniza. Two hours of thermal springs afterwards.
No pedalling. Arcabuco and the training climbs that forged Nairo Quintana, then the house where he grew up — photos and onces at the origin point of a legend. Live-fire lunch in Nobsa, ruana country and weaving workshops in Tibasosa. Check-in on the lakeshore at 3,015 metres.
Descend from the lake to the thermal village of Iza, then the great test of the tour: the climb to Alto del Crucero. Lunch at the hotel, then a two-deck catamaran to Isla San Pedro, the largest lake island in Colombia. Playa Blanca in the afternoon — white sand at 3,000 metres. Lakeside dinner built around trout fished from Tota itself.
Colombia's highest great lake traced in full by bike, between onion fields and blue Andean water, finishing in the plaza of Firavitoba. Then a van over the Alto de Curíes to the Pantano de Vargas — the battle that turned the independence campaign, crowned by Colombia's largest sculpture: 33 metres for the charge of the fourteen lancers. Spa afternoon in Paipa; dinner at the Club Náutico.
Collect your race kit and official number at the Gran Fondo expo in Duitama. Pueblito Boyacense, then Monguí — one of Colombia's most beautiful pueblos and the cradle of hand-stitched footballs — for a riverside lunch near the Calicanto Bridge and a partial recon of tomorrow's Monguí climb with our riders. Tejo in the afternoon. Carb-loading dinner and an early night.
Race breakfast at 04:30, official start at 06:00 alongside more than 2,000 Colombian riders — the full fondo or the Medio Fondo (103.2 km · +1,403 m), raced or ridden as a celebration. Our crew is on course either way. Lunch in the finish zone, the beer garden with a medal round your neck, and a farewell dinner with music, dancing and awards.
Private van to Bogotá at 09:30, bikes packed by our mechanic. We reach El Dorado International at 14:00 — book flights leaving after 17:00. Un abrazo, and see you on the next climb.
One transparent price. Here's exactly what your journey covers — and, just as clearly, the few things it doesn't.
Five properties chosen the way we chose the roads: Movich Buró 26 in Bogotá, the colonial casona Camino de la Sal in Zipaquirá, Hotel Getsemaní in Villa de Leyva, Decameron Rancho Tota on the lakeshore at 3,015 m, and the five-star Estelar Hotel y Centro de Convenciones in Paipa. Nine nights, double occupancy, all breakfasts, pools and thermal wet areas included.
Two guides ride with you on every stage — your bilingual lead guide and a local rider-mechanic — plus a lead motorbike marking the route and a support van always at the back of the pack.
Rigoberto Urán's Finca de Rigo, Egan Bernal's Zipaquirá, Nairo Quintana's childhood roads in Arcabuco, the Salt Cathedral, Gondava dinosaur valley, a catamaran across Lago de Tota, Pantano de Vargas and Monguí — every entry included.
Eight lunches and seven dinners — authentic Boyacá flavours in harmony with international cuisine — plus daily regional snacks and stage-matched hydration.
Your number for the tenth edition — closed roads, chip timing with KOM prizes, official jersey, finisher medal, feed stations, mechanical and medical support, sweep vehicle, finish-line lunch and a courtesy photo pack. Plus our own crew on course.
More than a tour — a story you'll relive. A photographer and videographer accompany all ten days, and every climb, effort and triumph is delivered to you as a personal photo and film archive.
We receive you at Bogotá's airport, and a private van handles every transfer across all ten days — you never think about logistics once.
On-route mechanical assistance with daily bike wash and basic maintenance; medical and accident assistance cover for all ten days in Colombia, with cycling included as a listed sport; and a Ride The Andes welcome kit crafted in Boyacá.
International flights · Bike rental (premium carbon bikes available from our own fleet) · Spare parts · Two free-choice dinners in Villa de Leyva · Optional spa, water sports and horseback riding in Paipa · Trip-cancellation insurance — our cover is medical and accident only, so we recommend adding your own
Every piece personalised, and produced only once. When the Founding Edition is over, this kit never returns to our merch store. Ten riders will own it.
Founder · Lead Guide · Director, Gran Fondo Boyacá Mundial
There are guides who know a route, and there are guides who know a territory. Sergio has cycled every one of Boyacá's 123 municipalities, and directs the Gran Fondo Boyacá Mundial — the 2,000-rider event, now in its tenth edition, that puts these roads on the world map.
He'll read the weather off the páramo before it turns, point out where a national champion was born, and know which farmhouse pours the best aguapanela at kilometre 60. This is the difference between visiting Boyacá and being shown Boyacá.
A layered route — gastronomy, history and cycling culture mapped onto every stage. The reasons you'll want to stop, even when your legs say go.
Colombia's largest lake at 3,015 m, ringed by onion fields and an improbable Andean beach.
The largest cobbled plaza on the continent — white stone, deep blue sky, no traffic.
Farmhouse cheese, clay pottery towns, and the almojábana that fuels every Boyacá rider.
The roads and villages that raised generations of Colombian Grand Tour champions.
Five properties chosen the way we chose the roads — for character, for place, and for what your legs need next. Every night: breakfast included, water to soak in, and a crew already working on tomorrow.
Minutes from El Dorado International — you land, you're received, you rest. The journey begins on a full night's sleep.
A colonial-style casona in the salt city — steps from the plaza, and from the cathedral carved into the mountain beneath it.
A whitewashed casona around a flowering courtyard, cobblestones from the Plaza Mayor — heated pool, sauna and steam for post-stage legs.
On the lakeshore at 3,015 metres — wake to the water, roll out from the door. Your basecamp for the queen days.
The five-star resort on Lake Sochagota, fed by the thermal springs Paipa is famous for — jacuzzi, sauna, steam and massage in race week. Recovery, done properly.
Founding Departure · October 3–12, 2026
For partners and friends who'd rather explore than pedal. The full journey — hotels, gastronomy, cultural tours, the catamaran, every transfer and your own photo archive — minus the bike stages and the Gran Fondo entry. Travel together, meet at every finish line.
Ask about companionsPrices are per person in double occupancy. Prefer your own room? A single supplement of $700 USD applies for the whole tour. Traveling solo but happy to share? We'll pair you with another rider at no extra cost.
Fifteen editorial pages, stage by stage — annotated elevation profiles, technical metrics, the five hotels by name, daily logistics and the story of each road. Leave your details and it downloads immediately. It's how we let the route sell itself.
Get the dossierThe Founding Edition is the first traverse — so we won't invent reviews for it. But its finale, the Gran Fondo Boyacá Mundial, has been run nine times under our founder's direction. These are riders reviewing that event, in their own words.
Brutally hard, but with incredible landscapes. I'll never forget the people in the little villages cheering us on — and on the Cogollo climb, at the Divino Niño bend, they called out every rider's name. For a moment we all felt like one of our great escarabajos.
Excellent organisation. Probably the gran fondo with the most beautiful landscapes in Colombia — especially Lago de Tota, the natural splendour of Boyacá. Highly recommended.
The landscapes are worth every pedal stroke. Route marking, support, safety and hydration points all stood out. I loved feeling like a professional riding through each village — and the warmth of the people.
Public reviews of the Gran Fondo Boyacá Mundial, abridged and translated from Spanish.
The traverse is sequenced to acclimatise you. We open with lower valley stages and build gradually toward the high country around Lago de Tota, so your body adapts before the queen stage. Our guide monitors the group closely, hydration and pacing are managed actively, and the support vehicle is always within reach.
This is a genuine cycling tour for riders comfortable with multi-hour days and sustained climbing — roughly the fitness to ride 3–4 hours back-to-back. You don't need to race; the full support convoy means you can take a lift on any stage and ride within yourself the rest.
Both. You're welcome to bring your own — we'll receive, build and maintain it at our workshop. Or rent a professionally fitted carbon road or all-road bike from our own fleet at La Ciclería Café Taller.
High-Andean spring: crisp mornings around 8–12°C, riding hours of 15–20°C, strong sun at altitude and the chance of an afternoon shower. Layers, leg warmers and a rain shell are your friends — a full packing list comes with your confirmation. Boyacá rides year-round, but October is when the Gran Fondo happens, and that is what this departure is built around.
Yes — the traverse is timed so its final stage is an official entry to the Gran Fondo Boyacá Mundial, the 2,000-rider event our founder directs. Choose the full fondo (143.6 km, +2,120 m) or the Medio Fondo (103.2 km, +1,403 m), and ride it as a race or a rolling celebration — with our support crew on course either way.
Ten places maximum, riders and companions combined. It's a deliberate choice — small enough for a high support ratio, real conversation, and lodging in places that can't host a busload.
Arrive Saturday, October 3 at any hour — we meet every flight at El Dorado International (BOG). Departure is Monday, October 12: we reach the airport at 14:00, so book flights leaving after 17:00. That covers virtually every overnight direct to Europe and several afternoon departures to North America. Flying earlier? We'll gladly help you arrange an extra night in Bogotá (not included).
Your price includes medical and accident assistance for all ten days in Colombia, with road cycling expressly listed rather than excluded as a hazardous sport, as many standard policies do. It does not cover trip cancellation, so we recommend adding your own travel insurance for that. On cancelling: within 5 business days of booking you get everything back, no deductions. After that a published scale applies by proximity to departure, and at any point you may transfer your place to another rider at no cost. If we cancel, you choose a 100% refund or a 110% credit toward a future edition.
Honestly: riders looking for their first-ever cycling holiday, or for flat spins between cafés. This is real climbing at real altitude — earned, supported, and unforgettable. If you're in doubt, write us; we'll tell you straight.
The Founding Departure rides once — at this price, with these ten places. But the Traverse returns, and the 2027 editions are open: 22–31 January, 14–24 May, 20–29 August and 9–18 October (race week again). Tell us which window suits you in the form below and we'll hold your name — 2027 pricing and terms are published closer to the date, and Founding Riders get first refusal.
The quest across all 123 municipalities that became the foundation of every route we run.
Gradient, length and the story of the traverse's decisive climb.
How to arrive from sea level and ride strong above 3,000 m.
Tell us a little about you and the full route dossier is yours immediately — then our guide replies personally, from Boyacá.
Prefer to write us directly? reservations@ridetheandes.co · WhatsApp