Andes Travel Guides (Updated September 2026)

Visiting Cocora Valley and Salento was an unforgettable experience. Cocora Valley is absolutely breathtaking. The towering wax palms and rolling green hills were beautiful but the birds and wildlife were also unique and vibrant. Our guide Jhon was phenomenal. Not only was he incredibly knowledgeable about Cocora, he also knew everything about the coffee region and was able to provide information the coffee guide didn't even know. Also, he is a biologist and had an uncanny ability to recall every species of bird just by their calls. He could also call them (people surrounded us to witness this). He helped us locate rain ponchos in town, and some delicious pastries at a local shop. The visit to Finca Entrebusques was very interesting. We picked coffee seeds, roasted them and learned about the process from start to finish. This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Colombia and I can confidently recommend this tour.

The tour was fantastic, thanks to the explanations of the guide Eduardo, with whom I learned a lot about the palms and all the nature of that wonderful area of Colombia! We were even offered to plant a tree, to leave our mark there. The views of the Cocora Valley are beautiful, as well as the colorful streets and architecture of Salento. It is an essential excursion to enter the heart of Colombia!

This was our second visit to this area and a first for our two grown kids. It was just as beautiful as ever. Pictures don't do it justice.

The experience was incredible and our guide Mauricio was the best, highly recommended and an experience that will take a long time to forget, it has been brutal

It is a quite beautiful place that you should visit in addition to the towns that are nearby. I recommend them.

Excellent paradise, what an incredible and well-preserved place, it is an earthly paradise, one of the best in life.

we had a wonderful time with Gustavo! he knew so much about the wildlife and history of colombia, which was an added bonus during our tour. you could tell he was very passionate about his job and his country, which just made our time with him every greater! i would highly recommend this tour. the hike was easy and beautiful, the lunch stop was our favorite meal that we had in colombia, and the coffee tour was also beautiful and informative.

Gustavo led our family on a scenic and educational tour of Cocora Valley and Salento. We hiked in the valley and saw the breathtaking diversity of the surroundings. The wax palms, the condor, parrots, and flowers were beautiful. Gustavo was very friendly and knowledgeable, that also has a cinematographic eye with the pictures he took for us.

Gustavo was our tour guide for the day and did a fabulous job. We started off at a family coffee farm and Anderson was our guide. He brought the whole experience to life and made it so interesting! We even got to pick coffee beans. After experiencing the coffee farm we headed to the town of Salento and Gustavo helped us find the souvenirs we were looking for. You could easily spend a whole day there...lots of shopping. We then headed to lunch after we left Salento and it was delicious. They even had a special lunch for my mom who is vegetarian. After leaving lunch we headed to Cocora Valley. There are no words absolutely breathtaking. We did some hiking and Gustavo told us the history behind it. He also took some fabulous pictures for us :-) Highly recommend this tour. From them picking us up at our resort/hotel to dropping us off everything was very well organized.

5 stars! The trip was very well planned and our guide, Juan, was super friendly, helpful, and extremely knowledgeable about the local plants and birds, and the history and conservation of the beautiful places we visited.

We were picked up on time at our hotel in Salento for our private tour for 2 people. Our guide Gustavo and driver Hernan were exceptional. We couldn’t have asked for a more professional and engaging experience. We never felt rushed at all. We took our time at the end of the hike to the wax palms and spent about 30 minutes relaxing and taking in the view. Lunch was amazing. And the coffee experience was very informative. I wouldn’t do this with anyone else - one bit of advice - request Gustavo as your guide!! You could tell he loves his job :)

Yasmin was a dream! So patient and kind with us—despite us being 30 minutes late for our start! A true angel. Our hike was absolutely beautiful, as was the coffee tour, and Yasmin customized to add in some time for us to play a game we were dying to try (tejo) as well as buying chocolates! Thank you for putting up with us goofballs, Yasmin! You were amazing!!

Cocora Valley is a wonderful place. The guide Juan Diego is super nice, calm, knowledgeable, knows when to say what. The driver Ruen was always in control of the road. Lunch was excellent.

Juan was a superb, friendly guide who recounted so muc. Made the stops and the route so much more interesting!

Ivan was our English speaking guide. He was awesome! So knowledgeable and friendly. He went out of his way to customize the experience with parts he knew we would love. He was patient and overall a wonderful tour guide. I look forward to visiting again and taking one of Ivan’s other tours! Must do!!!

Wow, wow and wow!!! That’s absolutely fantastic trip . Gustavo, our tour guide was amazing. To say we love it is to say nothing. From the very beginning of picking us up to the very end it was absolutely unforgettable trip. I haven’t met such a kind and knowledgeable guy as Gustavo. Thank you thousand times for great experience. We’ll be back with friends very soon :-) Greetings from Ukraine