La Periquera Hiking Tour from Villa de Leyva: Three Waterfalls & Cebada River Swim

The La Periquera Hiking tour from Villa de Leyva takes you into one of the most striking aspects of this region’s geography: the rapid transition from arid high plateau to fog forest that happens within a few kilometers of the colonial town. Most visitors to Villa de Leyva spend their time in the historic center — Plaza Mayor, the museums, the whitewashed streets — and leave without seeing the landscape that surrounds and explains the town’s setting. This tour is for the day after that, or the afternoon before it, when you want to understand what lies beyond the cobblestones.

Boyacá’s Geography: What the Landscape Is Actually Doing

Villa de Leyva sits at approximately 2,100 meters above sea level on the high plateau of Boyacá, a department whose geography is defined by the compression of radically different ecosystems into a small horizontal distance. The arid terrain immediately around the town — dry scrub, pale rock, the sun-bleached color palette that the town’s colonial architecture reflects — transitions within a few kilometers into the cooler, wetter vegetation of the Andean foothills and the fog forest edge. Above that, the terrain continues rising toward the páramo: the high-altitude moorland ecosystem that begins around 3,000 meters and that serves as the primary water source for the rivers and communities of the department below.

This vertical compression is unusual even by Andean standards, and it is what makes the landscape around Villa de Leyva more ecologically diverse than its famous colonial center suggests. The Cebada River that runs through La Periquera Ecological Park originates in that highland watershed and carries the temperature and clarity of the páramo water down through the fog forest and into the valley. The trail you walk follows its course through the middle of this transition — which means that the ecosystem changes around you as you move, and the guide’s commentary tracks those changes in real time.

La Periquera Ecological Park: The River as Organizing Principle

La Periquera Ecological Park sits in the hills surrounding Villa de Leyva, about 45 minutes from town by car. The park takes its name from its main waterfall — La Periquera, 15 meters of white water dropping into a clear natural pool — and the Cebada River is the organizing principle of everything within it. The river crosses the terrain forming three distinct waterfalls at different heights and intensities, and the hiking trail follows its course through a landscape of endemic plants, open Andean views, and the gradual shift from dry scrub to the cooler, greener vegetation of the fog forest edge.

The park is a protected natural space managed with conservation as the primary objective, which is visible in the condition of the trail, the quality of the water, and the density of the vegetation in the sections furthest from the road. The endemic species that grow in the park’s transitional zone — plants specific to this elevation and climate, found nowhere else in the world — are here because the park’s management has protected the habitat they require. Your guide knows what these plants are, where to find them, and what their presence indicates about the health of the ecosystem around them.

The Trail: Three Hours Through Changing Terrain

The hike runs approximately three hours at a relaxed pace. The difficulty rating is low — this is not a technical trail, and it does not require prior hiking experience or a high level of physical fitness. What it requires is comfortable footwear with grip and a willingness to be on uneven terrain for a few hours. The trail surface changes as you move through the park: packed earth in the drier sections near the trailhead, stones and exposed roots near the river channels, and occasionally wet ground around the waterfall pools where the mist keeps the ground permanently damp.

The Lower Trail: Dry Scrub and the First River Crossing

The lower sections of the trail move through the drier terrain that transitions between the plateau around Villa de Leyva and the moister environment of the river valley. The vegetation here reflects the aridity of the Boyacá plateau — low shrubs, flowering cacti, and the pale, sun-adapted plants that characterize the high-altitude dry zones of the Eastern Andes. The first river crossing, which your guide manages safely regardless of water level, marks the point where the ecosystem begins to shift. The air becomes cooler. The vegetation on the banks thickens. The sound of the water becomes a constant rather than an occasional presence.

The Middle Trail: Endemic Plants and the Fog Forest Transition

The middle section of the trail is where the botanical interest concentrates. Boyacá’s transitional zone between the páramo and the lower Andean forest produces a specific set of plant species that exist in this elevation band and nowhere else. Your guide identifies the most significant ones along the trail — the bromeliads anchored to rocky outcroppings, the orchids in the shadier sections near the water, the medicinal plants that local communities have used for generations — and explains their role in the ecosystem and, in some cases, their relationship with the animal species that depend on them.

The fog forest edge, which the trail enters in the upper sections, is visually distinct from the terrain below. The trees are taller, the canopy more complete, the light coming through in the particular diffuse way that characterizes forest environments where cloud cover is frequent and humidity is permanent. The temperature drops noticeably. The soundscape changes — fewer insects, more birds, the constant movement of water somewhere nearby.

The Upper Trail and the Views Back to the Plateau

From the higher sections of the trail, on clear mornings, the views back toward Villa de Leyva take in the full extent of the Boyacá plateau — a landscape that stretches until it meets the mountain ranges on the horizon, with the colonial town’s terracotta rooftops visible in the middle distance. The contrast between the green of the fog forest immediately around you and the arid brown of the plateau below is one of the most visually striking aspects of the hike, and one of the most useful for understanding the geography of the region. You are standing at the exact boundary between two different climatic and ecological worlds, and both of them are visible from where you stand.

La Periquera Waterfall: The Destination and the Swimming Pool

The main waterfall — La Periquera — is the destination the trail has been building toward. At 15 meters, it is not a thundering cascade visible from a distance. It is a falls you arrive at: a white curtain of water dropping into a clear natural pool at the base of a dark rock canyon, surrounded by the dense vegetation of the fog forest, loud enough to fill the immediate space with sound and cold enough to lower the temperature of the air around the pool by several degrees.

The natural pool at the base is large enough to swim in comfortably, fed continuously by the falls and the Cebada River. The water is cold — genuinely cold, in the way that water from a highland watershed filtered through rock is always cold — and the swim after three hours of trail walking is one of those simple physical pleasures that requires no explanation. Bring a swimsuit and a towel. A change of dry clothes for the return journey makes the 45-minute drive back to Villa de Leyva considerably more comfortable than arriving in wet hiking clothes.

The two additional waterfalls along the Cebada River — smaller than La Periquera but each with their own pool and character — are encountered on the trail before the main falls. Your guide uses each one as a natural stopping point for rest, explanation, and photography before continuing to the main waterfall. The progression through the three falls gives the hike a structure that builds toward the final arrival in a way that a single-destination trail doesn’t provide.

Photography: What the Light Does Here

The landscape around La Periquera offers some of the best photography conditions in the Villa de Leyva region, and for reasons that are not obvious from the town itself. The contrast between the dark canyon walls, the white of the waterfall, and the deep green of the surrounding fog forest creates a visual environment that is very different from the arid, sun-bleached terrain most visitors associate with Boyacá. The light in the canyon — diffuse, directional, filtered through the forest canopy — is the kind of light that makes water and rock photograph well regardless of the time of day. The views from the upper trail back toward the plateau reward a wide lens and a clear morning. The endemic plants in the mid-trail section reward patience and a close-up.

Practical Notes: Weather, Clothing, and What to Bring

The tour operates in all weather conditions, including light rain — the trail is manageable in wet conditions, and the waterfall is more dramatic after recent rainfall. Dress in layers: the temperature near the waterfall is typically several degrees cooler than in the town, and wet conditions can make it feel colder still. A light waterproof layer is worth packing regardless of the morning forecast. Breakfast and lunch are not included — eat before pickup or bring a snack for the trail. The full day runs five hours from hotel pickup to drop-off.

Footwear with grip and ankle support is the most important practical decision you make before the hike. The cobblestones of Villa de Leyva’s historic center require flat soles; the La Periquera trail requires something with traction on wet rock and roots. If you’re doing both on the same trip, plan your footwear accordingly.

Continue Exploring the Villa de Leyva Region

For those who want to combine the hiking experience with a look at the historic center, the Villa de Leyva City Tour covers Plaza Mayor, the fossil museums, the Ecce Homo convent, and the colonial architecture in a separate half-day itinerary — the two tours together give you the complete picture of what the Villa de Leyva region contains. For a different kind of afternoon in the region, the Villa de Leyva Vineyard Tour visits the local winery with a guided tasting — a quieter close to a day that has already covered considerable ground.

Ready to see the other side of Villa de Leyva? Book the La Periquera hiking tour above and your guide will handle everything from hotel pickup to the final return — bring good shoes, a swimsuit, and a jacket.

More of Villa de Leyva: our private tours and day trips.