How to hike Quebrada La Vieja: reservations, opening days and routes
Quebrada La Vieja is a free cloud-forest hike that starts where Calle 71 meets the mountains, ten minutes from Zona G. You can't just turn up: entry is mornings only, with a free reservation from the Bogotá water company, and the trail is closed on Mondays.
Cost
Free
Reservation
Required — caminos.eaab.gov.co or the “Caminos de los Cerros Orientales” app
Open
Tuesday–Friday 6:30–11:00am · weekends and public holidays 6:30am–12:00pm
Closed
Mondays — and the Tuesday after a public-holiday Monday
Entrance
Calle 71 with Avenida Circunvalar, Chapinero (the only access point)
Go to caminos.eaab.gov.co, or install the “Caminos de los Cerros Orientales” app (run by EAAB, the Bogotá water company, which owns the land).
Choose “Quebrada La Vieja” and press “Reserva aquí”.
Pick the route section you want. Everything starts with the climb from the entrance to the Claro de Luna clearing; from there the trail splits towards La Virgen, La Cruz (Alto de la Cruz) and the Páramo. Which sections are bookable varies by day — the site shows what is open.
Fill in each visitor's details and accept the terms. Keep the confirmation on your phone for the entrance.
Arrive early: entry is only possible inside the morning window.
Ross's advice
My wife's and my favourite hike — we regularly go twice a week. Important: you can only get in in the morning, with a reservation that you make through the Bogotá water company's site. Once you're in, there are three different paths from the main intersection, and the Alto de la Cruz route, if it's open, is stunning — my favourite regular hike in Bogotá. It's closed on Mondays — and on the Tuesday, if Monday was a bank holiday. My favourite days are Wednesday and Thursday: fewer people, and the La Virgen and Alto de la Cruz routes are open. If you don't want to sign up ahead, you can pay an entry fee to do Las Moyas instead: a different hike, open to anybody with no reservation, also stunning, but challenging.
— Ross
Rules and closures
No dogs, no smoking or fires, no glass or single-use plastic, nothing taken from the forest, and stay out of the closed sections. The trails are occasionally shut for elections, heavy rain or fire risk — the reservation site is the source of truth.
No reservation?
Las Moyas: “If you don't want to sign up ahead for a hike, you can pay an entry fee to do Las Moyas: open to anybody, no reservation, you just need to buy entry. It's stunning, but challenging.”