cabaña buenavista lago de tota

We came from Paipa trough the mountains , passing Iza, a very tough road, mostly unpaved or under construction. At 3100 m height the huge lake is beautiful. We arrived at La Playa Blanca at noon, just in time for lunch at the restaurant on the beach, good service and tasty trout (of course).The unexpected white beach is wonderful and our grandson enjoyed the sand.We returned to Paipa from the other side of the lake, the route is a bit longer but the road is much better.All in all a rewarding experience.A four wheel drive is recommended.

Very beautiful lake at more than 3,000 metres. The light is beautiful and the white beach is definitely a recommendation. The whole surrounding area is beautiful!

It is a 4 hour drive from Bogota. The lake is huge and surrounded by houses and businesses so hard to find a way to the lake. We ended up eating at a restaurant and their backyard had a dock with access to the lake. The boat operator wanted $90.00 U.S. dollars for a 30 minute boat ride for 2 people or $60.00 for round trip to the island. We declined because that is a ridiculous price even by U.S. standards. The weather was perfect, in the 60's...very nice day trip. There is plenty of hotels around the lake if you want to overnight.

One of the most beautiful landscapes you can find in Colombia.Arrive driving from bogota (4-5 hours), once you get there you'll be breathless. The view, the water, the beach, the mountains is like if you were in a dream.You can choose between walking in the beach or take a tour to navigate the lake.

We drove here from Paipa to see Playa Blanca. The journey wasn't easy since the road is very curvy and alternates between parts that are paved and parts that are gravel with very little signage to direct us to the correct roads, but it was a beautiful drive. When we arrived we stayed for about an hour and had a beer and some snacks on the beach and enjoyed the sunny day. It's a rare sight to see such a gorgeous beach at this altitude so it's an experience not to be missed. There are tour boats to take you around the lake but we did not do that.

If you are on a budget, carry heavy bags, want to make the most of your time, or all 3 things at the same time, I recommend you base yourself in Sogamoso to visit the lake, there's a bunch of hotels surrounding the bus terminal, we picked the Gran Hotel and it was fine, for 35 000 pesos we had a basic room with a double bed. Water in the shower was not really hot, but we had two huge windows with view on the hills, high speed wifi and the woman who attended us was very nice and I mean genuinely nice, they don't sell tours there so you don't get the "hypocritical nice" type of service when they just want your trust to sell you something. It's best if you can arrive in Sogamoso early in the morning, drop your stuff in a hotel near the bus terminal and leave early for the lake, it's a long day because you will spend a lot of time on the bus. From the terminal, buses leave every hour for Playa Blanca, just tell the driver to drop you off there, it's popular with Colombians, even people in the bus will tell you where to get off. It costs 6000 pesos per person to go from Sogamoso to Playa Blanca and it takes about 2 hours even though it's not really far, it's a mountain road so it's slow and also the bus makes a few stops. When we took the bus it said "Iza" on it, because it's one of the villages you will cross. You go from Sogamoso through Iza, Cuitiva, Tota (pretty villages) and then you can get off right at Playa Blanca. You just have to walk down a slope. At Playa Blance there's not so much to do, it's beautiful but you don't really need a lot of time there, unless you want to eat, do a little tour on a boat or on horseback, or just hang out. We ate at the restaurant that's right on the beach, there are big windows so the view is great, however it's expensive for Colombia (15 000 to 25 000 for mains) ; food is ok though. There were people swimming in the lake but I had my coat on and I was cold... so I really don't know what to say about what to bring, if you get cold easily like me you should definitely bring a coat, if not, maybe bring a swimsuit ! We could have gone right back to Sogamoso after, catching the bus on the opposite direction we came, but we decided to continue until the end of the bus route, which is another village called Aquitania, 30 or 45 minutes away. This was a lucky guess because the best views of the lake you will see from that route, I really recommend taking the time to do that bit. However I found Aquitania ugly, nothing like the other villages we had crossed on the way there, so we just stayed on the bus and about 15-20 minutes later it went back to Sogamoso, so we switched seats and saw all these nice views of the lake again. If that's something you want to do, plan your time well, because the trip is long and you don't really want to come back after sunset and miss all the views. Also we were on the last bus and it left Aquitania around 17h45, if you miss the last bus you're stuck there until next morning. Because we took the bus from Playa Blanca to Aquitania, and then stayed on again from Aquitania to Sogamoso, we were charged 10 000 pesos per person instead of 6000 pesos, but I think it's really worth the extra time and money because you see more of the lake this way. When you arrive in Sogamoso, it's nice to have your hotel right by the terminal, you don't have to go any further, and the next day you just have to cross the street with your luggage to leave Sogamoso. But if you want to go to Mongui (I recommend it, it's a beautiful village), you can also do it as a daytrip from Sogamoso ; again, a hotel near the bus terminal is convenient. Even if we were checking out, the nice woman at Gran Hotel offered to keep our luggage for the day so we wouldn't have to carry it around. I think a daytrip to Mongui is enough to see the place, however if you plan on doing the Paramo hiking, I recommend you base yourself in Mongui, this way you save on transportation time (it's about 40-60 minutes from Sogamoso to Mongui). Last detail : if you find yourself in Sogamoso around lunchtime, the bus terminal is surrounded with little "menu" restaurants, a set meal is 5000 pesos and ours was great. Hope this post will be useful to fellow travellers... have fun !

I had the opportunity to travel this weekend to this beautiful place, although it was cold and very little sun, I had a great time. I recommend checking the weather forecast before going just to make sure. If you go with a SUV or 4X4 I recommend driving around the lake (half of the trip around lake has dirt roads). Good idea to take a tent and just take in the view!

an incredible lake in one of the most beatiful regions in Colombia, where you will not only enjoy the scenery, but other attractions such as hot springs, colonial towns and many other remarkable possibilities within the newly extreme sports selection.

3hours drive from Bogota. Public transportation take you to "Sogamoso" (3hrs, u$9) and then you take another bus to "Aquitania" or Laguna de Tota (u$1.50). It's a beautiful place, with nice people and cheap public transportation and food. There are restaurants by the lake, many onion crops, much silence and the weather is 14-17celcius degrees approx. Might get a little bit cold at night but the hotel had wooden walls, very warm. The view is amazing. 3.000mts above the sea level. To go with your couple, friends or family if u're looking for a quiet weekend, not a place to party and meet people. It's very romantic, not much to do around so take your tablet, cards, chess. If you don't have a car donn't worry, public transortation from and to the lake and playa blanca is available.I went with my boyfriend, we stayed at Decameron's Hotel Camino Real, it was nice, but no wifi (they offer wifi now, but they charge you for it), only B&B (didn't like bfast very much), There's a SPA-we didnt use it. Actually, you can get there and get a cheaper accomodation. There's a place you MUST VISIT: PLAYA BLANCA. Its a small "beach" with clear blue water, really nice pictures. You can ride a horse there and visit isolated restaurants nearby (u$7 per dish approx) with delicious food and amazing view. You can go diving, fishing; also, rent boats.

Although most people visit this lake heading straight to the white sand beach, we visited this site from Paipa, going through the charming villages of Firavitoba, Iza (lovely plaza and good restaurant!) and Cuitiva (the plaza has a statue of Bochica, mythical hero of the Muiscas). After enjoying beautiful views of the lake, we ended up visiting the Pueblito Antiguo : the dream of a man, several years with his family and locals building the site and collecting colombian antiques, from posters, tools, movies and toys complete with taxi and train. They built a lovely replica of a old traditional village, with plaza principal, movie theater, church, general store, barber shop, old train station for the "Expreso del Lago"... all this with wonderful views of the lake. The site was just about to open to the public when we visited in february 2013.Although quite remote from the main roads of Boyaca, all this makes for a great day trip, probably easier for those who have their own mode of transportation.

Thanks to trout farms in the lake, runoff of fertilizers and pesticides from countless onion farms, and now oil exploration this lake has been listed by an international wetlands protection organization as one of the top five polluted wetlands in the world...

We went for a relaxing drive around the entire lake. Enjoyed the smell of onions growing near the shores. Took great photos with the puffy blue rain clouds in the background. Playa Blanca is nice and we had it all to ourselves.

Is a place with amazing landmarks. Really magical and romantic. You can fild peace everywhere and is really magnificent.

Lago de Tota (Tota lake) is the highest and largest lake in Colombia. It has an area of 55 km2 and a maximum depth of 60 meters. The lake was one of the most important and secret places for the Muisca culture and stands out for the astonishing landscape and the trout fishing. Lago de Tota also boasts a beautiful white sand beach called “Playa Blanca”. Playa Blanca beach can be easily mistaken for a beach of the seaside and is an ideal place to start a boat trip or practice several water or extreme sports like kayaking, sailing, abseiling, horse riding and kiting. An amazing experience!How to get there?Just outside Finca San Pedro, on the other side of the road going up, you can catch the bus to Aquitania (pass by every 20 minutes). Just before Aquitania you can stop anywhere to visit one of the hotels and enjoy the view of the lake. The hotels that we suggest are “Camino Real” and “Rocas Lindas”.To go to Playa Blanca there are two options. One is to take the bus from the other side of the road in front of Finca San Pedro to the main square of Aquitania, and from there walk about 3 blocks to the market square to catch another bus that goes to Playa Blanca (This one leaves every hour). But a better option is to take the bus at “Puente de pesca” just before the centre of Sogamoso in Kra 11 con Calle 8. Once you are in Puente de pesca ask which bus you can take to Playa Blanca. This will be the bus that is going to Iza and Cuitiva too and goes along a very scenic route. This bus also leaves every hour.How long does it take?To just enjoy the view of the lake it will take no more than 30 minutes, but the busride to Playa Blanca can take from 1 to 1,5 hours depending on which way you take and how lucky you are catching buses.How much does the bus cost?Approximately $ 4.000 per person to go to Lago de Tota. To Playa Blanca it will cost around $ 6.000 per person.

They don't have guides in english but the walking trail is nice, great place.