Things to Do in Jardin Colombia – Ultimate Guide 2025

JARDIN! What to say about this place?! If all you’ve experienced in Colombia thus far is the big cities like Medellin, Bogota, or Cartagena … Jardin will be an OASIS for you! Jardin is a picturesque, small Colombian pueblo surrounded by hills on all sides.

So what is Jardin all about??

Jardin is about hiking, waterfalls, amazing views, horseback riding, coffee farms, bird watching, trout farms, dessert tasting, … the list goes on and on. Jardin is easily our favorite place that we visited in all of Colombia!

Table of Contents

Things to Do in Jardin, Colombia

1 – Cueva Del Esplendor – Swim in a Waterfall INSIDE a cave.

This is one of the most popular activities near Jardin, and it did not disappoint. We chose to do the ~ 5 mile hike from town ALL the way up to the cave from our hostel. It was beautiful, but it was long and steep. Not many people do this hike as we saw no one all day besides a ‘vaquero’ herding his cows. 

➡️ Read: Medellin to Jardin – 2025 Transport Guide ✨

The waterfall is private property and owned by a farm. Meaning you have to go to the house above the waterfall and buy a ticket (20,000 COP per person) and enter with a group led by 2 local guides. 

What to Do Once you Get to the Gate

We got very lucky because as we arrived, there was a tour group heading down to the waterfall. If not for this group, I’m not so sure we would have been able to see the waterfall. We probably would have had to wait for at least another hour. 

Aftery you’ve seen the waterfall, you have to climb up the way you came down to the cave to leave. Near the house where you checked in, there is a dirt road on the side that you must walk down for 20 minutes before you run into some Jeeps.

If you went on a tour, this is where you will meet your ride back. Since we didn’t sign up for a tour, we negotiated with the drivers of the Jeeps for a ride back to town. We paid 20,000 COP each, which was pretty expensive in our opinion, but it was our only reasonable option. If not, we would’ve had to walk about 5-7 miles back down the road to catch a tuk-tuk.

There are two ways up to this waterfall. A very rocky road that can only be traversed by Jeeps, and a hiking path. 

There is a lot that is still unclear about this waterfall, as we did not know you had to enter with a group until we got there.

Because of this, we recommend taking a Jeep up the hill with a group (40 minutes), hike down to the waterfall and swim (1 hour), then hike back down to town. (~2.5 hours) You can even stop at Cafe Jardin for a coffee and snack for one of the best views of Jardin.

➡️ Read: Ultimate 2 Week Colombia Itinerary 🇨🇴 ✨

2 – River Charco Corazon & Cascada La Escalera – The Double Waterfall

You can couple these two together, as you pass ‘La Escalera’ on your way to ‘Charco Corazon’. ‘La Escalera’ is a beautiful double waterfall that is only about a 10 minute hike from the road. If you keep walking up the hill for another 45 minutes, you will hit ‘Charco Corazon’ which is basically a natural swimming pool inside a river. We did both of these during the rain which made for a beautifully flowing river to swim in.

➡️ Read: Top 8 Things to Do in Salento 🌴 ✨

If You Want More…

If these two aren’t enough for you, you can continue up the trail to hit the famous ‘Seven Waterfalls’, a series of seven waterfalls which, if you hike to all of them, will probably take you around 7 hours round trip. The reason this route is so good is that you can turn around whenever you’ve had enough. If 4 hours to see all the waterfalls is too much for you, then just turn around after the first two and call it a day.

We were exhausted after hiking to ‘Cueva del Esplendor’ our first day, so we just chose to do ‘La Escalera’ and ‘Charco Corazon’. It was also pouring rain, so we didn’t feel like getting absolutely clobbered by the downpour as we made the difficult ascent. 

3 – Cafe Jardin, Cristo Rey Viewpoint, Walk into Town

You can either hike up to here from town and see Cristo Rey along the way, or take a tuk-tuk / taxi up to Cafe Jardin. This is the best view of the town. After you enjoy a coffee here, walk down the hill and check out the Cristo Rey statue, it’s only a 10 minute walk. After Cristo Rey, walk down the hill through the farms / banana trees / and trout farm! You will see how the trout farm is constructed to catch the fish. You will also see a bunch of other stuff they have at this farm like pigs, horses, cows, banana trees, cats, dogs, etc.

🛌 Here are all your hotel options in Jardin

We did this on our first day in Jardin after arriving around 4 PM from Medellin. We took a tuk-tuk up to Cafe Jardin, then did the long walk to Cristo Rey and down through the farms. This was a great way to get acclimated to the area and warm up for a long hike the next day.

➡️ Read: Colombian Slang to Know Before Visiting ✨

4 – Visit a “Trucheria”

We went to this Trucheria outside of Jardin and had a wonderful experience. I knew nothing about “Trout Farming” before I came to Jardin, but once you get here you’ll start to hear a ton about this. At this Trucheria, you can catch your own Trout in the “pool”, then bring it into the restaurant and have them cook it for you. 

We went on a Sunday afternoon and were the only tourists at the place, but there were a ton of locals. It seems like this is the thing to do with your family in the late morning / early afternoon if you live near Jardin. 

We recommend this Trucheria specifically because you can catch your own fish. There are a bunch of Trucherias around town in the surrounding hills, but they don’t all let you do this. So if this is something you want to do, make sure you read the reviews beforehand.

We paid 8,000 COP to catch our fish (the price depends on the weight of your catch) and then another 15,500 COP to get the kitchen to cook up the fish. It was extremely delicious and fresh and was definitely worth the price. The meal came with an arepa, french fries, patacones (fried plantain patty), a salad, and lemon slices to squeeze onto the fish.

➡️ Read: Top 7 Things to Do in Minca ✨

5 – Dulces del Jardin – Treat your Woman to Some Sweets!

This is a wonderful spot, especially if you are traveling with a lady. (or if you are in fact a lady yourself) There are tons of little desserts are available inside a beautiful garden. A lot of locals come here on the weekend to relax with their families or significant others. 

Our recommendation: Get the tiramisu, tres leches, or the maracuya treats!

They have about 10+ flavors of little cakes/treats in these really cute cups great for single servings or for trying multiple. They also have an assortment of pastries and baked goods to try. We also both got coffee drinks to enjoy with our dulces! Kelsey really loved the vibe of this place and the assortment of sweet treats. Come here to satisfy anyone (or yourself) who has a sweet tooth!

➡️ Read: Top 9 Things to Do in Medellin 🗻

6 – Hang out in the main square

Jardin has a beautiful main square, referred to as ‘El Parque’, where everyone hangs out at pretty much all times of the day, but especially at night. You will be here a bunch during your time in Jardin, no doubt.

This is where the famous ‘Church of the Immaculate Conception’ is. You’ll find tons of places to relax and have a coffee or beer, and tons of street food. One night, we had a few beers while sitting in the garden and a man came up to us selling these fresh mini empanadas with a spicy sauce. They were piping hot and the bag of tiny empanadas cost only 5,000 COP. They were the best snack to enjoy the night in the square.

➡️ Read: Ultimate Guide to Tayrona National Park 🙉

The square is very safe and really is a great place to just chill and people watch / enjoy a coffee or beer / have some street food.

🚌 Book the best tours in Jardin HERE ⬅️

7 – Visit a Coffee Farm

Jardin is part of the “coffee-growing region” in Colombia, thus there are many coffee farms in the surrounding area that are happy to give you a tour. We did not do one here as we were saving our coffee tour for Salento. However, Jardin makes for a great place to do a coffee tour as well!

☕️ Book Your Coffee Tour in Jardin HERE! 👈

8 – Go Horseback Riding

You can organize a horseback ride all the way up to Cueva del Esplendor, or other destinations around Jardin. Most of these tours will start at a ‘finca’ outside of town where you will mount your horse. You will enjoy the 1 hour ride up to another ‘finca’ where you will leave your horse, and hike down about 20 minutes to the waterfall. You’ll enjoy the waterfall, hike back up, have a drink and snack at the ‘finca’ then take a Jeep back down to Jardin. 

Horseback tours are very common in Jardin. The calm, hilly nature of the place makes it very popular for this!

🐎 Book Your Horseback Riding Tour of Jardin HERE!

9 – Ride the Wooden Cable Car at La Garrucha

This is about a 5 minute ride through the banana trees, and is a very famous attraction in Jardin. At the top of the ride there is a viewpoint with a restaurant where you can get food and drinks.

10 – Go Bird Watching at Reserva Natural Jardin de Rocas

There are a lot of people who come to see the ‘Cock-of-the-Rock’ bird. This bird is very rare and hard to find in most places. A family in Jardin planted special trees that happen to attract these birds, so you don’t have to go looking for them. Just pop into this family’s garden and have a look.

11 – Hike the many trails around the town

Although there are some obvious destinations on some of the trails (like the cave and waterfalls we talked about above), Jardin boasts a very extensive trail system. There are trails surrounding the entire town right on the outskirts, so even if you would rather avoid some of the more popular tourist attractions, there is most definitely a trail for you!

READ 👉 The Top 5 Hikes in Medellin 🇨🇴

What’s Jardin Like?

Jardin is an amazing look into rural Colombian life. Where you can see ‘campesinos’ having their cup of ‘tinto’ in the square. ‘Vaqueros’ on horses herding their cows in the mountains. Peaceful rivers and waterfalls to swim in without a care in the world. 

Jardin can be traveled to and enjoyed on any type of budget, as the best things to do are completely free, and can be scaled accordingly. 

Where to Stay in Jardin, Colombia

When you visit Jardin, you can either stay near the center (where most people stay), or in a lodge, hotel, or hostel located outside of town in the surrounding hills.

The most popular hostel in town is Sgt. Pepper’s Hostel, and a very nice hotel in town is Casa Passiflora. We stayed at Creo Ecolodge in the hills, and would recommend this to anyone looking for a small community in a very peaceful location with a great view of nature.

🏨 Book Your Stay at Casa Passiflora HERE! 👈

It all depends on personal preference, but if you stay outside of town you are going to have to take a tuk-tuk pretty much every time you head into town, or come back from town to your hotel. (~10,000 – 13,000 COP each time)

Where to Eat in Jardin, Colombia

La Puerta – The Most Underrated Restaurant in Jardin

This restaurant is RIGHT next to where the bus lets you off, so if you get here in the morning or afternoon I highly recommend you come here. Their ‘menu del dia’ is 17,000 COP and was delicious. The workers were super friendly. We really enjoyed this place and are officially making it a MUST-VISIT in our Jardin restaurant guide. We came here multiple times and were very impressed by the quality of the food, the price, and how friendly we were treated. 5 stars.

Tacos del Mundo

The tacos, burritos, and quesadillas here were fantastic. And the service was very good as well.

Legado

This is a tiny restaurant run by a man and his wife with phenomenal food and great value. This meal would probably be $40 in the US, but was 32,000 COP (~ $8) You get an appetizer, main course, and dessert. This was definitely the freshest food I had in Jardin. There are only 3 tables, but one was occupied by a Colombian couple on vacation who graciously allowed us to join them for the meal. If you come here, you will no doubt be treated to an amazing dining experience.

Bon Appetit – Often Talked About but a bit Overrated in our Opinion

This place was mentioned in basically every blog we read before coming here, so we had to try it.

Quite expensive (obviously, it’s Italian in rural Colombia) but didn’t live up to the hype for us. Not worth the price tag. HOWEVER, very friendly service and nothing big to complain about. Just not worth the price tag when in Jardin because there are much better options.

La Parilla de Mi Pueblo

This place gave me ‘Mondongo’s’ vibes, so we didn’t go here. Mondongo’s is the famous Colombian restaurant on Calle 10 in El Poblado that draws tourists in droves who want to try authentic Colombian food. In my opinion it’s been commercialized way too much. You’re not going to get anything authentic that’s directly marketed to tourists like this place is.

La Parrilla de Mi Pueblo is a big restaurant in Jardin that serves typical Colombian food for a decent price at lunch time. It’s become very touristy and mainstream so we decided not to go.

For Coffee…

Café de la reserva – The Best Latte Kelsey’s had in Colombia

This place has the best latte I’ve ever had in Colombia. It is called “cappuchino de la casa” and it is basically a vanilla latte with dulce de leche on the rim with coconut flakes stuck on it. It was FANTASTIC. Honestly I would say it is one of the best latte’s I’ve ever had in my life. This place is right on the same block as Tacos del mundo and Bon Appetit so you can’t miss it. This was my favorite cafe in Jardin

READ 👉 Best Cafes in Medellin ☕️

Cafe Jardin

The typical and most famous cafe in Jardin because of the views. In terms of the coffee, I would say the coffee is just okay. During our stay, I tried an iced latte, a normal macchiato and an affogato. I would say the affogato was best simply because they used good ice cream. In my opinion, the coffee here is a bit overrated, but the view is unmatched so I would still say it is worth the visit. 

Tinta y Tinto

This cafe is attached to the Jardin Public theater which is pretty cool. The barista who works there is a low-key and nice dude. The cafe boasts many unique coffee concoctions from a coffee with ginger to many boozy coffees. The Pastel de Arequipe is a pastry we bought twice at this coffee shop and it was very very yummy, but it was 6,000 COP making it a bit pricey. Definitely good vibes, though, and I would recommend coming here if you are interested in experimental coffee!

Dulces del Jardin

I feel like the coffee here is slept on! Although it is very popular for the sweets. DO NOT skip out on getting a cup of joe! Their Iced Latte was FANTASTIC and had just the perfect ratio of ice and coffee. I really recommend you grab a cup to enjoy with your pastries when you inevitably come here 🙂 

How Long to Stay in Jardin?

We would say three days is best for Jardin. Here is our suggested daily itinerary for Jardin…

🏨 Book Your Stay in Jardin HERE! 👈

Day 1 (arriving in the afternoon)

• Tuk-Tuk to Cafe Jardin – enjoy a coffee
• Walk down to Cristo Rey
• Walk the path into town (45 minutes) through the banana trees and trout farm
• Get dinner in town – Legado or Bon Appetit

Day 2

• Cueva del Esplendor – Our recommendation? Take a JEEP up the Cueva, Walk down with a group and swim in the falls, then hike down to town to see the nature and surrounding landscape. If you want more of a challenge then hike UP and take the JEEP down. Hiking up AND down would be a lot even for me, but could be done if you are a beast.
• Lunch at La Puerta – our BEST value spot in Jardin
• Treats and relax at Dulces del Jardin
• Dinner at Tacos del Mundo or Bella Italia Pizzeria & Grill

Day 3

• Hike to ‘La Escalera’ and ‘Charco Corazon’
• Lunch at La Trucheria (we recommend this one so you can eat what you catch)
• Hang out at ‘El Parque’ in front of the ‘Church of the Immaculate Conception’, have a coffee/beer, talk to the locals in the square, try some street food
• Dinner at Legado or Bon Appetit – whichever one you didn’t try on Day 1

Leave on the morning of Day 4 to your next destination – probably Salento or Medellin !

READ 👉 Top 8 Things to Do in Salento 🌴

Summary – The Best Things to Do in Jardin

Jardin really is an amazing place. We left a few days ago and I already wish I was back there … hanging out in the main square, walking around town, swimming in a waterfall, talking to the cows. Don’t miss Jardin!

💡 Checkout out our detailed 2 Week and 3 Week Colombia Itineraries!

We hope you enjoyed this guide to Jardin, let us know how your trip goes!