From Bogota, Villa de Leyva is only a 3-hour drive. The drive takes you through the country with beautiful views of the mountains.
We opted to take private transportation rather than the flota, also known as a tour bus. We booked private transport after a friend told us that the flota basically drove like the car in Men in Black, at warp speed.
Neither of us were really up for getting sick, or dying, on our way to a beautiful destination. For many of our upcoming trips, we will take a flota. It is a cheaper option, but Johanna spoiled me a bit for this trip as a birthday gift.
Get some food and drinks along the way!
If we could, we would stop traveling now, buy a house in Villa de Leyva, and run a bed and breakfast. Since we don’t have that kind of scratch, we opted to stay with someone who did. We stayed in the Casona San Nicholas.
If you want to stay in the heart of the city square, this place is not for you. You may want to stay in one of the many hostels and hotels that line the streets. San Nicholas is about 4km out from historic Villa de Leyva, tucked away at the foot of the Andes mountains.
Flowers in all hues of red, yellow and purple, speckled the lush green terrain, while burnt orange terra-cotta roofs framed the view.
Some reviews said, if you stay far from the city square, transportation is hard to come by. We never had a problem. When our accommodating host, Maria Juliana, wasn’t available to drive us, she set us up with someone who could.
A delicious breakfast was included, large enough to satisfy the most voracious of appetites.