Guatavita is the place where a legend took root, and the legend still pulls people up the mountain. The Muisca people who lived on the high plateau around Bogotá held a lake nearby, Laguna de Guatavita, to be sacred, and the story goes that a new chief would be covered in gold dust, taken out on a raft and would dive into the water while his people threw offerings of gold and emeralds. Spanish chroniclers heard the tale and turned it into the myth of El Dorado, the gilded man, which sent expeditions across the continent for centuries. The lake is a few kilometres away in a nature reserve, a deep round bowl in the páramo.
The town itself has an unusual history. Old Guatavita was drowned in the 1960s when the Tominé reservoir was filled, and the community moved to a new site, Guatavita Nueva, built in a colonial style with white walls, tiled roofs and a handsome plaza. It looks old, though it is barely sixty years old. The reservoir spreads below, a wide blue lake popular with sailors and weekend visitors, and a ring of green hills encloses it.
At 2,650 metres, the air is cool and thin, and mist often gathers on the heights. The riding approaches from Bogotá through dairy farms and cloud-forest edge, on roads that curve and climb with views over the valleys. The surface is generally good, but potholes and landslides can appear in the wet seasons, which run from March to May and from October to November. Cyclists ride these hills in large numbers, so keep an eye out and give them space.
Services in Guatavita are modest but friendly, with cafés, bakeries and restaurants serving local specialities such as roast trout and hot chocolate with cheese. Fuel is available in Tocancipá and Sesquilé, so fill up beforehand. Weekends are busy, and parking around the plaza fills up. Bring a warm layer and a rain jacket, because the weather can change in minutes.