Villa de Leyva Road

North from Bogotá into Boyacá: dry hills, a colonial town of cobbles and the desert valley behind it.

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Why this ride

From Tunja it runs 172 km to Ráquira; allow about 3 h 18 of riding. It goes by way of Arcabuco and Villa de Leyva. The highest point is 2,820 m. The line favours views over speed.

Roadbook

1. Tunja start · 2820 m

   Tunja is where the day begins. Nothing on this route is higher.

2. Arcabuco scenic · 2600 m

   Arcabuco is a small town in Boyacá at twenty-six hundred metres, on the road between Tunja and Villa de Leyva, and it is known above all for wool. The cold climate suits sheep, and for generations the local women have knitted and woven the woollen garments, ruanas, sweaters and blankets, that the town sells from shops along the main street. The market square is quiet and orderly, with a church and low white buildings, and the surrounding hills are farmed in small plots, with the typical Boyacá patchwork of green and gold.

   The setting is as good as the town. Behind Arcabuco rises the Iguaque massif, a sanctuary of cloud forest and high páramo with several small lakes, and in Muisca belief it is the place from which humanity emerged, when the goddess Bachué rose from Lake Iguaque with a child in her arms. The forest holds spectacled bears, which are rarely seen, and a huge range of birds, with orchids and tree ferns in the damp pockets. Seen from the road, the mountain wears a ragged cap of cloud for much of the day.

   The road to Villa de Leyva is the reason to pass through. It leaves Arcabuco, climbs through cool pasture, and then descends in a series of tight bends toward a drier, warmer basin, where the colonial town sits in sunshine among its stone streets and a plaza that is among the largest in the country. The change in climate over a few kilometres is striking: you leave in a jacket and arrive in a shirt. The surface is generally paved and decent, though fog can sit on the upper part, and heavy trucks make the bends slow.

   Arcabuco is a good place to stop for a coffee and a bowl of something hot, such as the thick local soups, before riding on. The town is small, with a population of about fifteen hundred, so fuel is limited and it is better to fill up in Tunja or at the larger stations on the main road. Villa de Leyva, seventeen kilometres away, has plenty of services. Weekends and public holidays bring heavy traffic from Bogotá, so a midweek visit is a much calmer experience.

3. Villa de Leyva scenic · 2140 m

   Villa de Leyva was founded in 1572 and has barely changed since. At 2,140 metres, on a dry plateau in the Boyacá highlands, the town is a grid of whitewashed houses with red roofs, set around one of the largest cobbled plazas in the Americas, a great open square of rounded stones with a simple stone fountain in the middle and a church at one end. On a clear day, with the sun on the white walls and the mountains behind, the effect is almost theatrical.

   The town was named for Andrés Díaz Venero de Leyva, the first president of the Royal Audience of New Granada, and it served as a retreat for colonial officials and later for independence-era families. Colombia has protected it as a national monument since the 1950s, which is why the streets are cobbled, wires are discreet and new building is strictly controlled. Nearby, the landscape tells older stories. The dry hills were once seabed, and fossils of marine reptiles, including a huge Kronosaurus, have been found in the area, while El Infiernito, a site of standing stones, was used by the Muisca people to observe the sun.

   For riders, the road to Villa de Leyva climbs from the main highway through dry, scrubby hills with views over green valleys, a fun and flowing route with gentle curves and mixed surface quality. The cobbles in town are rough and slippery after rain, and the old streets are narrow, so go slowly, park and walk. The climate is mild and dry compared with much of the Colombian Andes, with sunny days and cool nights, and the best time to visit is between December and March or July and August.

   Fuel is available in town, and larger towns like Tunja, about an hour away, have more services. The streets around the plaza are lined with cafés, bakeries and restaurants offering local dishes, from stews to arepas and fresh juices. Weekends bring crowds of visitors from Bogotá, so a weekday is calmer. Take time to walk the lanes at dusk, when the light turns gold and the town looks as though it were painted.

4. Ráquira finish · 2150 m

   Ráquira closes the day.

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