San Gil

Pleasant park for a stroll. Also has a swimming pool or you can dip in the Rio Fonce.

Beautiful 180-meter-high waterfalls outside of town. To get there, get a bus to Charalá from the local terminal and ask to be dropped off at Las Cascadas (COP$5,000, 40 min). There are two entrance on the right handside of the road, the second one (blue and yellow sign) offers a more scenic walk along the river and you'll get to see more waterfalls (COP$7,000). It's a nice 20-minute walk to the bottom of the Juan Curi waterfall where you can swim. Your shoes will get wet crossing the water several times and there are ladders and ropes to help you climb. 100 meters before the waterfall, a small track on your right will lead you up to the middle of the waterfall. Rappelling is possible from there. During rainy weather, consider going early and/or enquire by phone on the flood risk as there may be too much water to walk up the trails to the pools.

Organizes all adventure activities as well as being the experts at big rapids and kayaking.

The mountains and canyons around San Gil make this a great area for mountain biking. You can find bikes for hire in town, but for a guided tour ask at Gringo Mikes. They run full-day tours under the name Colombian Bike Junkies including new full suspension Kona bikes and protective equipment, 4WD transfers, breakfast, lunch and drinks and snacks along the way. You get to see some great scenery, and best of all it's about 95% downhill so you can let gravity do most of the work. You don't need to be a downhill guru, but should be comfortable with riding on dirt roads. COP$160,000-180,000 (depending on group size).

Considered the most advanced, this is a 3-hour and 20-km trip of non-stop class 4-5 rapids. Rafters must have prior experience with class 3 rapids and be under 50 years of age. Tours run in the morning and afternoon, but are dependent on the water level for any given day.

Named for cows that would become trapped after falling into the entrance, Cueva de Vaca is purportedly the more adventurous of the caving options in the region. The cave contains bats, bugs, and the usual stalactite and stalagmite formations, as well as a creek that flows through its entirety. During high water, it's necessary to swim submerged using a rope as a guide to access the deeper chambers. Most tours will spend 1–1.5 hr inside the cave before returning to the entrance (an exit has yet to be discovered). It's possible to purchase tickets directly from one of several companies in Curití, or through a tour operator or hotel in San Gil.

Access to the cave is by rapelling down a zipline. Tours last approx 1 hr and showcase several chambers that contain bats, stalactites, stalagmites and ponds. In the last chamber, it is possible to jump five meters into a four-meter deep waterhole.