San Agustín

A UNESCO-listed archaeological park in the Andes, with hundreds of pre-Columbian stone statues scattered across the Magdalena Valley, plus nearby river gorges and tall waterfalls.

San Agustín lies in Huila Department in southern Colombia, in the upper Magdalena River valley between the Andes' Central and Eastern Cordilleras. At about 1,700 m, it enjoys a mild climate year-round (daytime around 18–25°C). Between roughly AD 1 and 900, the people who lived here left behind South America's largest group of megalithic statues and burial sites; San Agustín Archaeological Park, together with Alto de los Ídolos and Alto de las Piedras across the river near Isnos, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. A visit usually breaks into three parts: on day one, explore the Archaeological Park and its museum on foot; on day two, join a jeep day tour linking the Magdalena Strait (Estrecho del Magdalena), Alto de los Ídolos, Alto de las Piedras and the Bordones and Mortiño waterfalls; on day three, ride on horseback to smaller sites around town such as La Chaquira, La Pelota and El Purutal, or go rafting on the Magdalena or visit a coffee farm. The combined Archaeological Park ticket is valid for 2 days and covers the three World Heritage core sites. December–March and July–August are drier; in the rainy season mountain roads get muddy. Getting there: fly from Bogotá to Pitalito (about 40 km away) or Neiva and continue by road; long-distance buses also run from Popayán across the Paletará plateau, taking about 5–6 hours, partly on unpaved roads. Plan on 2–3 days.

Top sights

• San Agustín Archaeological Park – The site of South America's largest collection of pre-Columbian monumental stone statues, a World Heritage Site where hundreds of statues…
• Alto de los Ídolos – A World Heritage burial ground in Isnos, across the Magdalena River, home to the tallest statue of the San Agustín culture and stone tombs…
• Estrecho del Magdalena – The narrowest point of the upper Magdalena, Colombia's mother river, where the wide flow is squeezed into a rock gorge only about 2 meters…
• Alto de las Piedras – A World Heritage burial ground about 7 km north of Isnos, known for its famous statue of the “Double Self” and for painted stone-chamber to…
• Salto de Bordones – A large waterfall in a canyon northeast of Isnos, dropping about 400 metres. It is one of the tallest waterfalls in Colombia, and viewing p…
• Salto del Mortiño – A tall waterfall near Isnos that pours down a basalt cliff face, with a viewing platform built on the edge of the canyon so you can look st…
• La Chaquira – Relief carvings of deities on boulders at the edge of the Magdalena River canyon, facing deep valleys and mountains. It is the most breatht…
• El Purutal – A small site in the hills north of the town, with two rare stone statues that still retain their original red, yellow and black paint. It i…
• La Pelota – A small hilltop site near El Purutal, where several guardian stone statues and stone tombs stand on a grassy slope, surrounded by coffee pl…
• El Tablón – A small site on the edge of San Agustín town, where several distinctive stone statues are displayed together under a shelter. It is usually…

Where to eat

• Altos de Yerbabuena – A family restaurant on the road to the archaeological park that has long ranked at the top of the town's listings, know…
• Donde Richard – A longtime grill house open for more than forty years on the road to the archaeological park, known to locals and visit…