Best and cheapest way to get to bogota from medellin

vicshere says on Mar 11, 2009, 11:09:

there is a parking lot across the street from MRE
man that's a long ride....have pity on your poor kidneys and your back ..that has to be at least a 12 hour bike ride?

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Hugfrancis says on Mar 11, 2009, 11:21:

I have a friend with a 900 cc motorcycle, who is an experienced biker, who has done it several times. His best time was 8.5 hours. So I would not attempt it on anything less than a 500 cc (and I recommend a windscreen).

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vicshere says on Mar 11, 2009, 11:23:

i leave Bcaramanga at 10:30 pm arrive North Bogota at 6:30 am take the bus to MRE there by 7:00 am wait in line sometimes i am first in line....i am out by 11:00 if everything is in order....bus back to the North Bus stop hop back on the Bucaramanga bus around 12:30 pm home by 9:00 pm less that 24 hours on the way there i do get some sleep on the bus ...make sure you take warm clothes as it gets cold on the bus at night

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vicshere says on Mar 11, 2009, 11:24:

oh and take a blanket for night travel maybe even a pillow

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mranderson says on Mar 11, 2009, 11:58:

Thanks for the input so far. I have done the bus thing a few times and I really hate it so that´s why I´m thinking about taking the bike. Sometimes the bus is cold and other times it´s hot as hell in there. Besides, I can never sleep on the bus and I can´t stand the curves for 9 hours. I think on the moto it would be a fun trip as I love curvy roads....I have a 150cc but it will cruise at a steady 80 kph no problem. Obviously slower going up hill.

Why a windsheild? Are there bugs?

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drvannostren says on Mar 11, 2009, 12:14:

It's hot and cold in the bus partially because of the AC/Heat, but also because those are the temp changes in the air too right, you get higher it gets colder, you get lower it gets hotter. So being on your bike, you'll have the advantage to stop and stuff, but i just know me personally I'd fall asleep at the wheel or something, and with all those hills it'd be really taxing on your bike, so i hope you have a good one. My advice would be overnight bus, just sleep almost the entire way, the chairs are pretty comfortable and bring a light jacket to drape over you or kick off based on the temperatures. Plus its only like 50,000 each way or so.

No matter where you go, the Korean tour bus isn't far behind.

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mranderson says on Mar 11, 2009, 12:16:

Vicshere, where do you find the bus to mre from the terminal?

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vicshere says on Mar 11, 2009, 12:40:

actually last time i walked over to the TM and took the TM north to the last station then i walk about 1 k more and i fine the Berlinas Bus line to Bucaramanga for you i am not sure where you can pick up the bus outside the Bus terminal.....i have take the bus from the Bus terminal but its very far away from MRE it was like an hour from the bus terminal to MRE....when you take the bus from medellin watch where the people get off ...usually there is fix place where everyone gets off and its advantageous for you to get off and maybe closer to the MRE usually that place will also take on passenger if you have a prepaid return ticket...ask the bus driver or at the terminal where you depart....i am lucky my bus stops in the north so therefore much closer to the MRE than the terminal

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Robert Jorge says on Mar 12, 2009, 22:35:

"Best" and "Cheapest" usually are not used to describe the same thing.

Sorry, I am in a blue funk right now.

"You can not take the barrio out of the girl you really can't." Oneforamillion

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lpdiver says on Mar 17, 2009, 00:13:

RJ I agree,,,I started to write that they were diametrically opposed early in the thread; but, was too lazy. Glad you stepped up to the plate.

ts

Remember what the monkey says, "Fuck money it's free"

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webmanco says on Mar 17, 2009, 04:32:

Motorcicle is the way to go, do it the first time and let us know how it goes. I had rode the motorcicle as far as 5 hours away, had been reluctant to got to Medellín or to far cities due to the low cilindraje on my motorcicle. There is not pico y placa in Bogotá for motorcicles and as you know them (mortocicles) do not pay tolls.

Riding on a motorcicle is the best solution and you could say the cheaper.

On a secon thought here is not the best but the cheaper

No hay extremo cierto o verdadero, porque los extremos opacan, enruedan, (lavan cerebros) verdades. Yotas

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mranderson says on Mar 17, 2009, 07:20:

Thanks webmanco. My wife is insisting that I don´t ride the moto but I kinda want to. It would be cheaper and the busses honestly scare me. The way they take corners I´m afraid I´ll end up at the bottom of a ravine or something. I don´t like it when I´m not in control. Besides, I can´t sleep at all on the busses and I don´t want to drug myself if I´m traveling alone.

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mranderson says on May 27, 2009, 18:19:

Update...

I decided to take the moto out to bogota from medellin. Had to drag the wife along too.

I was using my gps to track my trip from medellin but the damn thing kept shutting off on me so the info is not accurate. I guess I need a new gps. Anyway, I left medellin at 630 am and got to the outskirts of bogota at about 4 pm.

On the way back I kept track the old fashion way with a clock and a pen. 8 hours drive time and 3 hours of taking breaks. The trip back was much harder since I was still acking from the trip out. I ran the bike pretty hard...150cc riding 2 up with some luggage.

The raging 150 actually did alright and is not too bad as a light tourer. Although ideally it´s best to tour without a passanger on such a small bike. The main weakness of this bike on this route is between la dorada and el doradal. It´s flat and pretty straight. I could only average about 80kph due to the wind and wieght while cars and bike bikes were blowing past. Also it was pretty hard passing big rigs on the mountain roads. However the bike really shined on the mountain curves and switchbacks. Going down I was as fast as anyone but going up the engine really worked but it got the job done.

439 km from centro bogota to my apartment in medellin. According to my odometer.

3.5 gallons of gas from medellin to bogota. I filled up in bogota just before heading back to medellin and I still have close to a quarter tank of gas.

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makopp5 (☼Travelguide writer) says on May 27, 2009, 19:05: