in 2009 we took a boat out to one of the islands and did some swimming. the banks of the lakes are like a red clay, so be prepared to have a dirty bottom/butt if you sit down there 🙂
I honestly don’t remember what the conditions of the water were. cold? murky?

Yes, but I don’t think there’s much in terms of a beach. Watersports like jetskis and wakeboarding are common too.

Thanks,Robin

Agree about the need for sunscreen once you’re up and out of the valley. I was in Santa Elena a few weeks ago, and the same thing happened. I put sunscreen on my head and neck, and even wore a hat, but I forgot about my arms. The cool breeze up there was disarming. By the time I got back down to Medellin a few hours later, my arms were lobster-red.

In guatape you can find many places to eat a nice trout lunch and zipline over the water, see the pretty painted houses. there are at least 3 hostels in the area. there are also party boats and small boats to take you to some of the small islands. i hear there is a big boa snake at one of the islands, and they used to have a bird(colors of Colombian flag) for photo ops and you donated a little money to the family or bought things from their tienda..

bus back to Medellin – if you decide to take a specific bus, maybe you should buy your ticket a bit in advance. we tried one time at the last minute to get a bus, and ended up sitting on cushions on the floor and stairs for the same price as having a seat, since the last seats were sold just before we got there and a few people had to stand for a while or sit in the aisle.

typically i leave 7-8am and return on a 5-6pm bus and have a busy but good day. have been there 4 times. I also here there is a cool town if you go a bit further than Guatape, but forget the name..

if you take the metro to Caribe station, take a 2 minute walk on the north bridge to the north terminal bus station and you will find the guatape bus’s at about space 14-16.

sunscreen – one time i was relaxing with friends and talking at the top for a long time, and there was a nice breeze that made me not feel the intense high altitude sun, and the next the next day i looked a bit like a lobster on my arms.

protecting items – one time a few of us gave a little money to a family that had a tienda on the way up to el penol, and they watched our bags for us.