Colombia's Tren Turístico de la Sabana: Riding the Steam Train from Bogotá to Zipaquirá's Salt Cathedral

Few train journeys combine the theatrical and the sacred quite like this one. On a weekend morning in Bogotá, a century-old steam locomotive pulls out of the historic La Sabana station belching white smoke into the cool highland air, bound for one of South America's most surreal destinations: a cathedral carved entirely from a salt mine.

The Tren Turístico de la Sabana has been running excursions since 1995, operated by Colombia's Turismo & Trenes company, and it offers something the country's bus-heavy transport network simply cannot. Pace. A chance to watch the sprawling northern suburbs of Bogotá gradually dissolve into the open green expanse of the Cundinamarca savanna, sitting at roughly 2,600 metres above sea level.

The Route

Bogotá's La Sabana station is worth arriving early for. Built in 1917, the building's Romanesque facade and clock tower feel agreeably out of step with the city surrounding it. The train departs on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and the round trip covers about 50 kilometres each way through the Andean plateau.

From the window, the scenery is gentle rather than dramatic. Wetlands flicker past. Small farms. Eucalyptus groves planted by the colonial-era haciendas that dot the savanna. Cattle graze close to the tracks. Vendors work the carriages selling arepas and hot chocolate, which at this altitude and temperature you will want. The journey takes roughly ninety minutes in each direction, giving you three hours to explore Zipaquirá before the return leg.

That is enough time. Barely, but enough.

Zipaquirá's Salt Cathedral

Zipaquirá has been producing salt since pre-Columbian times, when the Muisca people mined the deposits and used the mineral as currency. The modern cathedral occupies tunnels cut 180 metres below the surface of the Halite mountain. Construction of the current structure finished in 1995, replacing an older chapel that dated to the 1950s.

Descending into the mine, the temperature drops to around 18°C regardless of the season outside. The main nave stretches 75 metres long, making it large enough to hold 10,000 worshippers. Fourteen smaller chapels line the approach tunnels, each representing a station of the cross and lit in moody blue and violet. The cross at the main altar, carved from the salt rock itself, stands eight metres tall. Nothing about it feels small.

Admission to the cathedral includes a guided tour in Spanish and English. Budget ninety minutes for the full circuit, longer if you want time in the museum dedicated to Muisca salt history.

Practical Details

Tickets for the train sell out on holiday weekends. Book through the Turismo & Trenes website at least a week ahead if you are visiting between June and August, when Colombian school holidays and foreign tourist seasons overlap. The train runs year-round on weekends and on public holidays, but check the schedule before you build a day around it.

The journey costs around 65,000 to 80,000 Colombian pesos per person for the round trip as of 2025, which covers the train but not cathedral admission (an additional 95,000 pesos or so for foreign visitors). Budget roughly half a day in total, including transfers from your hotel to La Sabana station.

Wear layers. Bogotá's savanna weather is notoriously unpredictable, and the salt cathedral's interior is cool even when the sun is blazing outside.

Why This Journey Works

Colombia has a complicated relationship with its railways. Years of underinvestment gutted most of the national network, and today the Tren Turístico exists as a deliberate act of preservation rather than a commuter service. That gives the whole experience a slightly nostalgic quality, without tipping into pastiche.

The locomotive is the real thing. Some weekends the operator runs diesel carriages; others, the steam engine takes over. If the steam version is running on your chosen weekend, pay attention to the departure details and request it specifically when booking. Watching that engine work through the morning mist over the savanna changes the whole tenor of the ride.

For travellers spending several days in Bogotá and looking for a day trip that does not involve a bus, this is the one. The Salt Cathedral would justify the trip by road. By steam train across the Andean plateau, it becomes something you will carry considerably longer than the photographs.