Cascada la Escalera in Jardin: Everything You Need to Know

Cascada la Escalera is an incredibly popular waterfall hike that leads up into the beautiful mountainous areas surrounding Colombia’s colonial town of Jardin. Cascada la Escalera is actually the first waterfall along a trail of four – but more on that later!

Sara and I spent a full four days exploring Jardin and surrounding hikes and activities. We made the trek up to Cascada la Escalera, and beyond, so that you can be fully prepared to do the same.

By the end of this guide, you will know everything about visiting Cascada la Escalera. This way your trip can go off without a hitch!

So let’s stop wasting time and dive straight in shall we?

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About Cascada la Escalera

If you’re reading this guide then you probably already know about Cascada la Escalera. It’s a waterfall found to the north of Jardin, Colombia. This is one of the most popular waterfalls in the region because it’s also one of the closest to the town centre – about a 3.2km hike away.

It’s pretty easy to reach and the trail is well worn so it’s hard to get lost. There’s quite a bit of elevation gain to Cascada la Escalera from Jardin’s main plaza but overall it’s a simple hike.

Cascada la Escalera itself is a 60m tall cascade that runs down over the rocks in the cliff face. Unfortunately it’s not possible to swim here. However, you can climb the rocks and stand under the waterfall to cool off on a hot day!

But before you can hike to Cascada la Escalera, you need to know how to get to Jardin.

How to get to Jardin

The main route to take to Jardin is to catch a public bus from Medellin, the closest city. This is how we travelled to and from Jardin ourselves and is our number one recommendation for you guys too.

The process of getting from Medellin to Jardin is a simple one:

1. Head to the busbud.com website.
2. Check for buses leaving from Medellin to Jardin and choose the option that suits you best. We went with Rapido Ochoa which is the most popular company to travel with.
3. Head to Terminal del Sur in Medellin and plan to arrive 30-45 minutes before your bus departs.
4. If, like us, you booked with Rapido Ochoa, you need to check-in to get your tickets at desk 34.
5. Head to the bay number on your ticket and board your bus!

We shared a full guide on how to get from Medellin to Jardin and back. In it we cover the entire process of booking your tickets, to catching you bus and share our thoughts on the experience of bus travel in Colombia.

The Cascada la Escalera Hike

The first route you can take to Cascada la Escalera is an out-and-back direct route from Jardin town centre. We would recommend this route if you’re running tight on time and just want to see the waterfall. Otherwise, there’s another route that we took that we think is better!

To reach the trailhead, you need to walk north-east from the main plaza until you reach carrera 2. Here you need to turn right. 

From there, head up Carrera 2 until you meet Calle 13 and then turn left.

You’re essentially now going to follow this road all the way up into the mountains, turning right when you reach the fork, until you see a sign for Cascada la Escalera on a hairpin bend. At this sign turn right. Just bear in mind that there’s a bunch of private property on this road. Make sure you stick to the trail!

From this point on, you can follow the maps on this All Trails route. We also recommend downloading the map beforehand because we discovered that the signal in the mountains isn’t all that great.

From here you’ll take the trail past some eco lodges, across some mild river crossings and up some minor elevation gain until you reach Cascada la Escalera.

Adding the Cristo Rey & Cafe Jardin Loop Hike

So this is the trail that we recommend you take and the trail that we undertook ourselves. Obviously being a loop you can take this trail whichever way you like. However we hiked it anti-clockwise – so for the sake of this guide, that’s how we’re going to talk about it.

Jardin Town to Cristo Rey

From Plaza de Libertador in Jardin, we took the same route along Carrera 2 described above. Although instead of walking all the way up to Calle 13, we turned left at Calle 11. At the end of Calle 11, we found the trailhead that will take you up to Mirador Cristo Rey – our first stop on this hike.

From here you can use this trail on All Trails to reach Mirador Cristo Rey, but we’ll also explain what the hike is like too!

From town, we headed downhill past an absolutely stunning tree (if you know what species of tree this is, please let us know on Instagram!) until we got to the bottom of the valley. Then we crossed a pretty cool wooden bridge that’ll take you to the other side of the river.

Now the hard part starts! You have some solid elevation to climb at this point, about 130m all in all. The trail starts switchbacking up the side of the hill, past some very tall and beautiful trees. Once we reached the top of this muddy section, the trail straightened out and we saw the statue of Jesus in the distance – that’s your first goal!

We kept powering up the hill past all the banana farms on the right. As we got higher, we were treated with a stunning view over the entire village of Jardin to the left. We recommend taking a breather and enjoying the view for a bit, but don’t worry, we’re almost there.

It was a straight shot to the top of this elevated section and we made it to Mirador Cristo Rey! Here you can stop for a cuppa coffee and/or some snacks while you look out over the town.

Unfortunately we arrived too early in the morning. The café here is only open between 10am – 6pm (6:30pm on weekends). Also, it’s worth mentioning it’s closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Cristo Rey to Cafe Jardin

The good news is, we’ve already covered well over half of the elevation gain for this entire hike and we’re only about 20% of the way around the loop!

Once you’ve finished at Mirador Cristo Rey, turn around and look towards the mountains. You’ll spot your next goal – Café Jardín.

We found this part super easy! It’s just another 40m or so climb up a paved road until you reach the gates of Café Jardín. Once again, Café Jardín is a great place for a drink and some snacks with an even higher view over Jardin town. The cafe is open between 10am – 6:30pm and is closed on Mondays.

We actually stopped at Café Jardín on the way back down, but we’ll touch on why later!

Cafe Jardin to Cascada la Escalera

After Café Jardín, walk up the small hill and swing right. We walked downhill along this part of the road for about 15 – 20 minutes before arriving at the trailhead for Cascada la Escalera – the one with the sign at the hairpin bend.

Then just follow the the trail and the signs for Cascada la Escalera until you reach the waterfall. 

Once you’re finished with the waterfall, you can retrace your steps back to the hairpin road. Then follow the road we spoke about before that leads back to Calle 13 to complete your loop!

The Four Waterfalls Trail

You may be racking your brain as to what we meant when we said that Cascada la Escalera is the first of four waterfalls? Well, if you continue past Cascada la Escalera, you also have the chance to see the Fall of the Dragon, Cuevo de los Guarachos and Salto del Angel waterfalls!

A fair warning: this trail gets more technical the further along it you get. Make sure you have trekking experience and are wearing sturdy hiking boots and appropriate clothing.

It’s worth noting that apparently this can also be completed as a loop. However the All Trails map shows an out and back hike, so that’s what we attempted to do –  yes, attempted!

Cascada la Escalera to Fall of the Dragon

If you’re standing by Cascada la Escalera, you can probably see the paved road that continues on. Head up that road and the trail is very easy to follow from this point onwards. W

We kept cruising uphill until we got to a house. This house is private property but the owners have been kind enough to install a gate to the right of the entrance so we could walk around easily.

We kept following the trail uphill until we reached a fence that looked like we had no business stepping over it… but you do. The trail sort of disappears into some overgrown grass here but it was a pretty straight shot to get out the other end.

At this point, the trail weaves up the mountains to the forest. This was a solid climb up and was a major leg burner. Every now and then we’d turn around as the view across the valley from this hill was absolutely stunning. We even saw a couple of mules up here!

Once at the top of this section, we needed to traverse across the side of the mountain for a bit. Then the trail started to get a little confusing. We definitely recommend using All Trails here and having the map downloaded beforehand. There was no phone signal anymore and the trails became a lot less worn and harder to follow.

We walked through some bushes and narrow trails and discovered an entrance that leads into the forest. Again it looked like we had no business heading into the forest here… but we did!

This is a short, rocky, muddy uphill section that lead us directly to the Fall of the Dragon waterfall, or Caida de Dragón. This is an 80m multi-tier waterfall buried in the Colombian Rainforest. Although it’s not swimmable, again to our dismay.

Fall of the Dragon Onwards

Okay so at this point, if you’re hiking alone we would actually recommend turning around. Head back to town or to Cafe Jardin for a nice cold can of coke – which is what we should have done!

Or you can cross the waterfall and continue along the trail. This is what we did as we wanted to see the other waterfalls. As we climbed up, we were treated to good views of the Fall of the Dragon at different levels until we made it to the top of the falls. 

From here the trail got quite technical. We tried hard but decidedly gave up after a further 45 minutes because we couldn’t find the right trail. The path we found looked incredibly dangerous and well outside of our skill level…

…and then we got stuck in a tropical thunderstorm.

Instead we booked it back down to Cafe Jardin – int the rain – for a cold bottle of water and a cinnamon roll to wait out the storm.

If you do want to hike to Cueva los Guacharos and Salto del Angel, then we recommend hiring a local guide from town who knows the forest well. This is definitely what we’ll do if we go back in the future!

Alternative Ways to Cascada la Escalera

It’s actually possible to get to Cascada la Escalera without breaking a single sweat. There’s actually a road that leads right there – and to Mirador Cristo Rey and Cafe Jardin as well!

Maybe hiking just isn’t for you and that’s okay! Instead, you can hire a jeep from Jardin to drive you to Cascada la Escalera and bring you back again. 

Alternatively, you can hire a tuk tuk to bring you to the trailhead on the hairpin road. Tuk tuk’s can’t go any further than this. Then you only have a short hike to reach Cascada la Escalera. 

Just bear in mind that calling a tuk tuk to bring you back down again can be difficult unless you have the right numbers and can speak good enough Spanish to talk with the drivers. This is an issue we had trying to get back to town from Cafe Jardin.

Canyoning at Cascada la Escalera

There are definitely other names we would call this activity, rappelling or abseiling comes to mind, but basically there’s an activity you can book that lets you fall off the waterfall… so to speak.

You meet your guide in Jardin and make the trek up to Cascada la Escalera as a group. The guides will kit you out with all the equipment you need for you to hang off the top of the waterfall and rappel down it.

This is definitely one for the more adventurous types! Maybe we’ll treat ourselves to next time we’re in Jardin!

Best Time to Visit Cascada la Escalera

It’s hard to say when the best time is to make the trek to Cascada la Escalera. This area of Colombia experiences two rainy seasons per year: April to May and September to October. Therefore, there’s a higher chance of rain during these months.

However, Jardin is 1750m above sea level nestled in a valley in the Andes surrounded by the Colombian rainforest. So actually it rains in Jardin all year round. But the ‘driest’ months are June to August and November to March so during this time would be the best.

We just recommend not basing your travels to this region around wet and dry seasons unless you’re totally flexible with your time.

Final Thoughts on Cascada la Escalera

So to round up, we just want to talk about our experience visiting Cascada la Escalera. All-in-all, we had a great time on this trek. The trail up to Cascada la Escalera is super easy to follow and the elevation gain isn’t the worst it could possibly be.

Combining Cascada la Escalera with Mirador Cristo Rey and Cafe Jardin is a great easy to moderate loop that will take you less than half a day. You can even grab some lunch at Cafe Jardin before heading back down.

However, if you are planning to trek the four waterfalls, make sure you are prepared. We were fairly underprepared in terms of the amount of water and expectations of the difficulty even after reading reviews about the hike online. 

Check out our other Jardin guides:

• Cascada del Amor: A Guide to Jardin’s Waterfall of Love
• Fall of the Dragon: A Hidden Waterfall in Jardin
• Best Cafes in Jardin Colombia: Where to Get Your Coffee?
• 37+ Things to do in Jardin: Colombia’s Best Kept Secret
• How to get from Medellin to Jardin by bus (and more)
• Is Colombia safe to visit in 2024? Everything you need to know

We hope that our guide covered everything you need to know about visiting Cascada la Escalera in Jardin. We always strive to offer the most accurate and up-to-date information we can but if you think something we’ve said is wrong, please let us know!