Mérida: Activities

• hiking

  There are excellent hiking and trekking opportunities on trails linking the many remote villages in the mountains around Mérida and in the Parques Nacionales Sierra Nevada and Sierra La Culata.

• parasailing

  Mérida's most iconic adventure sport. Most visitors opt for tandem gliders with a skilled pilot, so no previous experience is necessary. The usual starting point for flights is Las González.

• rock climbing

  Canyoning is Mérida's latest 'must-do' adventure sport. Not for the faint of heart, it consists of climbing, rappelling and hiking down a river canyon and through its waterfalls. It's been described by travelers as 'awesome, terrifying, beautiful, insane but amazing' and 'quite possibly the maddest thing you can do without getting killed'.

• rafting

  White-water rafting can be organized on some rivers on the southern and western slopes of the Andes. It can be included in a tour to Los Llanos or done separately as a two- to four-day rafting tour.

• mountain biking

  One of the more popular bike tours is the loop around the remote mountain villages south of Mérida known as Pueblos del Sur. For a more challenging ride, try a trip up to El Refugio (in Parque Nacional Sierra la Culata) and back.

• fishing

  The Andean lakes and rivers offer some excellent trout fishing. The most popular places are Laguna Mucubají, nearby Laguna La Victoria and, to a lesser extent, Laguna Negra and Laguna Los Patos. The fishing season runs from mid-March to the end of September.

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