The Kuélap Cable Car

Before the cable car opened, reaching Kuélap meant a long climb or a slow drive up a switchback road. The line from Nuevo Tingo replaced that with a crossing of the Utcubamba valley in small cabins, rising through cloud forest to a station below the ridge, from where a short walk finishes the ascent. The ride takes roughly twenty minutes each way and the cabins hold a handful of people. The views run down the valley and across at the limestone ridge itself. Operation has not been continuous: the site has closed for structural repair after part of the outer wall gave way, and the line has had extended stoppages of its own.

What you actually see

• The valley crossing - the long span over the Utcubamba, with the river far below.
• Cloud forest from above - bromeliads and epiphytes in the canopy directly under the cabins.
• The upper station walk - the last stretch on foot from the top station to the walls.
• The ridge view - the limestone spine that Kuélap sits on, seen side-on from the line.

When to go

Mornings, both for the light and because cloud usually fills the valley by afternoon. May to September is the drier half of the year and the more reliable one. The line stops for high wind and for maintenance periods, and its schedule has changed more than once, so check before committing to the journey out from Chachapoyas.

Honest expectations

Reliability is the problem. Closures of the archaeological site and stoppages on the line have both run for long stretches, and published information is not always current. Cabins are small and queues build when tour groups arrive together. In cloud you pay for a ride through grey. The walk from the top station is short but sits at around 3,000 metres.

Nearby

Kuélap itself is at the top of the line, and Gocta waterfall is elsewhere in the same region.