Backpacking Venezuela independently is doable but harder than in neighboring Colombia or Peru, because the backpacker trail is thin and logistics need more planning.
Posadas in
Mérida,
Choroní and
Ciudad Bolívar are used to independent travelers and often arrange transfers and tours for you. Canaima and Los Roques are reached by flights, and most people book Canaima as a 3-day package (roughly US$350 to 600 plus flights). Carry US dollars in small bills, since cards and ATMs are unreliable. Basic Spanish helps a lot, and many travelers book their first night’s airport pickup through their posada rather than hailing a taxi at Maiquetía.
Two weeks is the right amount of time for a first trip to Venezuela, enough for the coast, the Andes and Canaima without rushing.
With 5 days, stay central:
Caracas plus 3 nights in
Choroní. Ten days covers
Canaima and Angel Falls (3 nights) plus Mochima and
Isla Margarita. With 15 days you can add
Los Roques (2 nights), Coro and
Mérida (3 nights). Distances are long: Caracas to Mérida is 12 to 14 hours by bus or about 1 hour by plane, so budget a recovery day after every long ride.
Yes, you can travel Venezuela without a car by combining buses, shared cars and domestic flights.
Long-distance buses link the main cities:
Caracas to Coro takes 7 to 8 hours, Maracaibo to
Mérida 7 to 9 hours, Ciudad Bolívar to Puerto La Cruz 4 to 5 hours. Por puesto shared cars cover shorter hops, such as Maracay to
Choroní in about 2 hours. Some places have no road at all:
Canaima is reached only by small plane (about 1 hour from Ciudad Bolívar) and
Los Roques by a 40-minute flight from Maiquetía. Ferries from Puerto La Cruz reach Isla Margarita in 4 to 5 hours.
The must-visits in Venezuela are Angel Falls in Canaima National Park, the Los Roques archipelago and the Andes around Mérida.
Angel Falls drops 979 meters and is reached on a 3-day trip from
Canaima, best from June to November when rivers are high enough for boats.
Los Roques needs at least 2 nights for boat trips to cays like Cayo de Agua. In
Mérida, the Teleférico climbs to 4,765 meters on Pico Espejo. If you have time, add colonial
Coro with its dunes and the cacao coast town of
Choroní, 2 hours over the mountains from Maracay.
When time is short in Venezuela, skip the big inland cities like Valencia, Barquisimeto and Maturín, which work as transit points but offer little a traveler can’t find elsewhere.
Maracaibo is also an easy cut unless you are heading overland to
Mérida or want to see the Catatumbo lightning. On
Isla Margarita, Porlamar is mostly shopping malls, so base yourself at
Playa El Agua instead. Roraima is spectacular but needs 6 to 8 days on its own, so leave it for a second trip and use those days for
Canaima (3 nights) and
Los Roques (2 nights).
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for Venezuela in seconds. Try it out!
Try the itinerary plannerv2.webp){kind=logo}
Best Backpacking
