Hola amigos! Welcome to our Venezuela travel guide. We are Valery and Emmanuel. Two Venezuelans from Caracas. We met each other while working for Soco Adventures, our adventure travel agency.
Let us tell you about our beautiful country. The people here are always happy. Despite the adversities, we always try to look on the brighter side of life. We’ve had the pleasure of meeting many Venezuelans across the country – from indigenous populations to people from small towns.
One thing we know is that people are always happy to meet you and share with you what they have. It’s an honour for us. When we travel we try to donate money to small communities too. Interacting with the people of Venezuela makes us come back happier and more in love with our country each and every time.
Exploring all Corners of the Beautiful Venezuela
We started traveling through Venezuela two years ago. I guess we have covered around 80% of the country now. However, we do think that less is more sometimes. It’s nice to travel deeper into each place that we visit.
Venezuela is small: 916.000km2. You could experience the best of the best of the country in around two-three months max. For us, we also have other responsibilities when we travel like our adventure travel agency. So we can’t be traveling full-time. We utilise weekends and small trips of 7-10 days to visit the most amazing destinations of Venezuela.
Venezuela Travel Guide: Visit Angels Falls and Mount Roraima
We both have different favourite places in Venezuela. Valery’s favourite is Angel Falls. It’s the highest waterfall in the world at a staggering 979m. The feelings and sensations of navigating the river to reach the base camp are indescribable! Honestly, you have to see it in real life for yourself. Truly a magical place that should be included in every Venezuela travel guide!
In Emmanuel’s case, Mount Roraima is his favourite. This Tapuy or “Big Rock” requires seven days of trekking and camping. After three days you can touch the wall and reach the top at 2800 metres above sea level. The views are simply spectacular.
All the effort of hiking for more than 30km to reach the top and seeing the magic of our planet – it’s an amazing experience! Exploring the top of Roraima and seeing the diversity of its landscapes is a huge WOW moment. You can see more about this destination in the YouTube video we made below.
Venezuela Travel Guide: Top 5 Experiences
Our number one recommendation for our Venezuela travel guide is (of course) Angel Falls. It’s one of the most amazing places on earth. Emmanuel has visited 30 countries in the world and for him there is no place that quite compares to Angel Falls.
We review a lot of places on Google and if you see the interactions we’ve had on our Angel Falls review, you’ll realise that it’s not a common destination. Not only because of the height of the waterfalls, but also because people don’t tend to visit Canaima National Park in general.
Honestly, we are blessed to have Angel Falls in our country. The best way to visit is to contact a tour agency. We recommend our adventure travel agency. We create custom trips to all parts of Venezuela. This is one of our most popular trips that we do. We pick up tourists from the airport and stay with them for their entire stay in our country.
Our second experience is Mount Roraima. As mentioned above, this magical place actually looks like a floating island as the plateau sits 7000 metres above the forest. The mountain is surrounded by three different countries: Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana.
If you want to scale the cliff walls, you will need to have experience in climbing and mountaineering. However, there is a path up which is more suited for everyday hikers who have a decent level of fitness.
Coming in third on our list is Los Roques. This archipelago of more than 50 islands located on the Caribbean coast is pure paradise. The most popular island is El Gran Roque which is the only island where people live (the airport is situated here too). Other islands you should explore are Francisqui, Nordisqui, Madrisqui, Crasqui and many more!
La tortuga island is another must-do island destination. It’s located just three hours from the coast of Venezuela. No one lives here and it’s pure untouched island paradise. Our final recommendation is to do a road trip to Falcon. More details on this unique destination below.
Las Salinas de las Cimaraguas in Falcon State
One of the most beautiful places to visit in Falcon State is Las Salinas de las Cumaraguas. At the beginning of this road trip, you pass through a road of palm trees and you start to feel like you’re entering paradise.
Then you can go to Tucacas and visit Morrocoy National Park. Next you go to the desert at Médanos de Coro and trek it’s dunes and take some amazing pictures. You can also practice sandboarding which is a lot of fun!
After tearing up the sand of Coro, head to Adicora – the wind paradise. This is the perfect beach for kitesurfing. Drive for a further 20 minutes and you’ll reach your main destination: Las Salinas de lals Cimaraguas. Seeing those amazing pink and salty waters for the first time will totally blow you away!
You can visit the salt lakes all year round. The best time to visit during the day is from 11am – 2pm because this is the time when the sun is shining brightest. The pinks are more intense and colourful during this time. These vibrant colours are created from bacteria (nothing bad) under the water that, mixed with sunlight, produces the pink colour.
Venezuela Travel Guide: Where to Find the Best Beaches
In our top 5 experiences of Venezuela we mentioned some destinations with amazing beaches like Los Roques, La Tortuga Island and the Falcon State with its Morrocoy National Park. The best beaches are probably located in these three different destinations.
But honestly, there are several other places with stunning stretches of beach too like Choroni, La Blanquilla Island, La Orchila Island, Margarita Island and Cubagua Island.
Venezuela is a country with the biggest Caribbean coastline. It’s located on the equator line, so there’s not just beautiful places but also lovely weather. Sunny days and warm waters year round – isn’t that just perfect?!
Our Most Cherished Travel Memory in Venezuela
It’s hard for us to have one single favourite travel moment in Venezuela because we live by the motto: “the best trip is the next one”! We always try to live every moment to the max in each day of our lives. However, one moment that comes to mind was from September last year when we were invited to explore Angel Falls.
We visited the falls and its surroundings for 10 days. It wasn’t the easiest trip since we had to do a lot of walking. We met many indigenous communities and did a lot of photography and videography work.
The best moment was when we went to the base at Angel Falls. Our guide asked us if we wanted to touch the wall of the Auyantepui (the big mountain or rock where Angel Falls is located). For context, on regular tours, you reach a viewpoint located 3km away from the exact location of the waterfall.
As we started to walk towards the waterfalls and feel the immense vibrations, we just started crying in gratitude for the opportunity to be there. We showered in the base of Angel Falls with water coming straight down from the top, over 900 metres of free fall!
Venezuela Travel Guide: Taste the Delicious Food
Venezuela has several typical meals that you can find everywhere. The most recommended food is the Arepa. It’s like a salty corn doughnut cake that you open and can fill with chicken, beef, cheese, and whatever you like! Anything fits inside a Venezuelan Arepa.
Cachapa is another favourite with sweet corn dough that’s slightly bigger than the Arepa. It’s best eaten with pork, cheese and sweet plantains inside. If you come in December you can also try the Hallaca which is like a Mexican Tamale filled with chicken, pork, steak, vegetables and Venezuelan seasoning all wrapped in plantain leaves. Yum!
Venezuela Travel Guide: Is it Safe to Visit?
The safety of traveling here is a controversial theme to talk about. It’s probably the most requested topic in any Venezuela travel guide. Social media and the news has shown only the worst parts of our country. It’s obviously the stuff that gets the most attention to sell advertising.
However, Venezuela is an amazing country. For sure, it’s not 100% ready to embrace mass tourism but we are on the way. You will find it a safe country if you want to visit the tourist destinations. People are respectful and embrace other cultures.
It’s a shame that politics has destroyed the economy and much of the society in Venezuela. Many people find themselves in poverty because of this. There are dangerous areas where we recommend tourists don’t visit (at least by yourself). Although, those areas are neighbourhoods far away from tourist spots.
We have been affected by politics in things like the quality of our roads and the price of gas at gas stations. Apart from that, if you take precautions (like the ones we recommend in our YouTube videos) then you will not only be safe but Venezuela will be one of your favourite countries for sure!
What you Need to Know Before you Go
Our number one tip for our travel guide to Venezuela is to try contact people who live here before you arrive. We are always here to help. Do not exchange your currency at the airport to bolivars (our currency) because they always pay you way less than the real price.
Try to get in touch with adventure travel agencies. It’s the best, safest and most exclusive way to visit the most incredible places in Venezuela. Be prepared to fall in love and stay forever in this amazing country.
Thanks for reading our Venezuela travel guide! We hope it has inspired you to visit one of the most beautiful countries on earth. Feel free to get in touch with us if you have any more questions or would like to book a tour with our agency: Soco Adventures!
