You might have seen that one of the latest Instagram rages is photos atop giant hands. This originated, at least in Colombia, with the giant hand located outside of Gigante, Colombia in Huila. A neat photo op and neat view make this a cool stop on a trek through southwest Colombia. Read on to learn how to visit the Giant Hand Overlook or Mirador de la Mano del Gigante in Colombia.
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Mano de Gigante Overlook Contents
- Why Visit the Mano del Gigante
- What to See at the Mirador de la Mano del Gigante
- How to Get to the Giant Hand Overlook
- Entrance Fee
- Where to Stay Nearby
- Practical Tips
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Why Visit the Mirador de la Mano del Gigante
The main attraction here is getting some cool photos with a great view.
Honestly, credit where credit is due to whoever owns this property and/or had the idea to build this place. It captures the zeitgeist perfectly and is basically an Instagram mecca. People come from all around to the mountains outside this small town south of Neiva to get a few photos.
I’m going to be honest, I find this to be a bit of a weird phenomenon, and I probably would not recommend a special trip to do this.
That being said, the view and the photos are cool and besides giving your friends Insta feed envy, they make for a good and unique memory.
So, I would say, this is a good stop if you are trekking through this part of Colombia, perhaps between visits to the Tatacoa Desert and San Agustín, both worth a trip on their own (write ups coming soon).
Susana and I did stop here in January 2022 on the way back up to Bogotá after visiting the gorgeous church of Las Lajas at Ipiales and enjoying the Carnival de Negros y Blancos in Pasto (we visited Tatacoa and San Agustín on the way down).
Going on a Sunday before a Monday holiday at the end of Christmas vacation probably wasn’t the best day. We thought we were being clever and would go late afternoon and get a photo during the day and then at sunset.
However, when we got there, we found out there were over 200 people waiting for the photos!
In fact, we weren’t even able to get the photos until it was dark.
The place is neat and the photos on a clear day really are great though. And of course, you can also just enjoy the view over the valley below while waiting to take the photo as well.
If you’d like to see the Giant Hand Overlook for yourself, read on to learn what to see, how to get there, and some practical tips so you don’t have to wait as long as we did.
What to See at the Mirador La Mano del Gigante
Of course the main attraction here is the giant hand.
Or more specifically, getting a cool photo standing on the giant hand.
It sits high up in the Cordillera Oriental or Eastern Mountain range of the Andes and looks over the valley below and the Cordillera Central in the distance. The view is really pretty and will make you feel even smaller than standing atop a giant hand does.
Speaking of that, you might wander if that name is just clever marketing. In fact, it’s not. The town nearby is named Gigante and supposedly indigenous legend says giants inhabited this area and became the mountains that surround it.
In addition to the giant hand, there is also a swing with wings that overlooks another lookout point. This is also a cool photo, especially if you get it during the day time.
If you hike farther up the hill from the hand, you will pass a giant nest if you ever wanted to pretend you were a baby eagle for a photo. If you continue up, you’ll pass a small straw circle that is another photo op.
Finally, at the top there’s a giant dream catcher you can pose with or even on. The view from here, although somewhat obscured by trees, is also neat.
There is also a restaurant on site that has decent prices (Susana and I shared a picada and it was probably enough for 3 people). They had craft beers from Huila as well that were decent. You can also opt to try some ice cream from the heladería on site.
How to Get to the Mano del Gigante
You will have to get to the town of Gigante first.
Gigante is located south of Neiva, the closest larger city. From Neiva, you should be able to get a bus to Gigante fairly easily. Note that in many cases, these buses make various stops, so plan for it to take longer than what Google maps might tell you.
If you’re coming from the south or west like San Agustín or Popayán like we were, you will probably have to arrive to Pitalito first. From there you can get a bus that heads towards Neiva that will leave you in Gigante.
Once in Gigante, you can get a taxi from the main plaza. A taxi charged us $25,000 Colombian Pesos to take us to the parking lot and entrance to the mirador. It’s about half an hour outside of town down a bumpy, rocky, dirt road.
We were able to get a collectivo 4×4 back that charged us $7,000 COP each and dropped us back at the plaza. I’m not sure if these run on a certain schedule but I presume you should be able to get one going there as well. We didn’t see any, and in fact, we waited a while just to see a taxi and took the first one we saw.
That might just be because it was the holiday though. Still, I would advise giving yourself some leeway time wise to get transportation to the Mano del Gigante.
Entrance Fee
Once at the entrance, you pay $15,000 pesos a person to enter the site. There is a trail you can hike up the mountain. Or you can pay to take a truck up. The truck up the mountain costs $15,000 pesos and can take up to 6 people (the $15,000 is a flat fee regardless of how many people go in the truck).
We opted to take the truck since they told us there were over 200 people in line for photos! I imagine the hike gives some good views if you have more time on a less crowded day. However, if you join up with a group like we did the cost of heading up in the truck is pretty cheap.
*Keep in mind these prices were from January 2022. Prices often go up slightly year over year in Colombia.
Where to Stay Nearby
There may be some small hotels in the town of Gigante itself, but none you can easily book online ahead of time.
At the site itself, there are some pretty sweet looking glamping style accommodations. These are even more of the Instagrammer’s dream with hot tubs and giant hammocks overlooking the valley. They are quite pricey though. We were quoted $350,000+ a night.
The two places are Nido de Parajos, which has cabin style rooms and Nómada Glamping, which has teepees (that’s what we were quoted $350,000 a night for).
Again, credit where credit is due. Scantily clothed beautiful people posting photos with the views is a great way to hype your business and they seem to have been very successful at doing so. In fact, both of these places are only reachable via Instagram and Whatsapp from what I can gather.
In seriousness though, I’m sure it’s sweet waking up here in the morning. Maybe one day we will come back and shell out the cost, or perhaps in a less popular travel season when it’s possibly cheaper. We, however, decided $350,000 for a teepee was too much for us on this trip.
So we stayed in the nearby town of Garzón, which was about a 45 minute and $10,000 per person bus ride away.
We stayed at the Capilla del Sol Hotel. It was ok. Our room was nice and there is a small pool. It felt a little overpriced but is actually about midrange for the other limited options we found online in Garzón.
Those were Casa de Balcones and Casablanca Garzón on the higher end and Hotel Kahvé and Casa El Limonar on the (relatively) cheaper end.
I also think this is doable on a day trip from Neiva as long as you get an early start. It isn’t that far, but our experience with the bus from Garzón to Bogotá was it took about twice as long as Google maps says, stopping at every town to pick up passengers. So I would say plan on between 2 and 3 hours travel each way.
You can see places to stay in Neiva here.
Practical Tips for the Mirador del Gigante
- Based on our experience waiting more than 3 hours, I highly suggest you avoid this on weekends, holidays, or peak travel seasons around Christmas, New Years, and Easter. If you don’t have another choice of time, go early so you don’t get stuck not able to take the photo until dark like us.
- If there is a bit of a line, go up to the dreamcatcher up the hill first. It is first come first served and is a good way to kill a bit of time while waiting for the hand and swing.
- This is high up, so while it’s not especially cold, it’s not a bad idea to bring a jacket with you.
- Be sure to bring along cash.
- They give you one of those wristbands that has a little thing that lets you tighten it but not loosen it, so don’t be like me and fidget with it, making it extra tight.
- Note that around sunset time they close the foot path down, so you will have to take a truck if you stay past about 5.
The Giant’s Hand Overlook Conclusion
There you have it a complete guide to visiting the Mirada de la Mano del Gigante or Giant’s Hand in Huila, Colombia. Like I said, I wouldn’t go terribly out of my way to see this, especially since there are so many countless neat views of the mountains all over Colombia.
That being said, it’s a neat stop if you are traveling this area of Colombia and can spare a day or you always wanted to spend a couple nights in a luxury teepee. Just make sure you go early and get better photos than we did!
Cheers and Happy Exploring!
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