Colombia 
In numbers.
157m
Height
14m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Jul
Oct
Best months
21MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Salto de Candelas, month by month
It roars from May to July.
The fullest months: from May to July. The thinnest: from January to February.
- 4.2 m³/sJan
- 2.5 m³/sFeb
- 6.8 m³/sMar
- 16 m³/sApr
- 23 m³/sMay
- 23 m³/sJun
- 21 m³/sJul
- 17 m³/sAug
- 14 m³/sSep
- 17 m³/sOct
- 17 m³/sNov
- 10 m³/sDec
From about 2.5 m³/s in the lowest month to 23 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to July and October.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in Colombia
Salto de Candelas is a waterfall in Colombia. The water falls 157 m over a front 23 m wide.
Getting there.
- Pajaritonearest town · 14 km in a straight line
- Parking 810 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- El Alcaravan - Yopal Airport (EYP)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 38 km in a straight lineCar hire at BOG airport (Bogota)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to July and Octoberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
21 MW
About 14 m³/s falling 157 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- as much as 7.1 large wind turbines
- enough to power about 5,300 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 345 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 46 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 4car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmSalto Candelas
- —caves
- —campsites
- 3hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmEl Mono, Hotel Los Colores
- 6restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Pajarito14 km in a straight line
- Recetor21 km in a straight line
- Aquitania22 km in a straight line
- Labranzagrande22 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 17 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Night °C | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 36 | 49 | 128 | 225 | 276 | 236 | 211 | 173 | 149 | 213 | 178 | 89 |
| Wet days | 8 | 10 | 18 | 24 | 27 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 13 |
| Sun h/day | 7.1 | 6.4 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.5 | 6.6 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (2,467 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 156% | 104% | 165% | 83% | 78% | 121% | 109% | 86% | 100% | 18% | 21% | 97% |
| 2021 | 236% | 219% | 75% | 57% | 0% | 14% | 3% | 1% | 23% | 19% | 31% | 95% |
| 2022 | 94% | 233% | 148% | 153% | 161% | 118% | 154% | 176% | 153% | 132% | 102% | 106% |
| 2023 | 475% | 97% | 123% | 117% | 117% | 122% | 110% | 116% | 120% | 110% | 117% | 178% |
| 2024 | 37% | 158% | 104% | 88% | 154% | 118% | 87% | 66% | 80% | 110% | 123% | 162% |
| 2025 | 196% | 189% | 166% | 151% | 136% | 178% | 109% | 134% | 93% | 137% | 69% | 63% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Salto de Candelas
Colombia
- 157 mHeight
- 14 m³/sAverage flow
- May–Jul, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q3470245) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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