Nature and excursions
Angel Falls and Canaima from Ciudad Bolívar
· 6 min read
Ciudad Bolívar is one of the gateways to Canaima National Park. How the trip works, and why it pays to sleep in the city the night before.
Angel Falls is the highest waterfall in the world and sits inside Canaima National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Ciudad Bolívar is one of its gateways.
How the trip works
Access to Canaima is by air. Tourist flights to the park depart from Tomás de Heres National Airport, in the centre of Ciudad Bolívar. From the Canaima camp you continue, depending on the itinerary, by curiara — a dugout river boat — towards the falls.
Two things worth knowing before you plan:
- The flight depends on the weather. A departure moving by a few hours or a day is normal. Leave slack in your itinerary.
- Season matters. The volume of water over the falls changes considerably across the year. Check with your operator when booking.
Why sleep in the city the night before
Departures for Canaima are early. Arriving the same day from another city and leaving at dawn is how people miss flights, or make the trip exhausted.
Sleeping in Ciudad Bolívar the night before solves it: the airport is in the centre of the city, not on its outskirts.
Hotel Laja City has a 24-hour front desk, so a pre-dawn departure or an odd-hour return is not a problem. If your flight shifts because of weather — and sometimes it does — you have somewhere to wait.
It is not the only thing here
Ciudad Bolívar is also a link towards La Gran Sabana and Santa Elena de Uairén on the Brazilian border, by road from the passenger terminal or by air.
And if you have a free morning before or after your flight, the historic quarter is worth the walk: the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, the Congress of Angostura House and the Jesús Soto Museum are all close together.
How we help
We arrange your sightseeing flight to Angel Falls and Canaima with local operators. Request it in advance from the services section or message us on WhatsApp — book the flight before the hotel, not the other way round.
Itineraries, prices and availability are set by each operator and change with the season. Always confirm before buying connecting tickets.
