Colombia Complete: Bogotá, the Coffee Region, Medellín, Cartagena and Tayrona

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Bogotá

   El Dorado International Airport (BOG) to your hotel in La Candelaria

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Bogotá
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into El Dorado International Airport (BOG), and our driver takes you about 15 km across the city to your hotel in or beside La Candelaria, the colonial quarter at the foot of the mountains. Plan to land by about 3 pm to make the evening briefing; the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary. Bogotá sits at about 2,640 m, so the afternoon is for settling in, a slow walk and plenty of water rather than anything strenuous. Evenings are cool here all year, so keep a warm layer to hand. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the two weeks ahead: the altitude, the two flights, what to wear for the coffee hills and what to pack for the Caribbean. Then we walk together to a welcome dinner nearby, a chance to try ajiaco or other dishes from the Andes and meet the people you will travel with.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at El Dorado International Airport (BOG)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   Activité : Bogotá is at about 2,640 m; take the first afternoon slowly.

   

2. Jour 2 : Bogotá: Monserrate, La Candelaria and the Gold Museum

   Monserrate, La Candelaria, the Botero Museum and the Gold Museum

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Bogotá
   Détail du jour 2

   We ride the cable car or funicular up Monserrate at about 8:30 am, before the cloud builds and before the weekend pilgrims climb to the white church on the summit at about 3,150 m. On a clear morning the whole city spreads across the high plain below you. Back down, your guide walks the group through La Candelaria: the Chorro de Quevedo, where the city is said to have been founded in 1538, steep lanes of painted colonial houses, and the Plaza de Bolívar, with the cathedral, the Capitol and the Palace of Justice around one square. Lunch is ajiaco, the Bogotá chicken and potato soup with capers, cream and avocado. In the afternoon we visit the Botero Museum, free to enter, with the painter's own works and his collection of European art, and then the Gold Museum, which holds tens of thousands of pre-Hispanic gold pieces, among them the Muisca raft. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Monserrate by cable car or funicular
   • La Candelaria walk with your guide: the Chorro de Quevedo and the Plaza de Bolívar
   • The Botero Museum
   • The Gold Museum
   • Ajiaco lunch

   Option plus facile : Skip the afternoon museums and rest at the hotel; the Gold Museum is a short walk if you want to join later.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : About 3 hours on foot on steep, cobbled streets at altitude. The Gold Museum is closed on Mondays and the Botero Museum on Tuesdays, so departures are set to avoid both.

3. Jour 3 : The Salt Cathedral and Villa de Leyva

   Bogotá to Zipaquirá, then Villa de Leyva

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Villa de Leyva
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave at 8:30 am and drive about an hour and a quarter north across the high plain to Zipaquirá, where miners have dug salt since before the Spanish arrived. The Salt Cathedral is carved inside the mine, about 180 m below ground: you walk down a tunnel past fourteen small chapels of the Stations of the Cross, cut into the rock salt and lit in changing colours, to a nave large enough for a congregation of thousands. The present cathedral opened in 1995. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Zipaquirá's old centre. In the afternoon we drive about two and a half hours north through farmland and dry hills to Villa de Leyva, a colonial town founded in 1572 and kept almost unchanged, with whitewashed houses and a cobbled Plaza Mayor of about 14,000 square metres, one of the largest town squares in Colombia. We arrive late afternoon for the low light on the square. Dinner is your choice tonight.

   Compris

   • Zipaquirá Salt Cathedral with a local guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Zipaquirá
   • Evening walk around the Plaza Mayor of Villa de Leyva

   Temps libre : Evening free in Villa de Leyva

   Activité : About 1.5 hours on foot underground on a gentle slope; the tunnels are cool and dimly lit.

4. Jour 4 : Villa de Leyva morning, fly to the coffee region

   Villa de Leyva to Bogotá airport, by air to Pereira or Armenia, then Salento

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Salento
   Détail du jour 4

   Start with the town at its quietest: at 8 am your guide walks the group across the empty Plaza Mayor and through the side streets to the bougainvillea-covered courtyards and the small churches, before the day visitors arrive. At about 9 am we drive back towards Bogotá, about four hours and 175 km, stopping for a sit-down lunch on the way, and fly about an hour west to Pereira or Armenia in the coffee region, depending on the day's schedule. This is the longest travel day of the first week and goes over our four-hour driving cap: there is no airport near Villa de Leyva, and the road from here to the coffee region would take two long days, so we drive once, break it with lunch, and let the flight do the rest. From the airport it is about an hour to Salento, at about 1,900 m, where we stay three nights in one hotel. Arrive by early evening; dinner is your choice in the village.

   Compris

   • Early walk around Villa de Leyva with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch on the way to Bogotá airport
   • Flight from Bogotá to Pereira or Armenia with one checked bag

   Temps libre : Evening free in Salento

   Activité : A travel day: about 4 hours by road to Bogotá airport, an hour's flight and about an hour by road to Salento. The flight we book leaves Bogotá no earlier than about 3 pm, so the drive and lunch are never rushed.

5. Jour 5 : The Cocora Valley and the wax palms

   Salento to the Cocora Valley by Willys jeep, and back

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Salento
   Détail du jour 5

   At 8 am we ride the old Willys jeeps that serve as Salento's taxis about 11 km up the valley to Cocora, while the morning is usually clear. This is where the Quindío wax palm, Colombia's national tree, grows up to about 60 m tall, among the tallest palms in the world, scattered over steep green pasture. The full loop is about 12 km: up through cloud forest along the river, across narrow suspension bridges, to the Acaime reserve, where hummingbirds feed at the flowers and you can rest with a hot chocolate, then over the ridge and down through the palms. Your guide sets the pace and the direction on the day, depending on the weather. Lunch is trout, the local dish, at a restaurant at the foot of the valley. The jeeps bring us back to Salento in the afternoon, which is free for Calle Real, the craft shops and the lookout at the top of the village steps.

   Compris

   • Willys jeep to and from the Cocora Valley
   • The Cocora loop with your guide, with all trail fees and the Acaime reserve
   • Trout lunch in the Cocora Valley

   Option plus facile : Walk 1 to 2 hours into the palms on the open lower trail and back, then wait at the restaurant for lunch.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Salento

   Activité : The full loop is about 12 km with roughly 600 m of climbing and a high point near 2,860 m; the forest trail is muddy and uneven after rain. Bring waterproof shoes.

6. Jour 6 : A family coffee farm and Filandia

   Salento to a coffee farm in Quindío, then Filandia and back

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Salento
   Détail du jour 6

   A slower start, then a short drive into the hills to a working family coffee farm. The Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia, which covers this part of Quindío, was listed by UNESCO in 2011 for its small farms on steep slopes and the towns built around them. The family walks us through the whole process: picking the ripe red cherries, pulping, fermenting and drying the beans, roasting, and then tasting a cup brewed from the slope we are standing on. Depending on the month, you may see the harvest itself. Lunch is at the farm. In the afternoon we drive to Filandia, a coffee town of painted balconies and wooden doors that is quieter than Salento, with a tall wooden lookout tower on the edge of town where on a clear day you see across the coffee hills to the mountains. Back in Salento by late afternoon, with the evening free. Your guide can find you a game of tejo, Colombia's national sport.

   Compris

   • Coffee farm tour with tasting
   • Lunch at the coffee farm
   • Filandia and its lookout tower

   Temps libre : Evening free in Salento

   Activité : Easy walking on farm paths, which can be steep and slippery after rain.

7. Jour 7 : Through the Cauca valley to Medellín

   Salento to Medellín via Pereira, Chinchiná and La Pintada

   • Environ 6 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Medellín
   Détail du jour 7

   Today is the one long road day of the trip, about 260 km and six hours of driving, well over our four-hour cap. We drive because direct flights from Pereira to Medellín are few and their times rarely fit a group's day, while the road runs through the coffee country we have just stayed in. So we break it into three stretches. We leave at 8:30 am and drive north past Pereira and through the coffee country around Chinchiná, with a stop for coffee and a stretch. The road then drops into the hot, deep valley of the Cauca river, where the vegetation changes to fruit stands and sugar cane, and we stop for a sit-down lunch near La Pintada. The last stretch climbs back into the mountains of Antioquia and down into the Aburrá Valley. We reach Medellín, at about 1,500 m and mild all year, by late afternoon. The evening is free in El Poblado or Laureles, two neighbourhoods with plenty of places to eat.

   Compris

   • Drive from Salento to Medellín with your guide, with a coffee stop
   • Sit-down lunch in the Cauca valley

   Temps libre : Evening free in Medellín

   Activité : A travel day of about 6 hours on mountain roads, in three stretches. If you get car sick, sit at the front and take something before we leave.

8. Jour 8 : El Peñol and Guatapé

   Medellín to El Peñol and Guatapé, and back

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Medellín
   Détail du jour 8

   We leave at 8 am and drive about two hours east to El Peñol, a granite monolith about 200 m high that rises out of a maze of flooded valleys, aiming to be at the foot of the rock before the late-morning day tours from Medellín. About 700 steps, zigzagging up a crack in the rock, lead to the top, where the reservoir spreads out in every direction, its islands and peninsulas the tops of hills drowned when the dam was built in the 1970s. It is a short drive on to Guatapé, a lakeside town where the lower walls of the houses are decorated with zócalos, painted reliefs of animals, flowers and scenes of local life. After a walk through the streets, lunch is a sit-down meal in town, followed by a boat ride on the reservoir, past the site of the old town of El Peñol, now under the water. We are back in Medellín by late afternoon, with the evening free.

   Compris

   • El Peñol entry and climb
   • Guatapé town walk with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Guatapé
   • Boat ride on the Guatapé reservoir

   Option plus facile : Stay at the foot of El Peñol, where there is a café with a view of the water, while others climb.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Medellín

   Activité : About 700 steps up El Peñol and the same down, with landings to rest. Weekdays are quieter; weekends and Colombian holiday Mondays are very busy.

   

9. Jour 9 : Comuna 13, then fly to Cartagena

   Comuna 13 in Medellín, José María Córdova airport (MDE), by air to Cartagena

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Cartagena
   Détail du jour 9

   At about 8:30 am a local guide who grew up in Comuna 13 walks us through the neighbourhood, a hillside district in the west of the city that was among the most violent in Medellín in the 1990s and early 2000s. Its story is told now in murals and hip-hop, and in the covered outdoor escalators that opened in 2011 so residents no longer had to climb hundreds of steps to get home. Our guide explains what changed, and what has not. Lunch is a paisa meal, beans, rice, meat, plantain and arepa, before the drive of about an hour through the Túnel de Oriente to the airport at Rionegro and a flight of about an hour and a quarter to Cartagena. You land into heat: Cartagena is at sea level, usually around 30°C and humid. After checking in, in the late afternoon your guide walks the group onto the city walls for sunset over the Caribbean. The evening is free in Getsemaní.

   Compris

   • Comuna 13 with a local guide
   • Paisa lunch in Medellín
   • Flight from Medellín to Cartagena with one checked bag
   • Sunset on Cartagena's city walls

   Temps libre : Evening free in Getsemaní

   Activité : About 2 hours on foot in Comuna 13, partly on escalators and partly on steep steps.

   

10. Jour 10 : Cartagena: San Felipe, the walled city and Getsemaní

    Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, the walled city, then Getsemaní

    • Environ 18 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Cartagena
    Détail du jour 10

    We start at 8 am, at opening, at the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas on the hill of San Lázaro, the largest of the Spanish forts that guarded the port, before the heat and the cruise-ship groups arrive. Its ramps, batteries and tunnels were built against attacks by land and sea, including the British siege of 1741. Then a local guide walks us into the walled city, listed by UNESCO in 1984 with the port and its fortresses: through the Clock Tower gate, across the Plaza de los Coches, past the church of San Pedro Claver and into the Palace of the Inquisition on the Plaza de Bolívar. Lunch is a sit-down Caribbean meal in the old town. The afternoon is free for the hottest hours: the hotel pool, a nap, or the Zenú Gold Museum, which is free to enter. Around 5 pm we walk through the street art and small squares of Getsemaní, tasting arepas de huevo, fresh fruit and other street food on the way.

    Compris

    • Castillo San Felipe de Barajas
    • The walled city with a local guide
    • The Palace of the Inquisition
    • Sit-down lunch in the old town
    • Getsemaní street-art and street-food walk

    Temps libre : Afternoon free

    Activité : About 3 hours on foot in the morning in strong heat; bring a hat and water.

    

11. Jour 11 : Mangroves at La Boquilla, along the coast to Tayrona

    Cartagena to La Boquilla, Barranquilla, then our lodge near Tayrona

    • Environ 5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Tayrona
    Détail du jour 11

    We leave the hotel at 8 am, and twenty minutes later we are at La Boquilla, a fishing village on Cartagena's northern edge. Local fishermen paddle us in canoes through the mangrove tunnels of the Ciénaga de la Virgen lagoon, where herons and kingfishers work the shallows, a quiet hour before the day heats up. Then we follow the coast road to Barranquilla, Colombia's main Caribbean port near the mouth of the Magdalena river and home of a Carnival listed by UNESCO as intangible heritage. Lunch is a sit-down meal by the river on the Gran Malecón. In the afternoon we cross the Magdalena, drive between the sea and the Ciénaga Grande wetlands, pass Santa Marta and carry on to our lodge near the El Zaino entrance of Tayrona National Park, where we stay two nights. The day is about 255 km and five hours of driving, over our cap, because no flight links the two cities; the canoe and a long lunch break it up.

    Compris

    • Mangrove canoe tour at La Boquilla with local fishermen
    • Sit-down lunch on the Barranquilla Gran Malecón
    • Drive along the coast to our lodge near Tayrona

    Temps libre : Evening free at the lodge

    Activité : A travel day of about 5 hours by road, in two stretches either side of lunch.

12. Jour 12 : Tayrona: the coastal trail to Cabo San Juan

    El Zaino gate to Cañaveral, Arrecifes, La Piscina and Cabo San Juan del Guía, and back

    • Environ 18 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Tayrona
    Détail du jour 12

    We are at the El Zaino gate of Tayrona National Park when it opens, around 8 am, with our entry tickets and park insurance bought ahead, and ride the park shuttle to Cañaveral, well ahead of the day trips from Santa Marta. From there the trail follows the coast through tropical forest, over boardwalks and between granite boulders, with the sea flashing through the trees. Watch for capuchin and howler monkeys overhead. After about an hour we reach Arrecifes, a long beach where swimming is not allowed because of the currents, then La Piscina, a bay sheltered by a reef where you can swim. Cabo San Juan del Guía, about 5 km from Cañaveral, has two small coves and a thatched lookout on the rocks between them. Lunch is here, fish and coconut rice, followed by time to swim and rest in the shade. We walk back the same way in the afternoon, or ride a horse for part of it, and are at the lodge by about 5 pm.

    Compris

    • Tayrona National Park entry and insurance
    • Park shuttle from El Zaino to Cañaveral
    • The coastal walk to Arrecifes, La Piscina and Cabo San Juan del Guía with your guide
    • Lunch at Cabo San Juan

    Activités en option

    • A horse for part of the return walk, paid locally

    Option plus facile : Turn back after a swim at La Piscina, about 3.5 km from Cañaveral, and spend the afternoon at the lodge.

    Temps libre : Evening free at the lodge

    Activité : About 10 km there and back on sand, roots and rock steps, in heat and humidity. Bring swimwear, water and insect repellent.

13. Jour 13 : Santa Marta, then up to Minca

    Our lodge near Tayrona to Santa Marta, then Minca and the Marinka waterfalls

    • Environ 2 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Minca
    Détail du jour 13

    At 9 am we drive about an hour west to Santa Marta, founded in 1525 and one of the oldest Spanish cities in South America. The Tairona Gold Museum, in the old customs house on the main square, shows the gold work of the people who built stone-terraced towns in the Sierra Nevada long before the Spanish arrived; entry is free. Then we visit the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino, the hacienda where Simón Bolívar died in December 1830, with its house, memorial and shady gardens. After a sit-down lunch in town it is about 45 minutes up a winding road into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to Minca, a village at about 650 m, greener and a few degrees cooler than the coast. In the afternoon a 4x4 takes us up to the Marinka waterfalls, two falls with cold, clear pools for a swim, and we walk back down to Minca, about 3.5 km. Tonight is our farewell dinner together.

    Compris

    • The Tairona Gold Museum in Santa Marta
    • The Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino
    • Sit-down lunch in Santa Marta
    • 4x4 to the Marinka waterfalls and the walk back to Minca
    • Farewell dinner in Minca

    Option plus facile : Ride the 4x4 back to Minca from the waterfalls instead of walking.

    Activité : About 3.5 km downhill on a dirt road from the waterfalls, plus easy walking in Santa Marta.

14. Jour 14 : Minca and home

    Minca to Simón Bolívar International Airport (SMR), Santa Marta

    • Environ 1 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 14

    The last morning is unhurried. If you are an early riser, a local birding guide can take you along the trails around Minca at about 6:30 am, when toucans, parrots and hummingbirds are most active, and have you back for breakfast. Otherwise sleep in, have a slow breakfast and a last coffee grown on the slopes around you, and pack for home. At about 10:30 am our driver takes you down out of the hills and around Santa Marta to Simón Bolívar International Airport (SMR), about 35 km and an hour away, where your guide sees you to check-in. The runway sits right beside the sea, south of the city. Flights from Santa Marta to Canada and the United States usually connect through Bogotá or another Colombian airport, so confirm the routing when you book, choose a flight leaving after about 1:30 pm and allow time for the connection. If you would rather fly home from Cartagena, ask us when you book.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Simón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)

    Activités en option

    • Dawn birding walk with a local guide, about 6:30 to 8 am

    Temps libre : Morning free

    Activité : Book a flight leaving Santa Marta after about 1:30 pm.

Faune et météo : The Andes have two drier and two wetter seasons, so expect some rain in Bogotá and the coffee region at any time of year, and mud on the Cocora trail in April, May, October and November. The coast is hot and humid all year and driest from December to April. Watch for hummingbirds at Cocora, and capuchin and howler monkeys in Tayrona.

• Bogotá2 nuits
• Villa de Leyva1 nuit
• Salento3 nuits
• Medellín2 nuits
• Cartagena2 nuits
• Tayrona2 nuits
• Minca1 nuit