Colombia
This week I focused on created a resource for you guys all about Colombia! I will be discussing hostels, budgets, must-see places and potential itineraries for various lengths of trips.
First, lets begin with a budget. I would say $40-$60/day per person is typical for the average budget traveler (aka me). However, if you choose to, it would be easy to spend much more, or even less, depending on the type of traveler you are. As I mentioned in my previous post, for my range of $40-$60 a day, I would be expecting you are staying at hostels, taking buses to get around (possibly a flight but only if you found a reasonable one), eating local food, drinking beer (because its relatively cheap) and not expensive cocktails, and still doing all activities.
Next, lets take a look at some possible itineraries. By no means are these the only options, and if you like a place a lot once you get there, definitely stay longer ! That's what we did. However, I understand many people are on a timeline so I stuck with the minimum time I would recommend in each place.
#1: The long loop of colombia
Time needed: 22-28 days. Begins and ends in Medellin
Medellin: (2 days) (walking tour, visit Communa 13)
Guatape (2 days) (stairs view, visit city)(overnight bus to Salento)
Salento (2 days-- hike Cocora valley, do a coffee tour) (overnight bus+half a day to San Gil)
San Gil (3 days-- 1 day to finish getting there and book activities, 2 to do activities; suggestions: Paragliding over the canyon, mountain biking down the canyon)
Minca (2-3 days, 1 day to get here from San Gil, 1 day for motorbike to casa element, 1 day to tour waterfalls, bus back to Santa Marta for the night so you can leave early for Tayrona) (stay much longer if you want to take Spanish lessons)
Tayrona (1-2 days, can stay the night in a hammock on the beach)
Taganga (2-5 days depending on if you want to get scuba certified)
Cabo de la Velo (5 days: 1 day to get there, you need to leave as early in the morning as possible! 3 days there to relax, tour, try kiteboarding, 1 day back to Santa Marta)
Cartagena (2-3 days—half a day from Santa Marta, 1-2 days enjoying, it depends if you like big cities or not.. I do not)
Return to Medellin: (1 day): If you can find a cheap flight, fly back to Medellin to go home, otherwise take another overnight bus
San Agustin: (2 days, 1 full day to get here from ecuador, the border takes forever! 1 day to do tour) (overnight bus to Salento)
Salento (2 days-- hike Cocora valley, do a coffee tour) (overnight bus to medellin)
Medellin: (2 days) (walking tour, visit Communa 13)
Guatape (2 days) (stairs view, visit city)(full day of bus to San gil)
San Gil (2 days; suggestions: Paragliding over the canyon, mountain biking down the canyon)
Minca (2-3 days, 1 day to get here from San Gil, 1 day for motorbike to casa element, 1 day to tour waterfalls, bus back to Santa Marta for the night so you can leave early for Tayrona) (stay much longer if you want to take Spanish lessons)
Tayrona (1-2 days, can stay the night in a hammock on the beach)
Taganga (2-5 days depending on if you want to get scuba certified)
Cabo de la Velo (5 days: 1 day to get there, you need to leave as early in the morning as possible! 3 days there to relax, tour, try kiteboarding, 1 day back to Santa Marta)
Cartagena (2-3 days—half a day from Santa Marta, 1-2 days enjoying, it depends if you like big cities or not.. I do not)
Take your desired boat option to Panama!
#3: Short Beach Loop
Time needed: 13-20 days
Fly into Medellin (1-2 days; walking tour, communa 13 if time permits)
Guatape (1-2 days; Stairs view, visit city if time permits) (overnight bus to Cartagena)
Cartagena (2-3 days, includes bus time to Minca)
Minca (2 days; 1 day to motorbike to casa elemento, 1 day to tour waterfalls) (stay much longer if you want to take Spanish lessons)
(stay in Santa Marta overnight, in order to leave early in the morning for Tayrona)
Tayrona (1-2 days; can stay the night in a hammock on the beach)
Taganga (2-5 days; depending on if you want to get scuba certified)
Cabo de la Velo (3-4 days: 1 day to get there, you need to leave as early in the morning as possible! 1-2 days there to relax, tour, try kiteboarding, 1 day back to Santa Marta)
Return to Cartagena to fly to Medellin and home (1 day)
#4: Short Hiking Loop
Time needed: 8-10 days
Medellin: (1-2 days) (walking tour, visit Communa 13)
Guatape (1-2 days) (stairs view, visit city)(overnight bus to Salento)
Salento (2 days-- hike Cocora valley, do a coffee tour) (overnight bus+half a day to San Gil)
San Gil (3 days-- 1 day to finish getting there and book activities, 2 to do activities; suggestions: Paragliding over the canyon, mountain biking down the canyon)
Return to Medellin to fly home (1 day)
Now that you have some ideas of a route and a very brief synopsis of what there is in each place, lets talk more about what there is to actually do in each place you visit !
San Agustin: This little town is more off the beaten path, but super cute and filled with friendly people. It also houses many carved volcanic stone figures, spectacular views and an amazing hostel called Casa del Japones. Below, you can see the views we had every morning for breakfast, an example of the volcanic stone figures, and a view we got during our tour.
Medellin: There is the best free walking tour I have ever done! The guides are very knowledgeable and there is an abundance of history in the city (hint: unfortunately a lot has to do with the disaster of Pablo Escobar). Although this tour is free, you must book it in advance! We learned this the hard way and actually had to spend an extra day here in order to do the tour. You can also use the Metro-cable (seen below, their public transportation) and get a birds eye view of the city. This cable car is super innovative and allows people from deep into the communities on the mountainside to be able to work in Medellin! Without the cable-car it would take them hours to reach the city, so it has definitely opened up many doors for all the people.
Guatape: An adorable, colourful, little town! Most people only do a day tour here to see the views (Image 5) from atop Piedra del Penol (Image 7), a giant granite rock containing 700 stairs leading to a wonderful 360 degree view. Don't get me wrong, this view is spectacular and well worth the trip. However, if time permits, I would highly recommend spending a day in the city as well (Image 6).
Salento: Another small town. It has a bit of charm, but the best part is definitely how close it is to the Cocora Valley, which can be seen in the images below.. After arriving in town, hop on the back of a jeep and start your hike. If you are short on time you can do the shorter version which takes 60-90 mins and takes you straight to the magnificent 60 m tall palm trees. However, if you have the time, I highly recommend the long version which takes 5-6 hours, and has you hiking through beautiful trails, visiting a hummingbird sanctuary, and coming to view the trees from above first.
San Gil: This is the adventure town of Colombia. It offers many different adventure sports, such as white water rafting, mountain biking and paragliding. I was a little short on money by this point so I opted to only do the paragliding, but it was well worth it! You go tandem style, and get to fly over the canyon for about an hour (Image 10 and 11), sometimes even trying out a few tricks if you ask your guide nicely! Although we didn't do any other adventures here, our friends did and said they were all very fun.
Minca: This is the small town that stole our hearts. It used to be off limits to tourists due to the gorilla presence after the whole Pablo Escobar catastrophes, but within the last few years, its started to become a big tourist location. Most people only do day trips, and we were only planning on staying two nights, but that quickly changed when we realized how much we loved our hostel, and the people we met. We actually decided to take a break here and learn Spanish for two weeks from a local lady! However, even if you don't want to learn Spanish, a night or two here is a must. The Hostel Casa Loma (Image 13) had the best sunsets, adorable little huts to sleep in, great, unlimited coffee in the morning, and amazing family style vegetarian dinners (and I'm usually considered a meatetarian!). As well, once here, you should take a motorbike taxi to Casa Elemento (Image 12) to relax on one of the biggest hammocks, overlooking the mountains, and do a hike to see various waterfalls or coffee plantations.
Tayrona National Park: This park is filled with beautiful beaches and nice hiking. Although everyone I talked to was obsessed with going here, I wasn't actually over thrilled. I found it to be extremely packed and overpriced. However, the beaches were beautiful, and it was nice to sleep in hammocks on the beach. To me, Cabo de la Velo was much better, but very out of the way. As well, if you do want to go to Tayrona park over night, you need to make sure you leave early in the morning as the hammocks can not be pre-booked, and do fill up fast. Below is an image from the park.
Taganga: This little fisherman's town used to be beautiful, but is now over populated with tourists. However, the scuba diving is great and it is quite cheap to get certified here. As well, there are some cute cafes, and some of the best street food I had had in a while. We really enjoyed diving with "Octopus Dive Center."
Cabo de la Velo: This place was a non-touristic gem! It was a mission to get here due to how many transfers of vehicles you need, but you save sooo much money by not taking a tour, and it feels a lot more authentic. You need to leave as early in the morning as you can in order to catch a bus to Cuatro Vias and then a jeep to Uribia and finally to catch the last truck which leaves Uribia around 2 pm and takes you to Cabo de la Velo. The beaches here are amazing, and the sunsets even better, as you can see in the image below! You could spend a few days here exploring the cliff views and various beaches, and take your try at kiteboarding. Hostels consist of hammocks on the beach and a place for bucket showers, but it only adds to the great off the beaten path feel. Once you feel like you've spent enough time here, you can take a 1 or 2 day tour to Punta Gallinas (it is not possible to do this journey without a tour). Here is the most northern point of South America, where desert meets ocean, and the views are spectacular! Again, you will sleep in hammocks, and enjoy the peace and quiet.
Cartagena: An old style town, with cobblestone roads and colourful buildings. Again, there was a lot of hype about Cartagena, but I've discovered I'm just not a city kind of girl. I found it expensive, but did manage to see a beautiful sunset.
Well, that's all my recommendations for Colombia. We spent a total of 3 months there, and spent around $3700 each. That's only $40/day and we explored pretty much everywhere! If you have any questions or want to know more about a certain place, feel free to comment below! Do any of you guys have anything to add? I'd love to hear from you!
First, lets begin with a budget. I would say $40-$60/day per person is typical for the average budget traveler (aka me). However, if you choose to, it would be easy to spend much more, or even less, depending on the type of traveler you are. As I mentioned in my previous post, for my range of $40-$60 a day, I would be expecting you are staying at hostels, taking buses to get around (possibly a flight but only if you found a reasonable one), eating local food, drinking beer (because its relatively cheap) and not expensive cocktails, and still doing all activities.
Next, lets take a look at some possible itineraries. By no means are these the only options, and if you like a place a lot once you get there, definitely stay longer ! That's what we did. However, I understand many people are on a timeline so I stuck with the minimum time I would recommend in each place.
#1: The long loop of colombia
Time needed: 22-28 days. Begins and ends in Medellin
Medellin: (2 days) (walking tour, visit Communa 13)
Guatape (2 days) (stairs view, visit city)(overnight bus to Salento)
Salento (2 days-- hike Cocora valley, do a coffee tour) (overnight bus+half a day to San Gil)
San Gil (3 days-- 1 day to finish getting there and book activities, 2 to do activities; suggestions: Paragliding over the canyon, mountain biking down the canyon)
Minca (2-3 days, 1 day to get here from San Gil, 1 day for motorbike to casa element, 1 day to tour waterfalls, bus back to Santa Marta for the night so you can leave early for Tayrona) (stay much longer if you want to take Spanish lessons)
Tayrona (1-2 days, can stay the night in a hammock on the beach)
Taganga (2-5 days depending on if you want to get scuba certified)
Cabo de la Velo (5 days: 1 day to get there, you need to leave as early in the morning as possible! 3 days there to relax, tour, try kiteboarding, 1 day back to Santa Marta)
Cartagena (2-3 days—half a day from Santa Marta, 1-2 days enjoying, it depends if you like big cities or not.. I do not)
Return to Medellin: (1 day): If you can find a cheap flight, fly back to Medellin to go home, otherwise take another overnight bus
#2: Arriving from Ecuador, Continuing to Panama
Time Needed: 22-28 days
San Agustin: (2 days, 1 full day to get here from ecuador, the border takes forever! 1 day to do tour) (overnight bus to Salento)
Salento (2 days-- hike Cocora valley, do a coffee tour) (overnight bus to medellin)
Medellin: (2 days) (walking tour, visit Communa 13)
Guatape (2 days) (stairs view, visit city)(full day of bus to San gil)
San Gil (2 days; suggestions: Paragliding over the canyon, mountain biking down the canyon)
Minca (2-3 days, 1 day to get here from San Gil, 1 day for motorbike to casa element, 1 day to tour waterfalls, bus back to Santa Marta for the night so you can leave early for Tayrona) (stay much longer if you want to take Spanish lessons)
Tayrona (1-2 days, can stay the night in a hammock on the beach)
Taganga (2-5 days depending on if you want to get scuba certified)
Cabo de la Velo (5 days: 1 day to get there, you need to leave as early in the morning as possible! 3 days there to relax, tour, try kiteboarding, 1 day back to Santa Marta)
Cartagena (2-3 days—half a day from Santa Marta, 1-2 days enjoying, it depends if you like big cities or not.. I do not)
Take your desired boat option to Panama!
#3: Short Beach Loop
Time needed: 13-20 days
Fly into Medellin (1-2 days; walking tour, communa 13 if time permits)
Guatape (1-2 days; Stairs view, visit city if time permits) (overnight bus to Cartagena)
Cartagena (2-3 days, includes bus time to Minca)
Minca (2 days; 1 day to motorbike to casa elemento, 1 day to tour waterfalls) (stay much longer if you want to take Spanish lessons)
(stay in Santa Marta overnight, in order to leave early in the morning for Tayrona)
Tayrona (1-2 days; can stay the night in a hammock on the beach)
Taganga (2-5 days; depending on if you want to get scuba certified)
Cabo de la Velo (3-4 days: 1 day to get there, you need to leave as early in the morning as possible! 1-2 days there to relax, tour, try kiteboarding, 1 day back to Santa Marta)
Return to Cartagena to fly to Medellin and home (1 day)
#4: Short Hiking Loop
Time needed: 8-10 days
Medellin: (1-2 days) (walking tour, visit Communa 13)
Guatape (1-2 days) (stairs view, visit city)(overnight bus to Salento)
Salento (2 days-- hike Cocora valley, do a coffee tour) (overnight bus+half a day to San Gil)
San Gil (3 days-- 1 day to finish getting there and book activities, 2 to do activities; suggestions: Paragliding over the canyon, mountain biking down the canyon)
Return to Medellin to fly home (1 day)
Now that you have some ideas of a route and a very brief synopsis of what there is in each place, lets talk more about what there is to actually do in each place you visit !
San Agustin: This little town is more off the beaten path, but super cute and filled with friendly people. It also houses many carved volcanic stone figures, spectacular views and an amazing hostel called Casa del Japones. Below, you can see the views we had every morning for breakfast, an example of the volcanic stone figures, and a view we got during our tour.
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| Image 1: Breakfast views at Casa del Japones |
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| Image 2: Volcanic Stone Figures |
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| Image 3: Mountain views on our tour |
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| Image 4: MetroCable |
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| Image 5: 360 degree View from Piedra del Penol |
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| Image 6: Streets of Guatape |
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| Image 7: Peidra del Penol |
Salento: Another small town. It has a bit of charm, but the best part is definitely how close it is to the Cocora Valley, which can be seen in the images below.. After arriving in town, hop on the back of a jeep and start your hike. If you are short on time you can do the shorter version which takes 60-90 mins and takes you straight to the magnificent 60 m tall palm trees. However, if you have the time, I highly recommend the long version which takes 5-6 hours, and has you hiking through beautiful trails, visiting a hummingbird sanctuary, and coming to view the trees from above first.
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| Image 9: Cocora Valley |
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| Image 8: Cocora Vally |
San Gil: This is the adventure town of Colombia. It offers many different adventure sports, such as white water rafting, mountain biking and paragliding. I was a little short on money by this point so I opted to only do the paragliding, but it was well worth it! You go tandem style, and get to fly over the canyon for about an hour (Image 10 and 11), sometimes even trying out a few tricks if you ask your guide nicely! Although we didn't do any other adventures here, our friends did and said they were all very fun.
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| Image 11: Paragliding in the canyon |
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| Image 10: Me Paragliding |
Minca: This is the small town that stole our hearts. It used to be off limits to tourists due to the gorilla presence after the whole Pablo Escobar catastrophes, but within the last few years, its started to become a big tourist location. Most people only do day trips, and we were only planning on staying two nights, but that quickly changed when we realized how much we loved our hostel, and the people we met. We actually decided to take a break here and learn Spanish for two weeks from a local lady! However, even if you don't want to learn Spanish, a night or two here is a must. The Hostel Casa Loma (Image 13) had the best sunsets, adorable little huts to sleep in, great, unlimited coffee in the morning, and amazing family style vegetarian dinners (and I'm usually considered a meatetarian!). As well, once here, you should take a motorbike taxi to Casa Elemento (Image 12) to relax on one of the biggest hammocks, overlooking the mountains, and do a hike to see various waterfalls or coffee plantations.
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| Image 12: Casa Elemento Hammock |
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| Image 13: Casa Loma Hostel Room |
Tayrona National Park: This park is filled with beautiful beaches and nice hiking. Although everyone I talked to was obsessed with going here, I wasn't actually over thrilled. I found it to be extremely packed and overpriced. However, the beaches were beautiful, and it was nice to sleep in hammocks on the beach. To me, Cabo de la Velo was much better, but very out of the way. As well, if you do want to go to Tayrona park over night, you need to make sure you leave early in the morning as the hammocks can not be pre-booked, and do fill up fast. Below is an image from the park.
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| Image 14: Tayrona National Park |
Cabo de la Velo: This place was a non-touristic gem! It was a mission to get here due to how many transfers of vehicles you need, but you save sooo much money by not taking a tour, and it feels a lot more authentic. You need to leave as early in the morning as you can in order to catch a bus to Cuatro Vias and then a jeep to Uribia and finally to catch the last truck which leaves Uribia around 2 pm and takes you to Cabo de la Velo. The beaches here are amazing, and the sunsets even better, as you can see in the image below! You could spend a few days here exploring the cliff views and various beaches, and take your try at kiteboarding. Hostels consist of hammocks on the beach and a place for bucket showers, but it only adds to the great off the beaten path feel. Once you feel like you've spent enough time here, you can take a 1 or 2 day tour to Punta Gallinas (it is not possible to do this journey without a tour). Here is the most northern point of South America, where desert meets ocean, and the views are spectacular! Again, you will sleep in hammocks, and enjoy the peace and quiet.
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| Image 15: Sunset in Cabo de la Velo |
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| Image 16: little cafe in Cartagena |
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| Image 17: Sunset in Cartagena |
Take Care, Miss Sydor
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