Magical Colombia Itinerary

Welcome to Bogota. Private transfer from the airport to your hotel.

After an early breakfast at the hotel, visit Paramo. It is described as a moorland, wetland or high plateau.

It is a unique kind of ecosystem only found in Colombia, Perú, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. Hike 6 kilometers through its endemic vegetation at 3,600mts high above sea level. You will get to know the best of rural Bogotá. Afterwards, enjoy a typical lunch in addition to local fruit.

Afterwards, meet Pedro Crump, a Colombian musician, composer, producer and pianist. You will be taken to his home in the north of city. Born in Bogotá, he studied fine arts and music in Boston at Curry College of Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory of Music. Crump has created music for both film and television. As an independent musician, he produces his own records under the Musica Oceanica label, and directs the El Circulo Dorado ensemble. This former surfer of the Colombian Caribbean experi-mented through this sport to flow in synchrony with nature and its rhythms. This passion is reflected in the inspiration behind the name of his label, Musica Oceanica, and the creation of his series, The Ele-ments: Water, Fire, Earth, Air, of which his first 3 CDs have been published under. You will visit his studio at his home, which is really interesting to get to know, and to understand the richness and musical com-plexity of Colombia. This experience lasts around 1.5 hours.

Breakfast is at the hotel.

Take a walking tour of Candelaria. This tour gives you a feeling of Colombia’s capital. You will never get bored because different topics will be discussed. Interact with locals, visit the most important spots in the city and enjoy the artistic and historical parts of all the streets and alleys you walk through. Candelaria dis-trict is the oldest and most important neighborhood in Bogotá. Hear about the history, geography as well as the current social and political situation in Colombia. Get involved with the culture by drinking chicha, a tra-ditional fermented drink that is part of the indigenous heritage. Also, try some local snacks (arepas) made with corn. Finally end up playing the gunpowder game, better known as Tejo, a funny drinking game played in the pre – Hispanic times.

Afterwards, enjoy a Colombian regional cuisine tour. Colombia is the second most bio-diverse country in the world and this diversity is also expressed in their cuisine. Thousands of varieties of vegetables, fruits, tubers, meats, and flavors. In this tour, you will experience Colombia through your mouth by having eight different foods from five Colombian different regions: Amazon, Andes, Caribbean Coast, Pacific Coast, and Orinoquia.

All restaurants are located in the Candelaria District (walking tour). Visit a family house where you will learn how to cook tasty empanadas.

Breakfast is at the hotel.

Private transfer from your hotel to the airport in Bogotá for your domestic flight from Bogota to Armenia.

You will have a private transfer from the airport in Armenia to your hotel in the Quindio area.

Breakfast is at the hotel.

Start your day at 7:30 am and take a Jeep Willys, which is the traditional vehicle of this region, for a 23 kilo-meter trip along the old road that connects Salento with Ibagué and Bogotá. The road is gravel and is used by mountain bike enthusiasts and farmers of the region. On the way, you will see the lush landscapes of the Central Mountain Range and the National Park of the Nevados. Ascend approximately 3340m and stop to enjoy the impressive view of Paramillo del Quindio. Then start the descent and on the way take in the view of wax palm valley until arriving at your destination, La Carbonera Farm. On the farm, take a one hour walk among the wax palms, one of the hightest palms in the world up to 70 meters tall. At the main house of the farm, enjoy a typical drink of sugar cane water with Colombian cheese.

After this amazing tour, return by Willys Jeep to the starting point of the hike where you will have lunch. For the return to Salento there are two options, you can choose one of them: Take a 12 – kilometer hike until you reach Salento. The path you will be on will pass near the eastern side of the mountain and on the way you will learn about some myths and legends of the region. Return by Willys Jeep to Salento.

Enjoy a hot-air balloon flight over the spectacular scenery. Flights are at 6am, which is when the best weath-er conditions for the hot-air balloon flight occur. You will be able to experience the whole process of the bal-loon inflation that takes between 30 and 40 minutes approximately. Once in the air, you will enjoy the beau-tiful scenery that the land has to offer. Since the balloon does not have a rudder, it cannot be steered. You are at the mercy of the wind. An exact point of landing cannot be determined which is why there is constant communication with the ground team that will pick you up once you land. You will be taken to the starting point.

Afterwards, go horseback riding through the amazing landscapes. The coffee cultural landscape was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2011. This region is full of incomparable beauty, traditions, traditional architecture, coffee plantations, native forests, and strategic corridors for the conservation of global biodi-versity. You will cross banana and fruit trees as well as coffee plantations and lakes. You will also enjoy a special picnic with different types of cheese, fruits, salads, wine, fresh juice etc…

Breakfast is at the hotel.

You will have a private transfer from your selected hotel in the Quindio area to the airport in Pereira for your domestic flight from Pereira to Medellin. Then a private transfer from the Enrique Olaya Herrera airport to your hotel in Medellin.

Breakfast is at the hotel.

Medellín is referred to as the “City of Eternal Spring”, located in the Andean highlands of Antioquia, which is nowadays the most innovative city of Latin America. Its recent past was strongly connected to the life of Pablo Escobar and violent gang fights. During the last twenty years, Medellín went through some drastic changes. An innovative program of urban development that combined modern means of public transport and the construction of public parks and areas of recreation for the local people turned Medellín from the most dangerous city in the world into a modern example of urban transformation.

Explore the Andean capital of Colombia on a full day tour. Gain insight into the history of the city visiting the “Pueblito Paisa” and enjoy wonderful views of the city. Explore the famous Botero Plaza downtown with an exhibition of the Colombian artist Fernando Botero, whose sculptures have become a landmark of the city.

Take the Metro Cable up to Santo Domingo, which was once a notorious area of gang violence in Medellín.

The cable car was constructed to make the inner city more accessible to people from the outskirts and al-lows visitors a glimpse into the lives of the marginalized population. At the Comuna 13 district with its unique escalators, observe another innovative project that improved the quality of life of the people of Medellín.

During a unique experience you will enjoy a flight over Medellin, Guatape and the Piedra del Peñol and see some highlights of Antioquia from above.

The flight starts in Medellin, where you will first explore the city from above. Enjoy the view of the city cen-ter, the parks like the Botanical Garden, the Metro Viaduct and much more. Afterwards continue your jour-ney towards Guatape and the monolith Piedra del Peñol. Normally you need 3 hours for this trip, but within a short – time the huge rock comes into sight.

After you have circumnavigated the rock once and taken some exciting pictures of the landscape, the jour-ney continues to Guatape. The small colonial town will enchant you with its colorful houses and colonialist features. You will land in Guatape and will explore the city before returning to Medellin.

Next take a graffiti tour Medellin. The city of Medellin offers a great variety of urban arts due to the city’s transformation of the last 20 years. Nowadays, the city is so full of countless artistic expressions of street art that the local authorities declared urban art a cultural landmark of Medellin.

Graffiti is not only about strong artistic and cultural elements, it is a way of political expression. See the graffiti of the Comuna 13 guided by some of the local artists themselves. This tour gives you an insight into history and daily life in this area and the importance of street art for social communication and identity.

Breakfast is at the hotel.

Have a private transfer from your selected hotel to the José Maria Córdova airport in Medellin for your do-mestic flight to Santa Marta. Upon arrival, take a private transfer from the airport to your hotel in Santa Marta.

Breakfast is at the hotel.

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the highest coastal mountain range on the planet, making the Colom-bian Caribbean one of the most diverse coasts in the world. Its stark contrasting geography houses all cli-mates, from the tropical dry forest to the cloud forest, the barren plateau, and the eternal glacier. It is com-pletely isolated from the Andes Mountains, and its snowy peaks of Cristóbal Colón and Simón Bolívar, at 5,775 and 5,770m above sea level, are the highest of Colombia. In the immensity of this mountain range, the famous Lost City also known as Teyuna or Buritaca-200 lies in the tropical clouds. It is an ancient settlement of the Tayrona civilization and is considered to be, along with Machu Picchu, one of the most important ar-chaeological sites in South America. The Lost City is at an altitude of 900 – 1,300m, in the foothills of the Cerro Correa peak, in the north-western part of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The site consists of a complex system of constructions, cobble-stoned roads, stairs, and walls intercommunicated by a series of terraces and platforms on which ceremonial centers, houses, and food storage sites were built. The struc-tures discovered so far occupy an area of approximately 35 hectares, in which can be found about 150 stone terraces.

Start the tour by driving from your hotel to the nearest heliport, either the Santa Marta Marina or the air-port. After a short briefing about the flight route, take off and head directly to the Lost City. The route de-pends always on the weather conditions and can be north or south of the Cuchilla de San Lorenzo. The flight to Ciudad Perdida takes about 15 minutes, and after a flyover above the terraces of the Lost City, continue in a southerly direction to glance at the majestic snow-capped peaks, glaciers, and lagoons of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. After this breathtaking flight with a duration of approximately 60 minutes, transfer back to your hotel.

Note: This tour is subject to changes in the itinerary according to the weather conditions. Please note that this Is only a flyover. Under no circumstances are you allowed to land in the Lost City.

The foothills of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, the highest coastal mountain range on earth, dip their toes right into the sea, in which bays and coves of singular beauty are to be found. The white sandy beaches in this park are boarded on one site by tropical dry forests and on the other side by the crystal clear and blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, making Tayrona Park one of the most beautiful in the country.

Leave Santa Marta to take the scenic coastal road and reach the western entrance of the park approximate-ly 30 minutes later. From here take an unpaved road through the tropical dry forest of the foothills of the Sierra to the bay of Neguanje. This takes approximately 1 hour. And from here it’s about a further 20 minutes walk to reach your final destination, the most beautiful Playa Cristal beach. As its name suggests, the water here is crystal clear. You have plenty of time to relax and enjoy the Caribbean Sea. Around 4pm, start your return to Santa Marta.

Note: For people who do not want or cannot manage the walk, you can take a boat from Neguanje Bay to Playa Cristal and back.

Breakfast is at the hotel.

Private transfer from Santa Marta to Cartagena.

In the afternoon, enjoy a rum tasting. Spaniards brought many things and customs to America that trans-formed the continent. In the same way, Columbians have adapted many of them to their culture and created an identity and products of their own. This is the case of sugar cane, which was taken to another level and today is the basis of one of the most exquisite drinks on the planet. Learn about the most famous drink of the Caribbean, rum.

Pick up at your hotel and start your tour by walking to the bar, where an expert mixologist will tell you about the history and characteristics of this drink. This journey of flavors will allow you to taste different Co-lombian rums, some of them cataloged as the best in the world. Learn their secrets and discover how wide and rich the world of rum can be and how small changes in the process give life to so many different flavors and emotions.

Breakfast is at the hotel.

Cartagena de Indias is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful cities in America. Its historical center, walled by fortifications built in the colonial era, retains its original architecture and is shown today in a myriad of colors that fill it with Caribbean life and joy. Its fascinating history as one of the pearls of that era, a place of collection of great treasures and the largest slave port in the colonies, gives immense importance to this World Heritage City. The stories about those pirate attacks of great magnitude are present in each of the for-tifications that remain intact to this day.

The city tour begins with a visit to the Fort of San Felipe de Barajas, the largest fortification built by the Spanish in their colonies. You will be able to appreciate this masterpiece of military architecture in coral stone and learn about the defense strategy of the city in relation to its topography. Go to the historical cen-ter to visit the San Pedro Clavér Convent Museum, former Jesuit Cloister (1605) and home of the so – called “Slave of the Slaves”. To finish, take a tour of approximately 2 hours through the main squares, churches and streets of the city. Also walk over the city walls to have the best views of the city and to know the most im-portant bastions.

Breakfast is at the hotel.

The tour begins with a pick up at your hotel and transportation to the pier where your captain and an as-sistant await you with the boat ready for a day of sunshine, crystal clear waters, white sand, and good music. Once the engines are turned on, you will leave the bay of Cartagena bordering the Fort of San Fernando de Bocachica, and then make a panoramic tour of the 27 islands that make up the Islas del Rosario Natural Park. Make a stop for lunch and explore the coral reef with snorkels. End this tour with a stop at Agua Azul or at Cholón Cove, where you will have the opportunity to get off the boat and enjoy the crystal – clear shallow water. This is a full day activity.

Breakfast is at the hotel.

Private transfer from your hotel to the airport in Cartagena.