Category: travel colombia

15 Best Destinations in Colombia

Reading Time: 10 minutes

Seasoned South American travelers say Colombia is the continent’s best kept secret – beautiful, affordable and relatively undiscovered by tourism.  Though large, Colombia is easy to travel with plenty of low cost internal flights, comfortable cross-country buses and taxis everywhere.
Travelers can easily visit more than 2-3 destinations in a week with an ample selection of destinations to visit over extended periods.

This is my selection – the  15 best destinations to visit in Colombia. These are places I gladly return to time and time again.  The list is divided by topological identities: beaches, colonial towns, archaeology and cities.  For more information on each destination read  the full articles on colombiatravelreporter.com Continue reading “15 Best Destinations in Colombia”

Travel in Colombia / What to Expect/ What to Pack/ How to Stay Safe

Reading Time: 10 minutesCouldn’t be a better time to see Colombia

Reading the travel guides on Ecuador – they talk about it how tourism has changed the country. ‘Should have been here 10 years ago when it was quaint and undiscovered,’ they say. ‘Now there are big hotels, boutique shops, robberies all over the place.’

Well, that’s not the case with Colombia. Outside of Cartagena it’s all to be discovered. There is no big corporate tourism here. In a way, Colombia has remained unchanged for the last 40 years. But there is so much pent up tourism potential. Continue reading “Travel in Colombia / What to Expect/ What to Pack/ How to Stay Safe”

Travel Safety in Colombia

Reading Time: 9 minutes

Why am I not surprised to find the most widely downloaded sites on Colombia travel raise the question: Is Colombia Safe? It’s a question I’m always asked when I talk about my travels in Colombia. I don’t pander to those insecurities. Years of travel in this Colombia have led me to believe the question is dated and exaggerated. Continue reading “Travel Safety in Colombia”

Popular Destinations in Colombia – Tourist Traps or Mandatory Stops?

Reading Time: 18 minutes

There are dozens of lists on the web of tourist destinations in Colombia. Most of these lists are redundant outlining the most popular destinations nearly every tourist visits when traveling to, or through, Colombia. But are these must-see destinations tourist traps deserving of your precious time and hard-earned money? What’s the difference? Continue reading “Popular Destinations in Colombia – Tourist Traps or Mandatory Stops?”

Medellin: the Land of Eternal Spring

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 Medellin (pronounced Meda-jean)

Is a dynamic, contemporary, prosperous city of 2.6 million people in Antioquia, Colombia – the heart of Colombia’s famous coffee triangle. Known as the land of the eternal spring it has a temperate climate – hot during the day and cool at night. Continue reading “Medellin: the Land of Eternal Spring”

Travel Around Medellin: Daytrips and Places to Visit – Guatape, Santa Fe, El Carmen de Viboral

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Day Tripper

If you’re spending any kind of time traveling in Medellin, which is easy to do, after a couple days a get away is in order. There are a number of possible day trips from the city. They sell guided tours to a number of these places but these villages are so easy to reach with  public transit that they can and should be explored at one’s own leisure. Continue reading “Travel Around Medellin: Daytrips and Places to Visit – Guatape, Santa Fe, El Carmen de Viboral”

Cartagena: a Port City and One Hot Mess

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Cartagena is a hot mess:
On one hand it’s a vibrant beautiful port city where cruise ships also dock. It has a beautiful historic center and is the major tourist destination for Colombia. The city has the feel of a touristy city in Spain. On other hand, outside of historic center it’s so congested with traffic you can barely cross the street. It’s loud and dirty, sweltering hot with pesky peddlers. Continue reading “Cartagena: a Port City and One Hot Mess”

Barranquilla throws the second largest Carnival Party in the World

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Hands down the Carnival of Barranquilla is the biggest folkloric tradition and best party in Colombia with more than 2 million people participating every year. Continue reading “Barranquilla throws the second largest Carnival Party in the World”

Bogota – What to See and Do in a 1-2 Day Stay

Reading Time: 7 minutes

People are divided when it comes to Colombia’s capital city of Bogota: they either love it or they hate it. A large cosmopolitan city of 8 million people sitting at an altitude of 8,660 feet, it has a cool climate throughout the year. Colombians call Bogota “the refrigerator of Colombia”.  Overcast and often rainy, but when the sun shines everyone in the city is out in the streets. Continue reading “Bogota – What to See and Do in a 1-2 Day Stay”

Bogota and Zipaquira’- are they worth seeing?

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Bogota

I’ve been to Bogota more times than I care to count, so many times that when traveling in Colombia these days  I’m doing my best to avoid it.  It’s not that I don’t like Bogota, I just don’t particularly like it either.

For me, Bogota, with a population of over 7.5 million people, is just another big, sprawling, traffic congested city without the eclectic, defining charm of a metropolis that lures international tourism – say a San Francisco, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, La Paz, New York or Medellin.  I’m not saying it’s a city without a wide array of merits. I do like its wonderful museums. Continue reading “Bogota and Zipaquira’- are they worth seeing?”