After a month of backpacking Colombia, we fell head over heels in love …with Colombia. (Duh, you guys, we’re already married.)
Colombia is our favorite country in South America and Central America – and we’ve visited 7 of them so far. To be fair, it’s a close call in some areas, but Colombia seems to come out on top every time. It’s bae.
And we weren’t the only ones, either: most of the other travelers we met backpacking in South America said the same thing. Colombia travel is on the rise.
So it comes as no surprise that we’ve gotten a lot of questions about our Colombia itinerary. If you’re one of those folks who’s been patiently waiting for us to post it, sorry it took a year.
After a lot of careful thought and evaluation of our month backpacking in Colombia, this post is a culmination of our best recommendations: a full Colombia itinerary for a month of backpacking on a budget!
An important note: this Colombia itinerary is written with “If we had to do it again” in mind.
Not everything in our recommended Colombia backpacking route is what we actually did, and not all we did do is in here either. (Lookin’ at you, terrible mud bath in Cartagena.)
We’ve also got a LOT of other, more specialized posts about Colombia, so we’ve done our best to point you their way as applicable.
Here’s what you’ll find in our ridiculously detailed 1 month backpacking Colombia itinerary. Estimated reading time: 35 minutes. You’re gonna want to bookmark this post for later, trust us.
Psst: We’ve got a ton of other resources for Colombia that you’ll want to look at before you plan your trip!
- What to Pack for Colombia
- The Best Hostels in Colombia
- 30 Things Nobody Tells You About Backpacking in South America
- The Best Colombian Food: What to Eat in Colombia
We’ve also got a FREE 21-page travel guide to help you plan your trip to Colombia, including printable packing lists, all the details from post, and tons more. Enter your email below and we’ll send it to your inbox along with helpful tips to help you plan your trip to Colombia!
Cartagena, Colombia 
Cartagena, Colombia
Colombia Itinerary: 4 Weeks Backpacking Colombia
Our itinerary focuses on the best places we visited during our one month backpacking Colombia: San Gil, Salento, Medellin, Minca, Parque Tayrona, and Cartagena. Plus Bogota and Santa Marta, which weren’t our faves to visit but are necessary jumping-off points.
Once flights and long bus rides are factored in, this Colombia itinerary is exactly 31 days.
We don’t like to do stuff the same day as we travel from place to place, so we’ve separated out travel days and “doing stuff” days.
If you’re the type who can hop off a long bus ride and immediately go on a hike (how?!) you’ll have a little extra time to explore each spot. Likewise, if you can handle double transit days in a row (we can’t) you can whittle a little bit off of this itinerary.
Looking for a shorter Colombia travel itinerary? You can divide our month itinerary into two 2-week chunks.
2 weeks in Colombia is enough time to see either Cartagena + Minca + Parque Tayrona, OR Salento + SanGil + Bogota, with Medellin doable for either itinerary as long as you’re willing to fly (we flew Avianca for most of our flights within South America, and they’re actually really great).
Here’s the complete 1 Month in Colombia Itinerary:
- Day 1: Fly to Bogota
- Day 2 & 3: Bogota
- Day 4: Travel to San Gil
- Day 5-9: San Gil
- Day 10: Travel back to Bogota
- Day 11: Travel to Salento
- Day 12-14: Salento
- Day 15: Travel to Medellin
- Day 16-18: Medellin
- Day 19: Travel to Minca
- Day 20-22: Minca
- Day 23: Travel to Parque Tayrona
- Day 24 & 25: Parque Tayrona
- Day 26: Travel to Santa Marta
- Day 27: Santa Marta
- Day 28: Travel to Cartagena
- Day 29-30: Cartagena
- Day 31: Leave Colombia
Now let’s get into the meat of our Colombia itinerary.
We’ll break down each destination in Colombia in the order that we recommend visiting, explain how to get to each spot, and share our favorite tips for what to do & where to eat while you’re there.
- Psst: Looking for help planning your trip to Colombia? Check out ViaHero, a fantastic site that connects travelers with locals who help them plan the perfect custom itinerary. It’s an excellent – and ethical – way to support local communities and experience Colombia through the eyes of a local! Check it out here.
Bogota, Colombia
Look, Bogota is a city. It’s a freaking huge city at that. But we didn’t feel that we needed to spend much time exploring Bogota to get a feel for what we liked about it.
It’s our first recommended Colombian destination because it’s a good spot to get your toes wet in South America (not literally…there are only fountains around and that would be gross).
While it’s not our favorite place in Colombia, it’s a comfortable start for anyone not used to the unique challenges of backpacking in Colombia or travelling in South America in general.
For the purposes of this itinerary, Bogota is more of a jumping-off point. For a much more comprehensive guide from someone who actually lived in Bogota, check out Girl Astray’s Guide to Bogota.
How to Get to Bogota
You’ll need to fly into Bogota.
El Dorado International Airport in Bogota is a major international airport, so you should expect to pay around $300 to fly in, with only one connection at most if you leave from a major airport. (At the time of writing this, tickets from SFO were as low as $286.) We use Google Flights to find cheap flights.
The airport is located in the northwest corner of Bogota, conveniently located near…. nothing. Bogota has an extensive bus system, but it is decidedly confusing for tourists.
We suggest taking a cab from El Dorado Airport, at least to drop your stuff off at your hostel, hotel or Airbnb. You can brave the bus system later.
Taking a taxi in Bogota, even at the airport, is not as intuitive as you’d think.
When you exit the airport, to the right is an official taxi kiosk. Give them your hotel address (have this written down or pulled up on your phone beforehand so you don’t have to look it up) and they will give you the amount you’ll have to pay.
This keeps drivers from running up the meter or overcharging you, which is super common.
Speaking of taxis, Bogota is one of the only places in Colombia that uses metered taxis. However, it’s still a good idea to request an approximate price before getting in, because the meters in Bogota taxis do not show you actual costs.
As you drive, the meter ticks up by one unit. The unit is code for the cost. Here’s an example of the taxi price sheet so you know what I mean. That kind of threw us, so be prepared so you don’t get overcharged!
Where to Stay in Bogota
We stayed in Masaya Hostel Bogota. It’s a perfectly adequate hostel to start your Colombia travel. It has an on-site restaurant, self-catering kitchen, and basic hostel amenities.
The neighborhood it is in is La Candelaria, where you’ll find a whole bunch of hostel options. It’s the touristy area for sure, but for a reason.
There are tons of street art, nightlife, restaurants, and tourist attractions nearby. There is also a high probability of meeting other people who are backpacking Colombia. Check prices for Masaya Hostel.
Airbnbs in Bogota are pretty reasonable too. We really like this loft-style apartment in La Candelaria, in a beautiful old building with quirky touches like huge open beams in the loft-style bedroom. The apartment is within the grounds of the host’s house so you get a real family feeling, they are happy to share local secrets with you! The main house also has 2 patios and an orchard you are welcome to enjoy.
What to Eat in Bogota
The different regions in Colombia are defined by their style of delicious soup (at least for us). In this region, Ajiaco is king.
It’s essentially a chicken soup with three types of potatoes and the herb guasca. It is not to be missed while you are backpacking Colombia!
For a complete guide on Colombian foods to try – and where to get the best Ajiaco in Bogota – check out our Colombian Food Guide.
What to Do in Bogota
Bogota has two great tours starting from La Candelaria, the Street Art Tour and the Bogota Bicycle Tour.
Unfortunately, both can’t be accomplished in a single day, but they’re informative and give you a great sense of the city.
The biggest negative for the bike tour, however, is they ride through the Red Light District. It’s not sketchy or anything, but it feels sort of like intrusive gawking, which made us uncomfortable.
For a day trip, take the teleferico to Monserrate for sweeping views of the city and mountains. Another popular day trip is the Catedral de Sal, a salt mine turned church – you’ll need to book a tour for that one.
Bogota is home to a gigantic and comprehensive Museo del Oro, where visitors can walk through Colombian history through the history of their gold.
Hear the tale of El Dorado and why those crazy Europeans thought there was a city of gold. This was one of our favorite stops in Bogota, in no small part because Lia read 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus in preparation for our trip (because she’s a history nerd fanatic like that) and was amazed to see in-person examples straight out of her book.
Another must-do activity in Bogota is to play Tejo, Colombia’s national game!
What mixes better than alcohol and flying metal pucks? Alcohol, flying metal pucks, and EXPLOSIONS! It’s like cornhole, except instead of a bean bag you use a palm-sized metal disc, and instead of a plain old hole there’s a bunch of gunpowder that you’re trying to hit.
This game is an earsplitting, fear-inducing, laugh riot.
Best Coffee in Bogota
There were actually TOO MANY Third Wave Coffee options for us in Bogota. We didn’t get to all of them.
Even Juan Valdez, Colombia’s version of Starbucks was serving up craft coffee! There’s even a Bogota coffee bike tour.
The coffee in Bogota is next level. These are our favorite coffee shops in Bogota: Cafe Devocion | Amor Perfecto | Azahar | Cafe Cultor
San Gil, Colombia
Our 2nd recommended place to include on your Colombia travel route after Bogota is San Gil, Colombia.
Honestly, we wish we would have visited San Gil alone for one month. It’s THAT rad. Yes, even despite our horrible waterfall rappelling incident.
San Gil is Colombia’s adventure town and a must-visit destination, but there’s plenty of things to do for people seeking something other than adventure, too.
How to Get To San Gil from Bogota
From Terminal Norte in Bogota, grab a Barichara bus and let them know you need to get to San Gil.
They’ll drop you off at the “bus terminal,” AKA town entrance. From there, grab a taxi. The bus ride is about 6 hours, depending on traffic.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Bogota has two bus terminals, Norte and Sur. San Gil buses are only from Norte.
Yes, we screwed this up and learned the hard way. Our taxi across town took roughly a zillion years in traffic and we do not recommend it.
- **Update 1/18/2018: One of our wonderful readers provided this helpful update to our Colombia travel guide: “We were able to get a bus to San Gil from the main terminal in Bogota. All of the buses to San Gil left from “Corredor 3 (Norte)” – Terminal 3 where all the buses going North depart from. Berlinas, Copetran, and Brasilia all had buses departing from here to San Gil. We used Copetran and it did also stop at the North Bus station in Bogota on the way.”
Where to Stay in San Gil
Sam’s VIP Hostel. End of story. This was hands down our favorite hostel in Colombia.
They’re located right on the main square, and the hostel has everything you could want – friendly staff, nice clean showers, A/C, rooftop pool, two fully equipped kitchens, balcony, and rumor has it some private rooms even have a Jacuzzi tub.
The staff will organize all of your adventures and won’t charge an additional fee. They even have nightly social activities outside the hostel, so you can make new friends or avoid people without dealing with noise.
We joined their Tejo and Karaoke night and it was one of the most fun nights we spent Colombia. So, so fun. Reserve a room here!
For Airbnbs in San Gil we recommend this apartment just one block from the Main Square. It is spotlessly clean and really well equipped, so if you fancy making your own juices there is everything you need to whip up something special! The views over San Gil are amazing and well worth waking up early to see the sunrise from your windows, there is even a hammock in the living room if you fancy a snooze!
What to Do in San Gil
What can you NOT do in San Gil is a better question. This is the adventure capital, so there are plenty of activities for all sorts of adrenaline levels.
No need to book anything in advance, you’ll find plenty of tour companies with open time slots in town once you arrive.
Here are some highlights:
- Paragliding Chicamocha Canyon (relaxing) – Soaring 6000 feet in the air might sound a little more intense than relaxing, but it doesn’t get much more serene than this. If you are looking for some adrenaline, you can ask your paragliding guide to do some spins and tricks.
- Canyoning (medium intensity) – South Americans love canyoning. Basically, you start at the top of canyon and work your way to the bottom. You achieve this by cliff jumping, hiking, and rappelling down waterfalls and cliffs. The adventure I went on (signed up through Sam’s VIP) included four rappels, two small jumps, and ended with a 25 foot cliff dive! But don’t worry, the last jump is optional.
- White Water Rafting (relaxing to intense) – San Gil has two major rafting trips. The first, a Class 1-2 relaxing trip, takes place on Rio Fonce. It’s super mellow and you can even jump off the raft and float in the more tranquil sections. The second option is Rio Suarez, which is an intense Class 5+ white knuckled adventure not for the faint of heart. Of course, ask a local if it’s scary and they’ll laugh and say “No! Es muy tranquilo!”
- Torrentismo at Juan Curi Waterfall (intense) – The beauty of rappelling during the canyoning day is the lines are pretty short and easy. Then there’s Juan Curi: a panic attack-inducing 200 foot rappel down a screaming waterfall. Yes, panic attack inducing. I speak from experience. Our waterfall rappel down Juan Curi did not end well.
- El Camino Real Hike: This adventure starts with a short bus ride to the neighboring small colonial town of Barichara. Find Carrera 10 and turn left to hit the trailhead. The 2-hour hike takes you through gorgeous countryside and ends in the even more remote town of Guane. This is an easy hike, but the hot sun makes it harder. You can take a bus from Guane’s main square to San Gil when you finish.
Where to Eat in San Gil
We frequented the local Mercado in San Gil for all of our produce and meat needs (Sam’s VIP has a BALLER kitchen, and we cooked almost every night). But we did get a chance to try some restaurants in San Gil.
These were our favorites:
- Gringo Mike’s– If your first instinct is to turn your nose up at the name of this place, I don’t blame you. But Gringo Mike’s has been a San Gil staple for years. They serve up food of multiple nationalities. Our favorites were the Protein Burger (it has peanut butter…look, just trust us) and the Cast Iron Brownie a la Mode. Even the burrito made this discerning Californian happy.
- Balcon Sangileno– Located next to Sam’s VIP, this second-floor restaurant serves up delicious regional plates. You might be a little unsure at first, but we can’t recommend the Cabrito Santandereano Yes, it means baby goat. Don’t let that stop you. Goats are dicks anyway. Another dish of theirs worth trying is the carne oreada, or sun-dried beef.
Back to Bogota Again (Briefly)
Grab a cab to the San Gil bus terminal and grab a ride back to Bogota. This is your connection point to get to Salento.
You’ll stay in Bogota for only one night. It might sound confusing, but the Santander department of Colombia is hard to reach, so you have to double back to Bogota to get there.
You can do the next bus ride back to back – that’s actually what we did. It makes the whole trip from San Gil to Salento take about 17 hours, so we don’t recommend it unless super long bus trips are something you don’t mind. If you opt for the long bus ride, take so much Dramamine. Trust us.
Salento, Colombia
Salento is a quiet town set near the middle of Colombia’s Coffee Triangle. If you’re spending 4 weeks in Colombia, you’ll have plenty of time to explore Salento!
The environment never ceases to amaze me. Every time you look at a hill, it seems to be the best view you’ve ever had.
It’s a very relaxing spot, but don’t worry…we’ll keep you busy.
How to Get from Bogota to Salento
Head to Terminal Sur in Bogota and grab a bus to Periera. From there, you can take another bus to Salento.
Once you arrive in Salento, if your hostel is in town, you can walk from the drop off point, which was some random curb on a random street somewhere in little Salento – just ask a local or use a map to locate your hostel.
If your hostel is a ways out of town (like the one we stayed at), head to the town square (anyone can point you there) and grab a taxi.
Oh, did I say taxi? I meant a Willy.
No, Salento doesn’t have cabs in the usual sense. Instead they have 15 person Jeeps that people load into and onto (quite literally…some people stand on the back of them).
They’re SO MUCH FUN. Hold onto your butts!
Where to Stay in Salento
One of our favorite places to stay in all of. Colombia was here in Salento, but sadly, the wonderful La Serrana Hostel has closed its doors. Although we haven’t stayed there ourselves, we’re told are told the nearby Las Camelias EcoHostel is wonderful, so check it out and let us know how it measures up!
Alternatively, check out Airbnbs in Salento for some great options. We especially like this colorful house just 400m from the main square surrounded by lush gardens filled with banana trees and coffee plants. The house is really spacious and has a beautiful porch to sit out on and watch the trees grow, despite being so close to the main square it is a little oasis and very quiet.
What to Do in Salento
Salento is actually home to two of Colombia’s most important plants: coffee and wax palms.
When it comes down to it, those are the reasons to visit Salento.
Wax palms are the national tree of Colombia. They look like they belong on the cover of a Dr. Seuss book and they can only be found here in Salento.
The best way to see them is to do the Valle de Cocora hike, a six-hour hike through a valley, into a cloud forest, out to a stunning panorama, then down along a winding road.
There are a bunch of coffee farms in the area that will give you a tour and a tasting, but we have to recommend the coffee tour at El Ocaso Finca. Conveniently, they’re an easy and beautiful 15-minute walk from La Serrana.
I could go on and on about the quality of their coffee, the sustainable practices, the picturesque landscape, or the friendly staff. But we already did: read our write-up of the best coffee tour in Salento!
Medellin, Colombia
Cue the Narcos theme song. You’re heading to what used to be one of the most violent cities in South America.
But don’t worry: I say used to because over the last couple of decades, Medellin has blossomed into an incredibly friendly and safe (and beautiful) city.
It doesn’t shy away from its bloody history, but it has emerged as an awesome must-visit city to include on your Colombia itinerary and it was one of our favorite destinations.
How to Get from Salento to Medellin
Buses leave from Salento’s restaurant-sized bus station for Medellin every morning.
As with everything in Colombia, the exact timing that the buses leave is tranquilo. We recommend getting there around 8 AM.
The bus from Salento to Medellin takes about 5.5 hours, although some companies make direct runs for a little more money.
Where to Stay in Medellin
If you want to avoid the touristy area of Medellin when looking for accommodation, you’re kind of up the creek. Pretty much every hostel is in or around the El Poblado district, lovingly nicknamed “Gringo-landia.”
When it comes to staying on the main streets of El Poblado, there are two guarantees: loud music and out of control gringos.
Los Patios Boutique Hostal is a really cool hostel that’s located just outside of the craziness, but still conveniently located nearby to bars, restaurants, coffee, you name it. Check prices for Los Patios here.
If you want to stay totally away from the touristy places there are some great Airbnbs in Medellin, we really love this bohemian apartment located downtown on the 26th floor of a building so you are treated to really great views over the city. There are restaurants nearby so if you want to stay local there are lots of options, otherwise, it is just 2 blocks to the metro so you still have great access to the rest of the city.
What to Do in Medellin
Medellin’s metro system is expansive and really intuitive. We’ve seen some pretty complicated transit systems (lookin’ at you, Bogota), but Medellin made it just like Colombia itself: TRANQUILO!
Spend a day riding the metro and be sure to go all the way to Parque Arvi. It’s cheap and a fantastic way to see Medellin! For detailed instructions, check out our guide to exploring Medellin on a budget.
We often turn our noses up at walking tours, because they tend to glide over history in broad strokes: we prefer our history to be raw, real, and fact-based, to help give us context for our visit and inform our respect and knowledge of the places we visit.
With that said, the Medellin Walking Tour is amazing. The guide lays out everything objectively. In a town with such a notorious history, it’s almost impossible to avoid talking about it. So instead of skirting around it, they own it.
An interesting fact about the walking tour: for safety reasons, they refuse to speak the name Pablo Escobar: he’s still revered by some of the locals in poor neighborhoods, who are benefitting to this day from the homes, schools, and other community resources he funded with his massive quantities of drug money.
There’s even a neighborhood named for him: Barrio Pablo Escobar. It’s fascinating and complex … but it means that you can’t just walk down the streets of Medellin talking about Pablo Escobar without stirring up a lot of complicated feelings.
Instead, the tour quietly refers to “the most famous criminal of all time” or “Colombia’s notorious criminal” instead of using his name.
Speaking of Escobar, it’s no secret the man owned a crazy amount of mansions. One of them was located in the nearby town of Guatape, the most colorful town in Colombia.
The mansion is in shambles today, but you can still take a tour of the former hacienda. Oh wait, I’m missing a tiny detail. The tour includes a freaking paintball fight in one of Pablo Escobar’s mansions!!!!! This particular tour can be booked easily at most hostels in Medellin.
Where to Eat in Medellin
El Poblado generally has terrible food, almost as a rule. The big exception is Mondongo’s, one of Medellin’s favorite restaurants.
There are a few locations, but the El Poblado one is conveniently located.
While there, you have to get the classic Colombian dish wich originated here in Medellin, bandeja paisa: a platter the size of a small village piled with rice, beans, ground beef, chicharron, fried egg, avocado, sweet plantain, and an arepa. It’s a budget traveler’s dream plate and it just might last you several meals.
For more adventurous palates, try the soup the restaurant named itself after: sopa de mondongo. It’s a tripe soup. But don’t let that scare you: it’s delicious and full of flavor! Fans of Mexican menudo will love it.
Where to Drink Coffee in Medellin
Colombia has always been a source of great coffee … if you’re in the US. That’s because most of the high-quality coffee grown in Colombia is exported.
But recently Colombians have thought “Wait, why the eff are we shipping out our good coffee, and drinking bad coffee?”
Today, third-wave coffee is alive and well in most cities, including Medellin.
The best places are hands down Cafe Velvet and Pergamino Cafe. We prefer the latter, but we’ll let you decide. To make it easy on you, they’re located across the street from each other.
Minca, Colombia
We have so much love for the teeny tiny town of Minca, Colombia and highly recommend that you include a stop off here on your backpacking trip to Colombia.
We originally planned to stay here for just two days on our way to hike the Lost City Trek, but we fell in love with it so we stayed for a whole week!
How to Get to Minca from Medellin
You’ll want to fly from Medellin to Minca – the bus is long and miserable, and the flights are quick and cheap.
Both Avianca and LATAM offer flights from Medellin to Santa Marta (Minca’s nearest airport) for about $40 if you book in advance. It’s a quick one hour hop.
From Santa Marta airport, you have two options.
The cheaper version is you take a bus from the airport to the city center (“El Mercado”) for 50 cents. From there, walk to La Estacion de Minca, located at Calle 11 con Carrera 12 Calle 9 & Carerra 12 (the station has moved here as of our most recent visit in Feburary 2018).
The station will hook you up with an inexpensive collectivo that will drop you at the entrance to Minca. We have more detailed information about getting from Santa Marta to Minca in our Minca Guide.
The more expensive option is to have your hostel set up a private taxi from the airport. This will run you roughly $20 each.
Where to Stay in Minca
We highly, highly recommend staying at Casa Loma Minca. This stunning, wonderful eco-hostel is perched on top of a hill and provides an absolutely breathtaking view of Santa Marta far below, and the Caribbean beyond it. The sunsets from the “treehouse” are like paintings every night.
Casa Loma Minca offers all sorts of accommodation: jungle huts, covered hammocks, dorms, and privates all for crazy cheap.
There’s a kitchen on-site serving up amazing meals for reasonable prices (all meals are vegetarian). Like La Serrana, you eat at long tables at the same time as everyone else, which helps to foster a social environment.
Casa Loma (and most of Minca, tbh) has no WiFi, so once you get over the initial “But what is the world without WiFi” shock, a sense of unity comes around the hostel. We made more travel friends here than anywhere else and I really think the disconnectedness was a huge reason.
Casa Loma Minca is one of our favorite hostels in Colombia, hands down. We’ve visited Minca and stayed at this same hostel on 4 separate trips to Colombia now – we are obsessed! We’ve got a complete post all about the hostel & why we love it so much – read it here, or just check prices for Casa Loma Minca.
If Airbnbs are more your vibe then there are some great options but we are loving this wooden cabin floating in the treetops and surrounded by mountains, colorful birds and butterflies. There is a river nearby that is part of the property so you are free to take a dip to cool off, you are in totally rural surroundings but actually still close to supermarkets and other hotels! It has a real luxury feel, especially for a treetop cabin, there is hot water and loads of amenities so you get the best of both worlds. Can we just live here?!
What to Do in Minca
There are tons of things to do in Minca! Check out the full list of the best things to do in Minca.
Here are the highlights:
- For a half(ish) day of outdoor fun, take a scenic hike – or thrilling moto-taxi – to Pozo Azul, an awesome local swimming hole.
- Minca has tons of coffee and chocolate farms to tour – this area is also a coffee region in Colombia! Your hostel can help you book a tour to sample some coffee and chocolate!
- You can hike or taxi to Casa Elemento to enjoy their giant hammock.
Fair warning, if you’re traveling from May to November, expect rain every day. But it’s a predictable rain.
We were there in late July and it rained every day at 3 PM, like clockwork. It was a downpour, but then cleared up after an hour or so.
Plan your days accordingly and pack a rain jacket (we swear by Ultra-Light Rain Jackets (His & Hers). They’re fully tested against Minca rain and we lived to tell the tale.)
Where to Eat in Minca
Being big snobs, we love anything artisanal…especially bread! Surprisingly, there’s a delicious artisanal bakery in Minca!
One of the busiest spots in town is definitely The Lazy Cat Cafe. Maybe it’s the decent WiFi, but I think it’s the juicy burgers. You be the judge.
Fans of Bob Marley (or at least his favorite plant) should ask the locals about “The Meat Man,” a restaurateur who includes greens with every meal … and I don’t mean veggies.
Parque Tayrona, Colombia
Famous Parque Tayrona is one of the most popular destinations in Colombia, for good reason! With its lush jungle and warm, bright blue Caribbean water, this national park is absolutely gorgeous.
That said, cards on the table: we didn’t personally have the best time in Tayrona. We know, however, that we’re in the minority.
Read up on why we didn’t totally love Parque Tayrona (and what we did wrong) in our Parque Tayrona guide.
Here are the most important things you need to know if you plan to visit Parque Tayrona during your Colombia trip:
- The tap water in the area is supposedly safe to drink, but we still recommend using a purifier, like the Steri-Pen Water Purifier or a Lifestraw Water Bottle. As with most remote places, bottled water prices are so ludicrous, they’ll be starring in the next Fast and the Furious movie.
- There are no ATMs in the area. Bring all the cash you’ll need from Santa Marta or Minca.
- The food in Parque Tayrona is crazy expensive. Bring some of your own, especially if you plan to stay overnight.
- If you are planning your trip for the start of the year please note that Parque Tayrona is closed from January 28 to February 28 at the request of the indigenous communities.
Getting from Minca to Parque Tayrona
At the main (or really…only) intersection in town, you’ll see a transport depot where you can get a ticket to Santa Marta. The ride will be familiar, and will drop you off at the same place where you picked up the ride to Minca.
One block away at Calle 11 and Carrera 13 you’ll find the terminal for Parque Tayrona/Palomino. Grab a colectivo from here (or a bus, whatever shows up), pay the assistant who is likely hanging out of a bus door, and enjoy the hour-long sweaty bus ride. It costs about 14000 COP.
The great thing about this whole haphazard collection of terminals is that each of the terminals have one route. In a place like Peru where tourism is ubiquitous, it’s common to hear “Where are you going?” followed by “I can get you there for [a crazy amount of money because you look lost].”
In Santa Marta it’s like “The Tayrona guys are two blocks over. Have fun!” It’s all part of the Colombia experience. We’ve got a guide to transportation in Colombia that we cobbled together after a month of confusion, once we’d finally sort of figured things out.
Where to Stay in Parque Tayrona
There are 2 ways to visit Parque Tayrona: as a day trip or as an overnight.
You can either camp inside Parque Tayrona itself, or stay just outside of the park. We chose to stay down the street from the entrance to the park in a gorgeous little boutique hostel called Eco Hostel Yuluka.
Eco Hostel Yuluka is amazing. Best hostel breakfast we’ve ever had, waterfall pool, waterslide, thatched-roof huts, reasonably priced, and they provide free shuttles to the park.
It has all the charm and isolated jungle getaway feel you’ll find in Parque Tayrona, but it’s right off of the highway. If you opt to stay at Eco Hostel Yuluka, tell the bus driver you want to get off at km 28 on the way to Tayrona. The hostel is across the street. Check prices for Eco Hostel Yuluka here.
If you’d like to sleep in the park, you can. There are a bunch of campsites, but the best one is at Cabo San Juan. You have the option between hammocks under a cover and tents out in the open.
Accommodation will run you 18K-23K COP a night, but that includes lockers. No mosquito nets provided, but you don’t really need them. Here’s a helpful guide to camping in Parque Tayrona.
What to Do in Parque Tayrona
Essentially, Tayrona is all about the swimming, hiking, camping, and relaxing on the beach.
There are a bunch of different beaches in Parque Tayrona, so you can spend a couple of days just wandering from beach to beach and taking it all in.
If you’re visiting as part of a day trip we recommend splurging on the horseback ride to the beach. Otherwise, it’s a two-hour hike through the jungle followed by swimming in the warm water of the Caribbean, and then a 2-hour hike back again. So don’t forget to pack a lightweight travel towel (this is ours)!
Santa Marta, Colombia
I hate to say this, but Santa Marta wasn’t our scene. It’s incredibly hot, really touristy, needlessly expensive, and a total party town for visiting Gringos who are backpacking Colombia.
All things we aren’t big fans of. But because of its location, Santa Marta is a necessary stop. And hey, maybe you’ll have a better time there than we did!
We just happen to be incredibly old and totally unhip to the party scene in our old married-ness; when Lia visited at the ripe young age of 23, she LOVED Santa Marta.
If you don’t want to stay in Santa Marta, feel free to hop right on a bus to Cartagena instead of staying the night.
Getting from Parque Tayrona to Santa Marta
It’s impossible to get lost on this route. From the entrance of the park, every westbound bus will stop in Santa Marta. Just flag one down and hop on.
It will take you back to the neighborhood you know so well at this point, and from there you can walk or cab to your hostel.
Alternatively, you can take a collectivo for about 30K COP each if you want a little more comfort. The one we took swung by Eco Hostel Yuluka so we could grab our bags, then took us directly to our Santa Marta hostel.
Where to Stay in Santa Marta
If you’re opting to spend the night in Santa Marta, one of the most popular hostels in town is definitely Dreamer Hostel.
It’s a poppin’ social hostel with a rad party vibe (this is where Lia stayed as a young whippersnapper). You’re guaranteed to meet other people who are backpacking Colombia.
They crafted the ultimate party hostel, without that grungy, icky party vibe. Book early though, because they are always full. Keep in mind, Dreamer is located outside of the main hub of town. Check prices for Dreamer Hostel here.
If you’d like a little more quiet, check out Masaya Hostel. It’s a little more expensive but the peace is worth the price. This is a newer hostel located in a colonial-style home right in the center of town.
For Airbnbs in Santa Marta, there is quite a range to choose from and if you want to soak in some luxury there is this great apartment in a hotel complex with a great balcony giving you amazing views to watch the sunrise with a coffee in the morning. There is also breakfast service available if you don’t want to venture out early.
What to Do in Santa Marta
Santa Marta is a jump-off point for visiting the surrounding areas, so there aren’t a lot of activities within the city.
That said, you can find day tours to the neighboring town of Taganga for snorkeling (just be safe – we’ve heard a few travelers give words of caution about Taganga, which has quite the reputation as a party destination).
You can also wander around Historico Centro and stock up on souvenirs, since sadly, your journey backpacking Colombia will soon be ending.
As we mentioned, Santa Marta is a party town, so that’s another activity to do in town…assuming of course, you have the energy after Parque Tayrona.
If you’re wanting an outdoor adventure, check out the Lost City Trek to Ciudad Perdida. It’s a 4-6 day hike that’s easily reachable from Santa Marta.
Check out this Ciudad Perdida Trek Guide for a comprehensive guide to hiking to the Lost City – it explains everything from training for the trek to the history behind it!
Where to Eat in Santa Marta
Our favorite pizza in Colombia was in Santa Marta. I know, I know. Getting pizza in Colombia sounds like a super gringo move. But surprisingly, pizza is everywhere in Colombia and they’re actually pretty inventive.
In Santa Marta, stop by La Casona Restaurante Pizzeria and get their Caribe Pizza. It’s basically a Hawaiian pizza with prune and jalapeno added. Yes, we’re firmly on team Pineapple On Pizza, so take that Gordon Ramsay, you beautiful man.
The pizzeria is located on Calle 3, an alley with a ton of nice restaurants, street performers, and backpackers. The alley is super fine and lively and a must-visit at night!
This is the only thing we actually did in Santa Marta, and hey, it was great and we had some delicious pizza.
Cartagena de las Indias, Colombia
Maybe it’s because it was the first South American city I’ve ever been in (yes, we started in Cartagena! This Colombia itinerary is what we wish we did, remember?) but Cartagena will always hold a special place in my heart.
Five minutes within the walled city, and you’ll likely feel the same way. There’s a reason literary legend Gabriel Garcia Marquez chose to live here most of his life.
How to Get from Santa Marta to Cartagena
We actually have a blog post all about this step – read it here. In short: In the same area as the other buses in Santa Marta, you will find the buses to Cartagena. The bus ride is about 4-5 hours.
I recommend buying a ticket from Berlinas. They’re more expensive, but they’re comfortable and have AC. For more details, we have a full guide on how to get from Cartagena to Santa Marta & back again – read it here.
The other options to get from Cartagena to Santa Marta are a lot sweatier … and not as reliable.
Once we took a cheap bus from Santa Marta to Cartagena and the damn thing broke down. In the rain. The driver had to flag down every bus that passed and ask if there were extra seats. This is South America, so most didn’t.
It took about an hour to get on the next bus (because they sat the gringos last) and we had to stand on the new bus for a two-hour drive. Wet. From the rain. Not good. Spring for the Berlinastur bus, y’all.
From the bus terminal, take a cab to your hostel. There is a posted sign for the correct price, so you won’t get duped into paying more.
Where to Stay in Cartagena
There are two areas in Cartagena where tourists and backpackers go: Getsemani and the walled old city (which is really two neighborhoods, Santo Domingo and San Diego).
Whether you want to stay within the walls is all up to you.
Getsemani is right outside the wall and more quiet, but there are more places to go within the old town. We did a mix of both, so we have some recommendations for either preference.
Santo Domingo Vidal Hostel is in Getsemani and is about 10 minutes from the walls. It’s a small hostel that has a very home-y feel with a small, friendly, helpful staff. The place gets hot because electricity is crazy expensive in Cartagena, but there’s AC at night.
Next door is Cafe de Mural, a popular coffee shop, and across the street are some awesome murals complete with a cozy little outdoor patio to drink your morning coffee. Check prices for Santo Domingo Vidal here.
If you opt to stay within the walled city, Volunteer Hostel is the place to go. It’s on the border of the two walled neighborhoods, so it’s central without having a lot of foot traffic. The hostel itself is partnered with FEM, a non-profit working to empower indigenous and Afro-Caribbean women in Colombia. Plus, there’s A/C all day long. Trust us, that’s major. Check prices for Volunteer Hostel here.
If you are looking for Airbnbs in Cartagena we love the adorable Casa Bijou in the heart of the old city tucked away inside the walls. The interior is modern and comfortable, the living space starts from the first floor and there is a cute balcony with comfortable seating so you can watch the world out on the city streets while drinking coffee, or wine!
Here’s a guide to better help you decide where to stay in Cartagena: Old Town, Getsemani, or Bocagrande.
What to Do in Cartagena
There is a ton of history within the walled city – and although much of it is pretty f***king dark, it’s fascinating and important to understand when visiting Cartagena and the rest of Colombia.
Our first ever post about Colombia was about the dark history of Cartagena. It was also written in the first week of our year-long trip, so it’s a little bit moony and homesick – don’t judge us!
Here are our favorite things to do in Cartagena:
It’s easy to spend a whole day just walking around the Walled City and looking at the colorful colonial buildings. Everywhere you turn, there’s yet another beautiful flower-covered awning or stunning old cathedral or Spanish Inquisition torture device. Surprise!
Make sure you stop to check out Museo de Oro, the free gold museum. It shows how the indigenous Zenu culture worked with metal and the land in totally ingenious ways (before they were killed en masse by Spanish invaders, of course). The museum is all in Spanish, but it’s free, and there’s A/C.
Most visitors to Cartagena are keen to visit Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s house. Keep in mind, you can’t actually go inside, which we found out upon arrival. So it isn’t actually all that cool – you can’t see anything other than the wall – unless you’re a huge fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which Lia is.
For some awesome views and pictures, climb the walls that surround the city and walk the around the Caribbean border. This is also an incredible place to take in the sunset and contemplate the awesome month you’ve had in Colombia.
If you’re up for some nightlife, check out Holy Trinity Square in Getsemani where you’ll always find street performers, dancing, and places to drink!
Elsewhere in the city, you can have a day at the beach! A long stretch of beach that is easy to get to is in Bocagrande, the modern portion of the city where all the skyscrapers and more expensive hotels are. Here you’ll find a ton of beach space, vendors selling toys, massages, beer, coconuts, mango verde, and shrimp cocktails. For a price, you can rent lockers and cabanas. Once in the super warm Caribbean water, you’ll be approached by a lot of Jetski drivers asking if you want to pay for a ride. The water and beach are great, but the constant sales pitches and jetski exhaust are a bummer. If you can ignore it, it’s worth a stop. Wear a bucket of sunscreen though.
We recommend an overnight or a day trip to Isla Baru, just off the coast of Cartagena – read our guide to Isla Baru and Playa Blanca.
Speaking of things we don’t necessarily recommend that you include in your Colombia backpacking itinerary, there’s always the ridiculous mud bath in Volcan Totumo, a tiny active volcano just outside of Cartagena. Lia hated it, but to be fair, we also got a great story out of it. If you’re looking for a unique story and don’t mind getting a little dirty, Volcan Totumo makes an interesting day trip!
If you don’t mind a bit of a journey, grab a colectivo to La Boquilla, a super small fishing town on the beach located just east of Cartagena. This was the best beach we experienced in the area, because it’s mostly empty with clear and warm water. You can also grab some fresh fried fish right on the beach for way cheaper than in the city. La Boquilla is an excellent day trip from Cartagena!
What to Eat in Cartagena
The food in Cartagena is SO good! We spent a couple of weeks in Cartagena just eating everything in sight. We’ve got a whole post on where to eat in Cartagena on a budget.
Here’s what you absolutely have to try:
It doesn’t get much better than the fish in Cartagena. When in doubt, order the fish, especially pescado frito.
There is incredibly good fresh fruit in Cartagena. You’ll see vendors on the street offering fruit in plastic bags, and it’s all super good. Our favorite snack is Mango Biche: green mango with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Yum!
While chilling on the beach in Bocagrande, don’t pass on a coctel de camaron. It’s literally just a Styrofoam cup full of shrimp from a cart on the beach, but trust me, it’s not as sketch as it sounds! They prep it right in front of you using fresh ingredients.
We went to Restaurante La Casa de Socorro in Getsemani and had the best fish soup in the world! OMG, I’ve been dreaming about that soup since we left Colombia. Please bring us some back.
The end of your one month in Colombia
Holy s**t, your one-month backpacking in Colombia flew by. Before you know it, you’ll be taking a taxi to Rafael Nunez International Airport to catch your flight home, full of memories of amazing Colombia.
I guarantee you that you’ll be smitten with Colombia just like we were, and eagerly planning your next trip back just like we are …
But you’re not there just yet! So while you’re still in planning mode, we’ve got a ton of other resources for Colombia that you’ll want to look at before you plan your trip:
- What to Pack for South America
- A Complete Guide to Transportation in Colombia
- The Best Hostels in Colombia
- 30 Things Nobody Tells You About Backpacking in Colombia
We’ve also got a FREE 21-page travel guide to help you plan your trip to Colombia, including printable packing lists, all the details from post, and tons more. Enter your email below and we’ll send it to your inbox along with helpful tips to help you plan your trip to Colombia!
Looking for help planning your trip to Colombia? Check out ViaHero, a fantastic site that connects travelers with locals who help them plan the perfect custom itinerary. It’s an excellent – and ethical – way to support local communities and experience Colombia through the eyes of a local! Check it out here.
Planning a trip to Colombia? What’s your biggest concern? Drop us a comment below!
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Honestly this is so detailed and amazing. I have only been to Cartagena out the places you listed but I loved it there so much my husband and I are considering moving there. There’s is something to be said about the culture and the food and pretty much everything hahaha. I’m glad you guys enjoyed it so much!
We loved Cartagena too! There’s something about it, I totally feel you. It kind of rose from the ashes into this incredibly vibrant city full of life and love. Plus, THE FOOD IS SO GOOD, which is extremely important to me, so. 😛
What a monster of a post! This is a great Colombia itinerary. I wish I had more time back then to visit the coffee region – it looks even more beautiful than I imagined 🙂 Thanks for mentioning my Bogota guide!
This is so detailed, I don’t even need to look anywhere else! Thanks so much for sharing your experience, it makes planning a Colombian trip so much easier!
Happy to help 🙂
Wow – amazing guide! I have always wanted to go to Colombia, so I will definitely come back to this. I’m not a backpacker or budget traveler, but there’s still plenty I can use here. Thanks!
Glad to hear it! Luckily, Colombia is SUPER inexpensive so if you have some leeway in your budget, you can ball out HARD. We spent about $1200 total between the two of us staying in hostels and eating out 1x per day, to give you an idea!
Thanks for the post. I was eager to find more cost breakdown related stuff
I brewed my coffee before I settled in for the read. We’re saving for South America in 2019, and this was just what I needed to start sorting out my head for the possibilities.
2019 is perfect, by then I’ll probably manage to publish my itinerary guides for Ecuador & Peru, too 😛
Super lengthy but informative post! Can see you put a lot of effort into this one. Thanks for sharing!
Wow! I have never seen such a comprehensive guide! Well done 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing all this information and tips about Colombia. I have never been there, but definitely on my list!
Wow wow wow! I’m so impressed how in-depth this entire post is. The boyfriend and I are trying to get here in the next year or two…definitely consulting this guide as a starting point! xo
Hi guys! wow congrats on a super blog! we are traveling with our kids (14-16) for 2 month in Ecuador and Colombia and love all your stories and comments! we were wondering your experience with vaccinations and sicknesses like malaria, dengue, yellow fever and typhoid. will remember to take a big towel!
thanks
Violeta
Hi Violeta,
We got vaccinated for yellow fever & typhoid (very important) but for malaria, what you’ll need are pills that you take when you’re entering into malaria infested areas. Dengue vaccine is quite new and hasn’t really made its way into our doctors’ offices yet, so we didn’t take anything to prevent Dengue. But since we didn’t visit the Amazon either, we weren’t at much of a risk. Our biggest prevention actions were preventing mosquito bites with permethrin spray on our clothing and insect repellant lotion on all of our exposed skin. That worked quite well!
Love your detailed itinerary! I have 3 weeks in Colombia 23rd Jan – 13th Feb 2018 and I’m looking at taking a similar route.
In your itinerary you recommend going Bogota > San Gil > Back to Bogota > Salento… Would it not make more sense to go Bogota > Salento > Medellin > San Gil
Thanks, Josh
Hi Josh, I think the reason why we didn’t recommend that route is based on public transit. The buses from Medellin to San Gil are not direct, they’re mostly connecting via Bogota (due to mountains in between Medellin and San Gil) or a roundabout loop through Bucaramanga.
At least, that was the case when we were researching for this post – do please let us know if you find something different/better! We want to be providing the best possible advice 🙂
What we actually did was Medellin to Salento to San Gil to Bogota. Salento to San Gil was 17 hours, not 12 as we had anticipated (generally speaking, all Colombian transit estimates are totally wrong), and when we arrived at 2am there were no taxis to take us to our hostel, which sucked. The ride between Medellin and Salento was about 9 hours and very windy, but pretty.
Hope that helps with your planning!
My boyfriend and I spent 16 days in Colombia in November and I referenced this blog A LOT both before and during our trip…very nicely broken/detailed but simplified at the same time! One note is that we were able to get a bus to San Gil from the main terminal in Bogota. All of the buses to San Gil left from “Corredor 3 (norte)” – Terminal 3 where all the buses going North depart from. Berlinas, Copetran, and Brasilia all had buses departing from here to San Gil. We used Copetran and it did also stop at the North Bus station in Bogota on the way.
Thank you so much for this information, Katie! We rely on tips from readers like you to keep our posts relevant and useful. I am so happy we helped you with your trip to Colombia!
HI! I noticed that you skipped some cities that are commonly mentioned in other blogs (Cali, baranquilla, popoyan) What is your opinion of those places and why did you skip them?
So we definitely looked into them. I’ve actually visited Baranquilla already, that was the very first place I ever went in Colombia a few years back, and I went to visit a friend. It wasn’t the sort of place I’d visit as a tourist, but it’s a lovely place to LIVE – there’s a great annual carnival, but otherwise it’s not exactly a hot spot for travelers. Cali was way out of our way on the coast, and we’d heard it was one of the less safe areas in Colombia, but having been in Colombia for a month I’d say that doesn’t actually make me nervous at all these days (just take typical precautions as you would anywhere, don’t go looking for drugs, don’t flash your money around like an a**hole, etc). Popoyan was one we DID want to visit, and for a while we thought about traveling down south over land into Ecuador and stopping through Popoyan for a bit and checking out that AMAZING Harry Potter looking church. It ended up taking too much time to travel this way via bus so we opted to fly from Bogota to Ecuador instead. I do have a guest post in the works that will talk more about destinations I haven’t visited myself, so don’t worry, I’ve still got Colombia content coming (can you believe I’m going back to visit next month for the THIRD time)!
I made the rookie mistake of only allotting 10 days in Colombia! So many more places like you listed to visit! Which was your favorite place?
Mick
Hmmm it’s a tie between Salento and San Gil. And Minca, haha. But if you pick a region like the coast or the central part of Colombia, you should be able to fit in a couple of places in 10 days!
Lia and Jeremy,
This is INCREDIBLE!! Informative and funny, I got some good chuckles. My boyfriend and I are headed down there for 2 1/2 weeks (from sf too – woo woo!). My only struggle is sifting through your amazing itinerary and picking and choosing what’s most worth visiting. What stops do you recommend for us and how many days in each?
Also, I recognize the 17 hour bus ride from San Gil to Salento does not seem to work in our favor with time constraints. Do you have another mode of transportation recommendation that may be shorter?
Much love,
Rona
San Gil & Salento are both close to Medellin so if you broke it up with Medellin in between it would be much easier. Another option instead of bussing would be to fly – there’s an airport in Bucaramanga near San Gil which will run quick flights to Medellin. Bucaramanga is 2 hours away from San Gil.
As for choosing where to go, it’s so hard to choose! I’d recommend picking a couple of areas to focus on, like the Carribbean Coast for a week (Cartagena/Isla Baru/Minca/Parque Tayrona make a great week or so) and then heading down to Medellin and visiting Guatape, Salento, and San Gil. I’d avoid Bogota unless you have to fly in and out – tourism wise, it’s not the highlight of Colombia. Hope that helps!
I will be going to Colombia, arriving at Cartagena. We will be going to Santa Marta, Minca, Parque Tayrona and Lost city. Considering both price and convenience, do you recommend renting a car?
Thanks,
Patricia
I really don’t, no. I wouldn’t recommend renting a car anywhere in Colombia. The road rules are insane – drivers seem to follow their own set of unwritten rules, which often involves driving on the wrong side of the road or playing terrifying games of chicken – and I wouldn’t feel safe recommending anyone get into a car and drive themselves around Colombia! All of those places are very close together and easily accessible by public bus or inexpensive colectivo. Having a car SOUNDS more convenient, but parking is not a given in a place where most people take transit to get around. I’m not even sure there’s room for a parked car anywhere in little Minca 😛 I just wouldn’t recommend it!
Love your post. Would love some of your advice. My friend and I are going to Colombia in June, and we’re there about 10-11 days. We put together an itinerary but I feel like it’s too much:
Option A
Friday 8th BOGOTA
Saturday 9th Travel to SALAMINA
Sunday 10th SALAMINA
Monday 11th SALAMINA
Tuesday 12th SALAMINA
Wednesday 13th Travel to MEDELLIN
Thursday 14th MEDELLIN or GUATAPE
Friday 15th Travel to MINCA
Saturday 16th TAYRONA NATIONAL PARK
Sunday 17th Travel to CARATEGNA
Monday 18th CARATEGNA
Tuesday 19th CARATEGNA
Wednesday 20th Fly Home
Option B
Friday 8th Bogota
Saturday 9th Travel to Salamina
Sunday 10th Salamina
Monday 11th . Salamina
Tuesday 12th Travel to Medellin
Wednesday 13th Medellin
Thursday 14th Day trip to Guatape
Friday 15th Travel to Minca
Saturday 16th Tayrona National Park
Sunday 17th Travel to Cartagena
Monday 18th CARATEGNA
Tuesday 19th CARATEGNA
Wednesday 20th Fly Home
Would love to hear your thoughts. We’re realizing we’re going to have to let something go. . . Either Carategna, the National Park, or Medellin. What would you do?
I’m definitely leaning more towards option B. But they’re both a bit squished! I don’t know anything about Salamina – it looks pretty, but I’m sure you have a specific reason you’re choosing to spend several days there! If you’re bussing from Medellin to Minca, it’s going to take quite a while and you’re not going to be able to enjoy Minca at all. If you can afford it, it’s better to fly from Medellin to Santa Marta and then hop on a colectivo up to Minca, which will take no more than an hour. I’d definitely recommend giving yourself a full day in Minca, both to recover from the trip and to enjoy this gorgeous, peaceful little town! I’d probably shave off a day in either Cartagena to accommodate that – the Walled City in Cartagena is small enough to explore entirely by foot and feel as though you’ve seen just about all of it in a day or 2, unless you’re planning on doing a day trip one of those days such as to the Rosario Islands. As far as letting 1 go, I’d advise you to take a look at maybe spending a night on Isla Baru or one of the Rosario Islands in place of the national park. If it’s beach you’re after, those will give you exactly what you want! But there are people/vendors on those beaches, so if you’re specifically lookig for more of a wilderness/isolated beach, Parque Tayrona is great. If your hearts are set on Parque Tayrona, perhaps look into staying at our favorite spot just outside of the park entrance, Eco Hostel Yuluka, and cut out Minca. Hope that’s helpful!
Yes, Salamina is sort of random. We found this amazing host on AirBnB that’s in Salamina. He cooks amazing food and sets up experiences /day trips with friends and family. So we want to spend three (or at least two) days in Salamina.
Thank you for the tip on Cartagena. That gives us a little more breathing room.
And to answer your question: yes, we would fly from Medellin to Santa Marta.
Here’s the issue. My friend and I agree on Salamina and Cartagena. However, she is really set on Gutaupe and Medellin, and I’m more for Bogota and Minca. So I feel like that only leaves us with a few options:
1. Skip exploring Bogota altogether. When we land in Bogota we immediately connect to Peiera or Manizales reach Salamina the first night. (That let’s us do Salamina, Medellin, Gutaupe, Minca, and Cartagena.)
2. Take out Minca entirely. This would give us the least travel time in between and make for a more flexible and leisurely exploration of Bogota, Salamina, Medellin, and Cartagena.
3. Try to accomplish the impossible with this tight schedule:
8th Bogota
9th Bogota / Salamina (fly to Periera or Manizles and bus | 5-8 hours total travel)
10th Salamina
11th Salamina
12th Salamina / Medellin (bus ride | 6-8 hours total travel)
13th Medellin
14th Gutaupe
15th Medellin / Minca (fly to Santa Marta | 4-5 hours total travel)
16th Minca
17th National Park
18th Santa Marta | Cartagena (bus | 4-5 hours total travel)
19th Cartagena
20th Fly Home
What do you think? Sorry for all of the questions! I just really enjoyed your blog and I feel like I trust your traveling recommendations.
I would definitely skip Bogota and focus instead on both Guatape and Minca. I didn’t love Bogota (that’s generous … I didn’t even like it, tbh) but I’m not a city person, and Bogota is a giant city – except unlike Medellin, which has excellent public transportation that makes it easy to explore (see our guide), it’s difficult to get around Bogota. Bogota is also much dirtier and has a lot more traffic than Medellin. You’ll get plenty of big, bustling city in Medellin, but it’s prettier and easier to navigate. Also, that way you won’t have to bring as much warm clothing, since Bogota is the only part of that itinerary where it gets cold! I LOVE Minca, and I’m dying to visit Guatape – it’s absolutely stunning, colorful, and quintessentially Colombian!
Hi! I absolutely love and appreciate your posts. I am taking my 13 year old son on his first big international travels to Colombia for 5 weeks from end of June to beginning of August.
We are flying into and out of Bogota. We are arriving on June 26 and then flying to Leticia for some days in the Amazon. I was thinking of flying from there to Cartagena instead of back to Bogota and kind of doing your itinerary in reverse to get us back to Bogota for our flight out.
What do you think?
That makes sense! We travelled all over Colombia by bus, and it’s totally doable – plus you’ll get to see lots of the country through the windows of the bus. Load up some podcasts or books on tape for the longer stretches! Have a great time – what an amazing destination for your son’s first big trip abroad!
Hey, guys, thanks for the info. Just wanted to let you know that your Colombia posts helped us plan our month in the country recently. We didn’t make it to everywhere you did, but ended up in some other amazing places as well. We’ll be looking at some of your other articles from additional countries in South America as well. Thanks!
Hi Lia,
I am traveling to Colombia next month initially flying into Bogota. My plan is to travel around the country for about four weeks before heading overland to Ecuador. I figured I would go in a circular route, starting in Bogota and making my way back up to the north, and then back down the other side. Initially I was thinking of going via San Gil to start with, but I have noticed almost everyone seems to travel via the west and Medellin to get to the North (if not flying). Is there a particular reason for this or would either direction work? Your opinion/advice would be most appreciated!
It may be due to mountains or the Amazon, but I’d have to study a map to figure it out. Try using Rome2Rio or Google Maps to map out your theoretical route and see if there’s a major discrepancy. We organized our itinerary the way we did in the order we chose because what we REALLY did made no sense in terms of doubling back and taking long, 17 hour bus rights.
Incredible itinerary. I am going in 3 weeks to Colombia (from Greece) for 13 days.
I do not know if I can do more :
1.Arrive medellín at night.
2. Gutape
3-4.explore medellín
5-7. Salento or skip salento(?)
and fly directly Santa Marta
5-7. Tayrona park
8-9.santa marta
10-12. Cartagena
13. Fly Bogota and fly back home
Stratos from beautiful Greece
I wouldn’t skip Salento! I think that sounds like a solid itinerary, provided you can get yourself up from Salento to Santa Marta 🙂 You might also look into going directly to Cartagena, and then heading to Santa Marta & Tayrona Park. Honestly I wouldn’t recommend spending much time in Santa Marta – it’s a jumping off point for a lot of destinations but it doesn’t need an overnight unless there’s something specific there that you want to see. Hope that helps!
Roughly how expensive was this whole trip for you guys? Thanks!!
Our month in Colombia cost us about $1000 total for the month! That includes flights to Colombia from the USA and out of Colombia into Ecuador.
Is it not easier to go directly from Medellin to Cartagena and from Cartagena to Minca/Santa Marta/Parque Tayrona etc.?
Yes, you’re flying directly from Medellin to Cartagena. We suggested going straight from Cartagena after you arrive to Minca, but you can also stay in Cartagena for a couple of days first and then travel the coast from there. You’ll just end up spending more time in Cartagena because you’ll be flying out from Cartagena back home.
This is such a helpful post, thanks for all of the detail! Curious as to why you would have preferred to start in Bogota and end in Cartagena rather than the route you traveled (i.e. start in Cartagena and end in Bogota). Also, how easy was it to book flights relatively last minute? – were they much more expensive the day or so before or generally pretty consistent regardless of when booked, thanks!
If you do it the way we outline here instead of the way we actually did it, there’s less flying and fewer super long bus rides. We also did a weird thing where we had to go through Bogota TWICE, and we weren’t huge fans of Bogota – but starting in Bogota will make it less of a letdown because you won’t have seen how amazing the rest of the country is yet 😛 Our itinerary was just less organized and the one we created here makes more logistical sense.
We booked all of our flights several months in advance for Colombia, so I’m not sure how easy it is to book them last minute or how expensive they would be – sorry I can’t be of more help there!
My wife and I are traveling in Peru and Colombia here very soon. I have read so many of your guys articles about South America and they are all extremely helpful. I believe that you mentioned some group that can help with planning the logistics of getting around Colombia safely but I can’t seem to be able to find. If that was you guys that posted it, what is the name of this company? Thank you.
I think you might be talking about ViaHero! They offer a service where locals plan a custom itinerary that fits your travel preferences, and they’re also available for you during your trip by phone if you need help with anything. We haven’t used them ourselves (we didn’t hear about them until recently) but they sound awesome! Hope that helps!
Amazing blog post! My husband and I are heading out to Colombia in a couple of weeks and this has got me SO excited 🙂 We are planning a month but are flexible so may stay longer. Is there anywhere not on your itinerary that you wish you had visited in hindsight? x
Hey Kirsty, there are a few places we wish we’d spent more time, like San Gil and Salento. And we’re very dissapointed that we didn’t get a chance to visit Guatape when we were in Medellin. We’d also have spent less time in Bogota if we were able to do it over again. I hope that’s helpful!
Love your blog. It has been extremely helpful in planning out our trip to Peru and Colombia. One thing to note, that I did not know until we where told by other travelers in Medellin before heading to Santa Marta, is that Parque Tayrona is closed every year usually between January 28 to February 28. Totally overlooked by me, I had planned our Cartagena and Santa Marta portion of our trip during this time. It’s all tranquilo though, we made some adjustments and will be going to some other places around Cartagena but unfortunately we will miss Parque Tayrona this time. We will be back in Colombia again however, as we love it here.
Thank you for the update! That is new from 2018 so it is good to know! We’ve updated so thanks for the help!
Hello!
Was wondering about a rough price estimate that this trip cost you for two? all expenses except flights to the country?
Hey Michelle, our month in Colombia cost us $2000 total for both of us without factoring in our flights (fwiw, our one way flight to Cartagena on JetBlue was $500). Hope that’s helpful!
Fantastic detailed post, thank you!
Hi guys! I love your blog and it helped me so much with planning my trip to South America and even now deciding upon where to go next. I saw, however, that you’re recommending domestic flights quite a lot which in my opinion is not the best option to travel, as it is really harmful to the environment and also not necessary as the night buses here are perfectly comfortable and way more eco-friendly:-)
Thanks for the recommendation Sarah! We will definitely keep this in mind
Hi! We are last minute travlers and flying to colombia today! We have no time limit so it looks like we will stick to your amazing 1 month itinerary! Just a wondering, did you guys get a yellow fever shot for this trip, or do you think it’s necessary? Also did you guys encounter many mosquitoes and if so which areas?
Another question, I see you took buses to/from these areas.. how are the buses there? What are you thoughts about flying from place to place? Thanks for your incredible post it is so helpful! You guys are rockstars! 🙂
Ahhh that’s super exciting! YES, we got a yellow fever vaccine before our trip and YES, we recommend it (we always get recommended travel vaccines – we’re way too disaster-prone to push it, and getting sick while traveling sucks). Also yes, there are lots of mosquitoes, especially up around the coastal areas and in the jungle areas – not so much in high altitude Bogota or the mountainous regions.
The buses in Colombia will get you everywhere you need to go, but it will take a very long time 😛 we flew between most major cities, like Cartagena, Medellin, and Colombia, and took buses just about everywhere else. We’ve also got a post about transportation within Colombia that might help: https://practicalwanderlust.com/guide-to-transportation-in-colombia/