14 Days In Colombia: Our Detailed Itinerary
After having enjoyed 14 days in Colombia on a trip for the 30 that I (Chris) have made with 5 friends, I can say that this country is one of the ones that has stolen my heart because of the friendliness and closeness of its people. And that is why we want to dedicate a special space in our blog to explain this experience in detail.
Few countries can boast the diversity of places that Colombia has. Mountains, Caribbean Sea, Pacific Sea, big cities, an interesting history and even jungle and deserts. That’s why it’s a country to be enjoyed over several days in peace and quiet. After having visited it and seeing all that we had to see, I would recommend 3 weeks to fully enjoy it, although if you want to see everything it has to offer, it would be even more. We are going to tell you what we did, what things we would change (important, because on this trip we would change things) and what things we think are absolutely essential.
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Before we start: Changes we had and places we would include
Unfortunately, when you travel with only a few days, you are subject to changes that can affect your trip and make you have to modify your route. This happened to us in our 14 days in Colombia with the area of Nuqui (Chocó) which is a region located in the Colombian Pacific which can only be accessed by boat and plane and where we had intended to spend 4 days. Once there, we realised that our flight had been cancelled, making it impossible for us to visit it, so we ended up changing our trip to go to the island of San Andrés. If you want to know more about Nuqui, we recommend you read this post, but it is a fairly un-touristy region with activities to do such as diving, surfing, jungle excursions, visits to national parks and an incredible place to relax and get lost.
Two of the places we missed were the Colombian Amazon and Cartagena de Indias. The first was because an acquaintance said it was too touristy and not worth seeing. Then en route, we met travelers who loved it and we even met guides who do 7-day bike tours with indigenous tribes there. Honestly, we were really looking forward to it.
As for Cartagena de Indias, we didn’t go because we were a group of 6 divided into 2 people who were going for 3 weeks to see the carnival in Barranquilla (very close to Cartagena) and 4 who were going for 14 days, so we ruled out that area as they had already been there. His feedback is brutal about Cartagena, so don’t miss it if you have the chance and include it in your route.
Day 1 of 14 days in Colombia: Tayrona Park
On the first day, after a 13-hour flight, we arrived in the city of Santa Marta, the largest city near the Tayrona Park. There, we spent the night and then moved to Tayrona Park to start our 14 days in Colombia.
Tayrona Park is one of the most important tourist destinations in the country and a must on a tour of 14 days in Colombia. This place has a great history as it was inhabited by ancient civilizations of which remains can still be seen. Nowadays, several indigenous communities can be found inhabiting the park, making it an even better experience. The park is famous for its paradisiacal beaches and its diversity of ecosystems, which you will be able to identify while touring the park.
Because yes, visiting Tayrona means a lot of walking. There are two options for visiting the park: staying inside or spending the day. We opted for the former, so as soon as we arrived, we went to pay the entrance fee and started walking to our accommodation, the Cabañitas Tequendama de Playa Arrecife. To give you an idea, it was about 2 hours of walking in the sun with backpacks, so if you intend to do this with luggage, you need to have a certain level of fitness.
During this day in Tayrona, we walked through the main entrance to the lodge, left our luggage and made the last part of the route to the most famous tourist spot of the park, Cabo San Juan. On the way we recommend:
- La Piscinita Cañaveral
- Arrecifes Beach
- The Swimming Pool
- Cabo San Juan, the most famous place in the park.
If you want to discover a complete guide of our experience in the park, visit our post Complete guide to visit the Tayrona Park.
Where to sleep?
In Santa Marta, we stayed at Distrito Hostel, which we give a good rating as it was very well located, clean and the room was quite spacious.
Within Tayrona there is little accommodation, but if you can, stay at Cabañas Tequendama. The food is very good, it is beautiful, very well kept and it is a 30 minute walk from Cabo San Juan, so we highly recommend it. The only problem is the hour and a bit of an hour walk to get there but it’s always nice to have a bit of adventure. One of the top places of our 14 days in Colombia.
Where to eat?
Inside the Tayrona, we ate at the only restaurant in Cabo San Juan and, to be honest, it’s pretty lame. You can eat a combo plate and drink a juice (very tasty, yes) that they make there for about 7€. It’s one of the few options there are.
For dinner, we had it at our accommodation and it was very tasty, so it’s another good option.
Day 2: Tayrona Park and Guachaca
After a good rest in the accommodation, we started this 3rd day of our tour of 14 days in Colombia with our first water activity, a snorkelling activity. While we were buying our tickets to the park, a girl sold us a snorkelling activity on a rather lonely beach near Cabo San Juan, so we wanted to dedicate this morning to this.
We walked the 45 minutes to Cabo San Juan and there we were taken to this beach right next to it, walking for 10 minutes through the forest. They didn’t lie to us, it was a pretty secluded beach, so that’s a plus. The snorkelling, if you are someone who has done it enough, was not very spectacular, as it is also very basic and they teach you how to breathe and how to move with fins. We saw quite a lot of marine fauna and flora but it was quite currenty, so it wasn’t too top notch.
After the activity, we had to head off to get our luggage and head for the park exit, and that meant retracing the previous day’s walk with our luggage. After an hour and a half of walking, we arrived at the exit and took a taxi to our next destination, a very touristy beach and accommodation area near Tayrona that we loved. Its name is Guachaca and it is a group of several hotels and restaurants in front of the sea with a great atmosphere, so we highly recommend staying there, especially on weekends, as you will find a lot of things to do and a very good atmosphere.
That night we had dinner there and went out for a while to a hostel that was having a party that day.
Where to sleep?
One of the best accommodations of the trip, Tayrona Tented Lodge. It is a tented lodge right in front of the sea and we loved it, especially the atmosphere in the area. We highly recommend it for those who want to relax, enjoy the beach, play sports or even party.
It’s also perfect if you want to visit the Tayrona, which you should do after reading this guide of 14 days in Colombia 🙂
¿Dónde comer?
We ate at Playa Piscina inside the Tayrona, but it was a restaurant that had no name, as it was a family that had set up their little stall there and served you freshly caught fish that was really GOOD. So we challenge you to find it 🙂
For dinner, we went to the hotel next to our accommodation in Guachaca and it was amazing. It was a hostel with a pool, volleyball, jacuzzi and DJ where we spent the afternoon playing games and then we had a delicious pizza for dinner. It’s called La Brisa Tranquila.
Day 3 of 14 days in Colombia: Medellín
This 4th day of our 14 days in Colombia was a bridge day. As we told you, our flight to Nuqui was cancelled and we decided to change it for the island of San Andres, but all flights were leaving from Medellin, so we had to fly to Medellin to spend a night there.
We arrived in Medellín around midday and, after dropping our stuff off at the hostel in the famous Poblado neighbourhood, we headed off to explore this area of the city. El Poblado is one of Medellín’s trendiest neighbourhoods and a must if you go to the city, as you’ll find plenty of atmosphere, places to eat/dine and have a drink. Its most famous spot is Calle Provenza, one of the “coolest” streets in the world for its variety of nightclubs, good atmosphere and restaurants. It is on this street that the famous Perro Negro nightclub is located, the title of a song by the singer Bad Bunny.
However, we would like to warn you about the problems in this neighbourhood. In this city there is a big problem with prostitution and especially in this place. There is a square called Plaza Lleras which is the epicentre of prostitution, so please be careful. We didn’t know about it and the accommodation was right next to it and it wasn’t too pleasant.
Where to sleep?
I’m going to mention the place where we slept but I’m not going to tell you NOT to go there. We slept in a place called Hostal The Garden Lleras, in the Poblado neighbourhood.
Everything was great with the accommodation until we arrived at night and saw that the accommodation is full of clients who rent by the hour with prostitutes. We didn’t feel safe at all and please don’t go there. It is by far the most disappointing hotel on our 14 days in Colombia.
Where to eat?
For lunch, we went to a very tasty and very cheap place next to the hotel to eat typical paisa food called Casa de Beto. It was around 8€.
For dinner that day we went for fast food, so nothing remarkable 🙂
Day 4: San Andrés Island
We head to the next destination of our Colombian adventure, in this case to the Caribbean island of San Andrés, located in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, close to Nicaragua.
This place is one of the favourite holiday spots for Colombians, and no wonder. Paradisiacal beaches, cays for snorkelling, diving activities, the possibility of going around the island easily, nightlife… We enjoyed 4 days on the island and, to be honest, it started off badly because of the bad weather, but it ended up really catching our attention and we would totally recommend it.
As we said, this first day it rained and it was windy, so we could not enjoy it much. We headed back to our accommodation to drop off our bags and then went for a round of reconnaissance of San Andrés town. It’s a place with a pretty good atmosphere, places to have a drink and dinner and a nice beach called Spratt Bight, where we lay down for a while when it wasn’t raining and then we headed off to do some activities at the hostel, such as the fun salsa and bachata classes.
See more detail of our stay in our post of Complete guide to San Andres Island.
Where to sleep?
We stayed in a hostel of the Viajero chain, a very famous chain in South America that has a very good atmosphere, attention and activities. We highly recommend it if you want to meet people and do things other than sightseeing. In San Andrés, we took bachata, reggaeton, salsa and champeta classes! Hostal Viajero San Andres. A really good experience for us in our 14 days in Colombia.
Where to eat?
We ate in a place where we would repeat a lot during our 4 days as it was run by an old lady with very cheap prices and very tasty. It was called El Parqueadero. The price was around 10€.
As we had a dance class, we went somewhere for a quick bite to eat and found a top place to eat super cheap arepas called El Rey de las Arepas. We had dinner for 5€.
Day 5 of 14 days in Colombia: San Andrés Island
On this 6th day of the 14 days in Colombia, on the recommendation of the hotel, we decided to do one of the star activities on the island, a buggy tour. And, to be honest, we loved it. If you move around San Andrés, you will see that it is full of people with buggies, so you can easily book it in almost any hostel or hotel where you stay. We booked it with our hostal and the service was excellent.
As key points to visit if you go around the island we were recommended a list and we leave you here the ones that are really worth it and the ones that are not:
- Mirador Letras SAI: Good if there is a nice sunset.
- Swimming pool: Only worth it if there is low tide.
- West side of the island: If you go by motorbike or buggy, it is perfect to see the sunset and go with your transport when the sun goes down, beautiful.
- Best sunset: South-west area.
- San Sebastián beach: Recommended.
- Charquitos Beach: Recommended.
- Cocoplum Cay: The beach is good, but don’t go to Rocky Cay, it has nothing.
- Morgan Cave: Touristy, not recommended.
- Hoyo Soplador: Touristy.
- Mangroves: Touristy and dangerous depending on the time of day.
The activity with the buggy lasted the whole day as we went calmly stopping in the places, enjoying the beach, so it is a very complete activity.
We ended our day with a stunning sunset in the south of the island, the best we saw in our 14 days in Colombia.
Where to eat?
For lunch, we stopped at a beach club that had buggy parking and a private table with surveillance of belongings. The place was OK, but the food was not great, very slow and expensive (15-20€). It’s called Rocky Cay Restaurant.
For dinner we went to a recommendation from the hotel and it was a success and one of the best restaurants on this tour of 14 days in Colombia, El Peruano, in San Andrés. Very tasty and in front of the beach, although a bit more expensive (15-20€).
Day 6: San Andrés Island
Finally, luck was on our side and we had an incredible day. That’s why we wanted to do another of the recommended things to do on the island, visit one of its cays. The most famous ones are Cayo Acuario and Johnny Cay. We chose Cayo Acuario because we wanted to snorkel and we went to the port of San Andres with our new transport, 3 motorbikes.
From the port, many boats leave to visit this place. But beware, we were scammed as we were offered a tour that went to Cayo Acuario, some mangroves, a swimming area and another islet for a price that was pretty good, and then it ended up being just Cayo Acuario. If you really want to visit just Aquarius Cay, go into the harbour and buy a ticket, which costs a lot less.
What to say about Aquarius Cay? It is a very crowded place (we were overwhelmed when we arrived) but very nice for snorkelling. If you are physically fit, we recommend you to arrive, leave your things at the ticket office and swim and snorkel away from the islet. You’ll see a lot of wildlife and the people usually pile up at the arrival point, so you’ll have a lot of peace and quiet.
Once we got back from the excursion around 3pm, we wanted to repeat our route around the island, go to Playa Charquitos and then watch the sunset on the southwest part of the island, the best.
Where to eat?
After the swim in the aquarium, we wanted to eat well so we went to a seafood restaurant called Capitan Mandy. It is one of the best rated restaurants on the island and it was delicious.
For dinner we went again to the restaurant El Parqueadero.
Day 7: San Andrés Island
Day 8 of our tour of 14 days in Colombia and last day in San Andres. We booked this day to be able to do some diving, as we saw that for beginners like us it was quite cheap (30-35 euros a dive) and we wanted to do two dives.
To do this, we booked at two different schools, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, to do two basic courses in two different areas of the island. The first dive started very early in the morning (7am) and we did it at the Sea Pride school. The evaluation is good because what we saw was beautiful but the school was not up to standard in terms of material, giving accurate information about diving (we had all done it before so there was no problem, but beware of those who are first time divers) and attention. We would not recommend it.
After this first dive, we had lunch and then went to another area to do the second dive, at Hans Dive Shop. Much better treatment, teaching and attention, we had a great time and the bottom was very cool, so we would give it a very good rating.
We recommend trying diving on this island as it’s not complicated, it’s done on shore (without a boat) and it’s cheap, so it’s a great option for beginners or novices like us (not so much for experts).
Where to eat?
For a change, we ate at El Parqueadero.
We had pizza at a very top Italian pizzeria called PizzetaFlorio. The service was a resounding 10.
Day 8: Medellín
I’m not lying if I tell you that we arrived in Medellín with renewed energy. The reality is that we arrived a bit tired and it probably wasn’t the best two days of our trip. However, we think we did some interesting things, so we are going to explain them to you. For us, Medellin is a must on a trip of 14 days in Colombia, as it is a very interesting city.
As soon as we arrived we went to the hotel to leave our bags. We stayed again in El Poblado, we think it is a good place to do it and the security is quite good. That day we decided to visit two recommended places in the city:
- Museo Casa de la Memoria: A place that remembers all the recent historical events in Medellín with the whole issue of guerrilla and drug traffickers. It is an essential place if you like history and want to know more about the horror lived in the city.
- Pueblito Paisa: we don’t quite understand this place. It is a representation of typical Paisa architecture on top of a hill, but we don’t really understand its popularity. For us it is not worth it at all.
After seeing these two places, we went to rest at the hotel and in the evening we went out to see the famous nightlife of Medellín on Provenza street, which we really loved.
Where to sleep?
We repeated the Viajero chain, this time in Medellín (El Poblado). For us, this was the weakest Viajero hostel we tried, too foreign, too big and not familiar enough. The facilities were great for that, with a brutal rooftop and two swimming pools upstairs. Medellín Traveller Hostel.
Where to eat?
We ate at a brunch near the hotel called Brunch Hijamía.
Very tasty indeed (12€ approx)
For dinner, we went to a place that had been recommended to us called Mondongo’s, which is a very famous restaurant in Medellín and it was really good, we had a combined meat dish for less than 20€ that was delicious!
Day 9 of 14 days in Colombia: Medellín
On this 10th day of our tour of 14 days in Colombia, we wanted to walk and eat in another of the city’s trendy neighbourhoods, the Laureles district.
We took the metro (the very top metro in Medellín) to the Estadio stop, and from there we started walking. If you want to look for accommodation in the city, Laureles is also a great place.
We wandered around the area aimlessly for a while, looking at the impressive vegetation that this city has, and had lunch there to make time for one of the city’s must-do activities, a tour of Comuna 13.
Comuna 13 is one of the largest and most popular neighbourhoods in the city. In the early 2000s, it was one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in the world because of the guerrillas. Nowadays, it has become a super touristy neighbourhood and a brutal place to visit.
We wanted to get to know the neighbourhood with this GetYourGuide tour and we give it a thumbs up. The guy, who was born there, explained himself very well and showed us many interesting corners of the neighbourhood. He also challenged us to a football match with his friends afterwards, a challenge we accepted. So we can say that we played a football match in the middle of Comuna 13 with people born there 🙂
Where to eat?
For lunch, we went to the best restaurant of the 14 days in Colombia, in the neighbourhood of Laureles, called Rocoto. A bit more expensive than average (20€).
For dinner, as we arrived late after the match, we went in front of the hostel to a fast food place with wings.
Day 10: Guatapé and San Rafael
One of the typical excursions if you visit Medellín, is to go to the Piedra del Peñol in Guatapé. This place is 2-3 hours by bus from the city and is part of many tours. At first, we wanted to do it because it looked spectacular but we thought it was a bit touristy. As a result, we loved it and would recommend it to anyone.
We, however, wanted to start getting to know the area with a bit of adventure. We saw that near Guatapé there were many adventure activities and we wanted to try canyoning in San Rafael. So that’s where we went.
It was one of the best experiences of the trip, it was amazing. The place is brutal and it feels like you are going down a river in the middle of a jungle. Even if you don’t want to go canyoning, San Rafael has a lot of hiking and nature trails, so we would recommend it 100% on a trip of 14 days in Colombia. We did the activity with Experience.nat, a 10 for the attention, the professionalism and the meal after the activity, a paisa tray in banana leaf.
After the activity, we wanted to go to the great place of the area, the Piedra del Peñol. It is a 220m high monolith of unknown origin. It is visible from almost anywhere in the area and, to be honest, it is impressive. To visit it you have to pay an entrance fee of about 6 euros and climb the 700 stairs to the viewpoint. It is exhausting, but well worth it as the views are not to be missed.
Another aspect that surprised us in the area is the village of Guatapé. It is very pretty, with the typical houses and architecture of the area (you don’t have to go to the small paisa village to see it) and many nooks and crannies to see, so I would recommend walking around it.
Where to sleep?
In Guatapé we slept in one of the accommodations that I liked the most, as it had very cool views, was super quiet and had a common area with a barbecue that we used for dinner. It was called Finca Hotel Montecarlo by Hope.
Where to eat?
Lunch was a bandeja paisa on a banana leaf courtesy of Experience.nat and dinner was a barbecue at the lodge.
Day 11: Travel day
This day was the only day lost in our 14 days in Colombia. Our next destination was the coffee region and we wanted to get there by bus. As we were in Guatapé, we had to make two bus journeys:
- Guatapé to Medellín: 2h approx.
- Medellín to Salento: theoretically 6h but it took us 8h.
So we spent the whole day on the road to arrive at dinner time in Salento and rest to discover the marvellous coffee region.
Day 12 of 14 days in Colombia: Coffee axis
We loved the Eje Cafetero. It is a beautiful place, full of things to do, nature and friendly people. As we told you, we stayed in Salento, one of the best villages in the area and the closest to the Cocora Valley, which is the most typical place to visit.
The first day of our stay there, we let our hostel recommend us what to do. They recommended us to do a 3 hours trekking in the Natural Reserve of Santa Rita and, to be honest, it was a great idea. We walked from Salento to the entrance of the Reserve, which I don’t recommend because it’s on some complicated paths, so if you want to go, go to the square in Salento and take a willy that will take you there in 15 minutes.
Once at the entrance to the Reserve you have to pay an entrance fee and from there you have a fairly well signposted and fairly easy circular route, except for one section which is very complicated but you can save it. At the entrance they tell you which places are worth seeing, but basically there is a very cool waterfall with a bathing area, a natural pool where we wanted to swim, a couple of caves, some suspension bridges to cross and green meadows with horses. It’s very top notch.
We enjoyed the route for three hours before returning to Salento. Once there, we wanted to visit one of the top towns in the area, Filandia. We were not disappointed. It is very similar to Salento but a bit livelier, has many souvenir shops and a great viewpoint to watch the sunset. We recommend going there and wandering around the streets in a relaxed way.
Where to sleep?
We repeated Hostal Viajero and it was probably the best. For attention (the girls were very nice), facilities, food…. We highly recommend it, you won’t regret it.
Where to eat?
This day we ate at a pizzeria near the hostel that was very tasty called Trattoria Urrea Salento. About 15€ with a drink.
For dinner, we were recommended to go to a place called La Martina. We didn’t think it was anything special although it was tasty (a bit expensive, 20€).
Day 13: Coffee Axis
I am going to be honest, this day we wanted to do the excursion to the Cocora valley, but the information we were given on arrival was not correct and we ended up doing something worthwhile, but we did not expect to do it.
We went to the Cocora valley with the idea of doing the typical palm tree excursion. When we arrived at the car park of the place, we were incorrectly told that the long hike (we thought it was the palm hike) was a road called Cerro Morrogacho. And that’s where we headed.
Well, the hike to Cerro Morrogacho is located in the same place as the entrance to see the typical palm field, but it is not the same. This is a tough hike (about 1km of elevation gain) and about 8-10 km to climb to the top of a mountain at a viewpoint to the palm fields. It’s a blast and highly recommended, but you need to be in good physical shape to do it. The route is marked with blue flags that you have to follow but we got almost to the top, until the last kilometre when we got lost because we didn’t see the flag due to the fog and we walked 45 minutes off the road in a place where there was no one. It was a great hike, but you have to be sure that you need to be trained if you don’t want to have a scare.
After 6 hours of hiking, we came back down and went back to Salento to rest and see a bit of the town, which is also beautiful.
Where to eat?
A snack to eat on the excursion.
For dinner we went to Makao, a hostel with a restaurant which is one of the best we tried during our 14 days in Colombia.
Day 14 of 14 days in Colombia: Coffee Axis
And like all good things in life, our tour of 14 days in Colombia came to an end. But we still had one more super day to enjoy.
As you can see in the previous day, we couldn’t go to the famous palm area by mistake, so we changed our plans and went first thing in the morning back to the Cocora Valley to see this area. And this time we did. Obviously, we didn’t have the legs for much jogging, so we did the 1 hour hike that takes you to two viewpoints, but it was enough. It is a very beautiful and curious place and a must not only in the Eje but also on a trip to Colombia.
Because of this problem, the planning of the day was much tighter and as soon as we arrived in Salento, we decided to visit a coffee farm, another of the things to do in the Eje. We thought we wouldn’t like it too much but we liked it very much. We went to the finca Buenos Aires, the best for a tour in Spanish, and they explained to us in a 2 hour tour the process of planting, harvesting and creating coffee. They also let us taste it. An interesting experience in a very nice place.
After this, we headed to our last stop for the night, Pereira, the largest city in the area and from where we took the plane to Bogota for our return. We didn’t have time to visit Pereira, but we went out for dinner and a drink and it has a great atmosphere at night, so it’s also worth a visit.
Where to sleep?
We stayed in Pereira in a hostel called DeRequka Hostel. Very good everything, highly recommended.
Where to eat?
We ate in the Plaza de Salento at a very good meat place called Parrilla y Vinos Juan Esteban.
Without a doubt, Colombia stole our hearts because of how beautiful it is, how nice and friendly its people are and because it was a very special trip with friends for the 30’s that we will never forget.
If you have any doubts about our 14 days in Colombia, you can leave them in your comments or on RRSS and we will be happy to help you.
