My partner John and I love South America. From our first trip to Peru, in 2002, we’ve now been eight times, visiting just one country each time. Colombia, our most recent trip, in February 2020, was to celebrate John’s 80th birthday – perhaps not an obvious choice! We chose a two-week group tour with Cox & Kings.
Until fairly recently Colombia was considered unsafe for tourists. But things have changed and we certainly never felt ourselves to be in any danger. We just loved everywhere we went and everything we saw.
Colombia is a big country, the fourth biggest in South America. It’s also the only country in South America with a Pacific and Caribbean coastline. Our trip involved three internal flights and five different locations for just two nights each. Not exactly a restful trip!
Apart from distance you also have to cope with altitude. A direct flight from London to the capital, Bogotá, takes you to one of the world’s highest cities, with no time to acclimatise.
There are so many fabulous places to go and things to see in Colombia. But here are seven of my absolute favourites.
1. Villa de Leyva
This was our first stop. Founded in 1572, Villa de Leyva is one of Colombia’s most beautiful villages. It’s also one of the country’s finest colonial towns. Declared a National Monument in 1954, it has cobbled streets, whitewashed houses and an enormous main square – one of the biggest in the Americas.
Our accommodation here was created from three 19th century mansions and was simple but full of character, particularly the lovely plant-filled inner courtyards.
Not far from Villa de Leyva is the Museo el Fósil, the Fossil Museum, which contains the fossil of the most complete dinosaur so far found in Colombia. This high-altitude valley, which was once under the sea, is rich in fossils. Normally I wouldn’t claim to be particularly interested in fossils but this was fascinating.
In 1977, three farmers were digging their land when they chanced across the skeleton of a 120 million year old baby kronosaurus (a prehistoric marine reptile). Missing its tail, the skeleton is only seven metres long, otherwise it would have been 12 metres!
Interestingly, rather than remove the fossil to a big national museum in Bogotá, they actually put a building over the skeleton to make a small, but striking, community museum just on the side of the road.
Baby kronosaurus fossil. Credit: Sue Ablett
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2. Zipaquirá and the Salt Cathedral
Driving south from Villa de Leyva, we reached the small town of Zipaquirá. It’s a well-known cycling hub. This is where Tour de France winner, Egan Bernal, was raised. A legend locally he was the first Latin American rider to win the Tour, and the youngest winner since 1909. Clearly training at altitude in Colombia proves a great asset. Much as I love watching the Tour on TV, I personally prefer my bike rides on the flat!
Just outside Zipaquirá is the amazing Catedral de Sal (the Salt Cathedral), the No.1 attraction in Colombia. This is an underground church built in a tunnel of salt mines 200 metres inside a mountain. There are 14 small chapels representing the Stations of the Cross, all carved into the salt.
The main room of the Cathedral, which is 25 metres high, can accommodate a staggering 8,400 people, and is used each week for church services, and occasionally for concerts. The acoustics would be amazing. Even if you don’t relish being underground, you can’t help but be struck by the incredible beauty and the work involved.
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3. Bogotá
After driving for just a couple more hours, we reached the capital, Bogotá. It’s a huge sprawling city with a population of over eight million and, at an altitude of 2,600 metres, or 8,350 feet. The city was founded by the Spanish in 1538 and still has wonderful examples of colonial architecture. There are a number of must-see places to visit in Bogotá.
First is the Paloquemao Market, the largest food market in the city. There’s a huge variety of Colombian fruits and vegetables on offer, and it was great having the chance to taste some of them. There are also lots of food stalls serving local delicacies again with the opportunity to sample. This is the main flower growing area in the country and the range of flowers, with their rich colours and scents, was a real assault on the senses.
I love to learn things on holiday. Apparently avocados were discovered by the Aztecs in about 500BC. The name, originally ahuacatl, was the Aztec word for testicle, and given to the fruit because of its size and shape. You live and learn!
Paloquemao Food Market. Credit: Sue Ablett
There are two fabulous, and very different museums in Bogotá, both of which I loved. The first is Museo Botero, containing paintings and sculptures by Colombia’s best-known artist, Fernando Botero. His style is certainly distinctive. To quote the guidebook, “there are several halls dedicated to all things chubby – children, hands, oranges, women….”
A typical Botero painting. Credit: Sue Ablett
The second museum, Museo de Oro (Gold Museum) couldn’t be more different. This is Bogotá’s most famous museum and considered one of the best in South America. With over 30,000 pieces, this is the world’s largest collection of pre-Hispanic gold artifacts. The exhibition displays are utterly beautiful.
The Gold Museum, Bogotá. Credit: Sue Ablett
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4. The coffee growing area
A one-hour flight from Bogotá to Pereira, and tucked in the mountains of central Colombia, is the Zona Cafetera (Coffee Region). This is an area of fertile valleys, with slopes covered in coffee plantations. Conditions here favour production of high-quality beans and, although a small area, more than half of Colombia’s coffee is produced here. Colombia is the third-largest coffee producer in the world, after Brazil and Vietnam.
We visited a plantation, saw how the coffee grew and learned about the harvest, processing and production of what is probably the world’s most famous coffee. I loved strolling through the plantation and seeing the coffee growing but found the tasting session a bit of an ordeal – I’m an avid tea drinker and never drink coffee! Give me coffee ice-cream or coffee cake and that’s a different matter. I was surprised, though, to learn that most Colombians don’t actually drink coffee either!
The nearby town of Salento thrives on coffee production. Founded in 1850 it is one of the oldest towns in the area. It is also home to Café Jesus Martin, with a claim to be one of the 50 best coffee shops in the world. Again, no temptation for me!
Ripe coffee beans. Credit: Sue Ablett
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5. Cocora Valley
This is an area of beautiful landscapes. The Cocora Valley, part of Los Nevados National Park, is one of the largest wax palm habitats. The wax palm or ‘Palma de Cera’ is the world’s tallest palm. It’s the only palm that can grow above 2,500 metres and is the national tree of Colombia. Reaching a height of up to 60 metres, they really do make the most striking sight.
The wax palm is a threatened species because of deforestation. A real treat here was being given the chance to plant a three-year-old wax palm seedling.
One of the things I absolutely loved about this part of the trip was our mode of transport to get to the Cocora Valley. I’d never heard of a Willys Jeep before but it was a really fun way to travel. They were first introduced to Colombia in the 1950s and are still today the main form of transport in rural Colombia, used for transporting all things – people, pigs, furniture, and coffee. I’m told the love affair with them continues!
A Willys Jeep. Credit: Sue Ablett
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Jules Verne The Search for El Dorado*
Colombia | 12 nights | Flights, Accommodation & Transfers Included
Exclusive offer: Quote RESTLESS and get £200 off. Book online or call 020 38113861.
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Exoticca Colonial charms & Caribbean coast*
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Globus Jewels of Colombia*
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6. Medellin
Medellin, Colombia’s second largest city, is known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’. Founded in 1616, it remained a small backwater until the early 20th century, when the coming of the railway signalled a boom in coffee and textile industries. It’s a place that wouldn’t have been safe to visit until not long ago.
Medellin was the haunt of Colombian drug lord, Pablo Escobar, and the capital of the world’s cocaine business. Gun battles were frequent and it had the highest homicide rate on the planet. Escobar was killed in 1993. This marked the beginning of the end of the period of violence and, nowadays, the city leads the country in social transformation.
We were lucky to be there on a Sunday. The city roads are closed to runners, cyclists, and walkers – a great idea. Many locals and tourists head to the beautiful Parque Arvi, home to some great hiking trails designed to draw folk out of the city. The cable car down gives great city views and links to the metro – the only one in Colombia.
In the heart of the city Plaza Botero contains a wonderful collection of 23 huge curvaceous bronze statues, some of the artist’s most iconic works. I couldn’t resist the temptation to stroke them!
Plaza Botero, Medellin. Credit: Sue Ablett
Perhaps the most interesting area in Medellin was Comuna 13, once one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in Colombia. It’s now safe and very popular with tourists. We had a fabulous guide, who had once been a drug user living in the Comuna but turned his life around. I could have listened to his first-hand accounts of life here all day. There’s plenty of amazing street art here too. There’s even a wall where tourists can spray a bit of paint!
Street art in Comuna 13, Medellin. Credit: Sue Ablett
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7. Cartagena
From Medellin, it was a two-hour flight to Cartagena, or Cartagena de Indias, to give it its full name. Situated on the Caribbean coast in the north of the country, Cartagena is undoubtedly the jewel in Colombia’s crown. We’d been before and I loved it just as much the second time. It’s probably one of my all-time favourite cities.
Plaza in Cartagena. Credit: Sue Ablett
Founded in 1533, the city is home to a wonderful collection of colonial Spanish architecture, narrow streets, mansions with overhanging balconies, and small plazas (squares). And everywhere there’s colour, whether in the buildings themselves or the beautiful flowers, particularly bougainvillea.
While admiring the architecture, make sure you take note of the door knockers. They’re gorgeous and I’ve never taken so many door-knocker photos.
Typical Cartagena architecture. Credit: Sue Ablett
The city has a fascinating history. It was a repository for all the riches being stripped from the New World to be taken back to Spain. That led to the building of seven kilometres of perfectly preserved city walls, and the enormous Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, the biggest fortress ever built by the Spanish in any of their colonies. The walls and castle were all designed to protect from frequent pirate attacks.
My favourite place in Cartagena has to be Las Bóvedas. This is an area of former armories, set underneath the wide fortified walls, Las Murallas. Now turned into a series of shops, this area bustles and exudes colour and life. Here, you’re likely to see descendents of the original black slaves, wearing wonderfully colourful costumes.
Las Bovedas, Cartagena. Credit: Sue Ablett
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Final thoughts…
We felt perfectly safe in Colombia, but if this is still a concern for you, I’d recommend an organised tour. You get to learn so much about a place with a well-organised itinerary and great local guides and it gets around language problems too. We absolutely loved it.
Have you been to Colombia? Or perhaps it’s on your travel list? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.