3 week itinerary for Colombia

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
8
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
6
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
7
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
5
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
6
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
8
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
70 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
157th/454
Top 40%
continent
South America
country
Colombia
Length of time
2-4 weeks
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$100 (typically $60 - $140)
Time of year visited
March
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Big city Jungle Mountains
All Tags
Adrenaline rush Adventure Altitude Ancient ruins Beaches Bird spotting Bustling restaurants Cable cars Christian site City Walls Cycling Hiking Hilltop towns Isolation Lakes Local villages Market Museums Old town Partying / Lash Restaurant recommendations Rice terraces / terraces Rooftop Bars Street Art UNESCO world heritage site Wildlife - Hummingbirds Wildlife - Parrots
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐

Summary

Luscious green mountains hiding little coffee village gems, treks deep into the jungle to see lost cities, a world-class old colonial town that lets you lose yourself in dreams of pirates and discovery, and a country that has recently / hopefully put a recent history of blood-bloodcurdling violence behind it.  Colombia, cracking country to visit.

Due to the spread out nature of many of Colombia’s highlights and the slow travel between each, you really need 2-3 weeks to do the place justice.  I’ve listed below a great itinerary for 3 weeks, but also what to prioritise if time is short.

 

Maloka Barlovento lagoon and beach, part of a 3 week itinerary for Colombia

 

Table of Contents

9 highlight moments

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1. Seeing the inspiring "Lost City" - nestled up in the jungle and what must have been practically impossible to find. The terraces and surrounding mountains just add to its mystery

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#2 Valley de Cocora – a valley full of the world’s tallest palm trees (up to 60m / 200 feet) that also includes a great 5-6 hour round trip hike for views of the valleys below and a spot with hundreds of hummingbirds hovering around you

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#3 Wandering through the historic old town of Cartagena - easy to let your mind wander and think back to the time of discovery and pirates as you soak up the cobbled streets and stunning architecture of this UNESCO World Heritage site

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#4 Chilling out by Tayrona National in one of the beach hotels where the park, river and sea meet. A little spot of paradise

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#5 Staying in and around the interior coffee town of Salento, surrounded by gorgeous mist-filled rolling valleys with just miles and miles of luscious greens of the jungle all around you

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#6 The hike itself up to the Lost City - 4 days in total through some of the most beautiful jungle in Colombia and through some of the still existing hill tribes that makes this a wonderful experience

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#7 Taking the cable cars to some of the re-invigorated neighbourhoods of Medellin to see street art and a bursting enthusiasm

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#8 The views from the top of the giant rock La Piedra and the lakes of Guatape below

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#9 Taking the cable car up to Monserrate for great views across the city of Bogota

What to prioritise in Colombia

Colombia has some real wow experiences.  For a first time visitor it can be a little overwhelming as to what to prioritise and simply because the country takes such a long times to travel around.  The itinerary below charts a route south to north over 3 weeks, but if time is restricted the below is how I would think about priorities:

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hiking the Lost City Trek
A challenging multi-day trek through dense Colombian jungle, but rewarded by insane mountain views and majestic levels of remote ruins of Ciudad Perdida. Adventure and isolation and a mega wow. Hiking the Lost City Trek.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Salento and the Valley de Cocora 
Mountainous coffee country with picture-perfect colourful hilltop towns and a wonderful walk through a valley with the world’s tallest palm trees. Walking the Valley de Cocora, visiting the humming birds and soaking up Salento.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Cartegena
One of the best old towns in all of Latin America with incredible bar and restaurant scene.  Crowds take the shine off a little but still a country highlight. Soaking up the Cartagena Old Town.

 

⭐️⭐️ Medellin
The street art, the changing neighbourhoods, the museums, the great bar and restaurant scene – all worth seeing, but the highlight is the cable cars.  Not just over the differing neighbourhoods clinging precariously to the steep sides, but also up over the city valley sides and into the lush green forests where the city is completely forgotten.  Couple of days in Medellin riding the cable cars.

⭐️⭐️ Tayrona National Park 
Small flat walks through jungle and boulders to find stunning beaches.  We found the the chilled out beach hotels just the the east end of the park so nice we extended by 4 nights. Tayrona National Park and staying in a bit of paradise nearby.

 

⭐️ The Guatape Lakes 
Nice day trip to take from Medellin – views from the top of the 220m (720 feet) tall La Piedra are amazing and the walk around the colourful town of Guatape is nice.  But I’d challenge a lot I’ve read about this being a “must see”.  Guatape Lakes outside of Medellin.

⭐️ Bogota 
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Bogota – there are better places to spend your time and we never really felt 100% safe. High chance though you’ll fly in and so do a half day cycling tour, play Tejo and to head up on the cable car to Monserrate.  Cycling and taking the cable car in Bogota.

Itinerary

 

The below assumes buses, but flying between especially Medellin and Cartagena makes sense:

Day 1-2 – Bogota.  Stay and eat in La Candelaria district, take the half day cycling tour to get a feel for the city, ride the cable car up to Monserrate for the views and check out the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum)

Day 3 – travel from Bogota to Salento (via Armenia).  Takes around 9 hours but some great views

Day 4-6 – in and around Salento.  Spend one day walking the loop around the Valley de Cocora, one day checking out some of the nearby villages (Finlandia and Circasia are worth a visit) and one day soaking up Salento and the beautiful mountain countryside

Day 7 – travel from Salento to Medellin.  Also takes around 8 hours, also great views

Day 8-9 – Medellin.  Highlight here is riding the cable cars and learning about the different parts of the city, in particular Comuna 13 and up to Parque Arvi.  Stay in the El Pablado area.  If have a spare day, take a day trip to the Guatape Lakes just outside of Medellin

Day 10 – travel from Medellin to Cartagena, takes around 12 hours

Day 11-12 – Cartagena.  Soak up the Old Town and most likely stay in the Old Town

Day 13 – travel from Cartagena to Tayrona National Park

Day 13-15 – chill out just outside of Tayrona National Park where the jungle meets lagoon meets sea, and check out the National Park and surrounding area

Day 16-19 – the Lost City Trek. Hike through some of the most beautiful jungle in Colombia and through still exiting hill tribes to see the mysterious terraces of Cuidad Perdida

Day 20 – chill in Santa Marta / Cartagena before flying out

Travel Tips

Each of the individual travel entries in the above links give specific tips on each of those experiences, so instead here I’ll just list down some of the broader tips I have for travelling through Colombia.

Altitude sickness – its worth being prepared for mild altitude sickness when you arrive in Bogota.  At 2,640m / 8,650 feet its not something to be worried about, but it may throw you off a little on your first day.

Travelling time – although the distances aren’t huge, travelling by bus takes time because of the windy mountain roads – have a look at Colombia topography, it has some chunky mountain ridges you have to pass through, which makes many people fly between cities.  We decided we’d far rather take the bus to see the scenery on the way.

Safety – obviously the safety situation has improved dramatically over recent years, and, outside of the big cities, safety didn’t even cross our minds.  But just be cautious when in the big cities of Bogota and Medellin, as you would with any big Latin American city.

Uber was everywhere – the easiest way to get around.

Sim cards are relatively easy to have set up – helps to have these especially for things like google maps and google translate.

Context is everything. Colombia book recommendations:

  • One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is the traditional must read literature.  At times it can be a little slow going, but it created its own genre (magic realism . . . obviously) and very much tells the story in a round about way of many of the difficulties faced by Colombia
  • To give a perspective of just what it must have been like for the American civilisations before the Spanish arrived, I highly recommend 1491 by Charles Mann.  It will change your view from what is likely to be that of basic jungle tribes / Indians hunting the buffalo on the plains to what they really were – in many ways equally sophisticated civilisations to those of Eurasia
  • For a broad, often quite opinionated, overview of modern South America, I also recommend Viva South America Oliver Balch

 

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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