Luxury Colombian Experience
Colombia is a nation full of excitement, wonder, and adventure. There is so much to do and it is a nation full of diversity whether that be in its wildlife or the range of activities it has to offer. This trip will take you on hot-air balloons and flights over breathtaking scenery, snowy peaks and ancient landmarks, on walking tours of old towns, and on some of the most unique experiences in the world. All the while, you will stay in luxurious hotels with all the modern amenities for you to have a comfortable, special stay.
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A warm welcome to Colombia!
After arriving in the airport, a representative will meet you and provide you with a welcome kit and provide you with a private transfer to your hotel.
The Biggest Paramo on Earth – Sumapaz
The following morning head out after breakfast to explore Bogota. Have you ever heard about the best-kept secret of Bogotá “El Dorado”?. This is the jewel of the crown. Welcome to the biggest Páramo in the world: Sumapaz, the heaven’s door. If you want to knock at its door, this is the place. This adventure is about the importance of water, wild animals, endemic plants, mountains and about where the oldest guerrilla FARC was born ideologically.
So what is exactly a Paramo? People describe it as a moorland, wetland or high plateau. Certainly, it’s all of it. Besides, it is an unique kind of ecosystem only found in Colombia, Perú, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. You are invited to hike 6 kilometers through its endemic vegetation at 3.600mts high above the sea level. You will get to know the best of rural Bogotá, you will have the opportunity to try a typical lunch in addition to some fruits.
This is a responsible and conscious tour where you will support local families living in rural Bogotá, who are guardians and protectors for many decades of this fragile ecosystem. Ecotourism has become an interesting option to generate income and new dynamics, instead of agricultural activities that affect the ecosystem.
Music Trip around Colombia
Today you will meet Pedro Crump, an independent Colombian musician, composer, producer and pianist. You will be taken to his home in the north of city. Born in Bogotá, he studied fine arts and music in Boston, at the Curry College of Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory of Music. Crump has created music for both film and television, and as an independent musician, he produces his own records under the Musica Oceanica label, and directs the El Circulo Dorado ensemble. This former surfer of the Colombian Caribbean experimented through this sport to flow in synchrony with nature and its rhythms. This passion is reflected in the inspiration behind the name of his label (MusicaOceanica) and the creation of his series, The Elements: Water, Fire, Earth, Air, of which his first 3 CDs have been published under.
Thanks to his interest in nature and the environment, he participated for 6 years in the board of directors of the Fundación Natura Colombia. He has also ventured into photography and sculpture. Thanks to his wide experience and knowledge of the different aspects of Colombian music, his musical experience in the musical studio of Bogotá, which is at his home, is really interesting to get to know, and understand the richness and musical complexity of Colombia.
After this tour you will return to the hotel, where you will spend the night.
The following day, your adventure in Colombia continues with a walking tour.
Walking Tour Candelaria
This tour gives you an entire insight into Colombia’s capital. You will never get bored with you possibility to talk about different topics, interact with locals, visit the most important spots in the city and get the max of the artistic and historical value of all the streets and alleys you walk through.
The Candelaria district is the oldest and most important neighbourhood in Bogotá. You will have the possibility to talk about history, geography as well as the current social and political situation in Colombia. You will get involved with the culture by drinking chicha, a traditional fermented drink that is part of the indigenous heritage. Also, you will try some local snacks (arepas) made with corn, when finally ending up playing the gunpowder game, better known as Tejo, a funny drinking game played in the pre-hispanic times.
Colombia Regional Cuisine Tour
Colombia is the second most bio-diverse country in the world and this diversity is also expressed in our cuisine. Thousands of varieties of vegetables, fruits, tubers, meats, and flavors. In this tour, you will experience Colombia through your mouth by having 8 different foods from the 5 Colombian different regions: Amazon, Andes, Caribbean coast, Pacific coast, and Orinoquia.
Join us in this delicious and cultural experience learning about the gourmet background of each region by filling up your belly. All restaurants are located in Candelaria District (walking tour) one of the tour stations is a family house where you will learn how to cook tasty empanadas.
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You will have a private transfer take you from your hotel to the airport in Bogotá. From here, you will fly to Armenia, and then receive a transport to your accommodation in the Quindio area for the next 3 nights.
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Wax Palm Empire – La Carbonera & Salento
You will start your day trip in Salento at 7:30 am, there you will take a Jeep Willys, which is the traditional vehicle of this region, for a 23 kilometer trip along the old road that connected Salento with Ibagué and Bogotá. The road is gravel and is used by mountain bike enthusiasts and farmers of the region.
On the way you will witness the lush landscapes of the Central Mountain Range and the National Park of the Nevados. You will ascend approximately 3340m and stop to enjoy the impressive view of Paramillo del Quindio. Then you will start the descent and on the way you can appreciate a wax palm valley until arriving at your destination, La Carbonera Farm. On the farm you will take a one hour walk among the wax palms, one of the hightest palms in the world -up to 70 meters-. Once at the main house of the farm you will rest and take a typical drink of sugar cane water with colombian cheese.
After this amazing tour, you will return by Willys Jeep to the starting point of the hike where you will have lunch. For the return to Salento there are two options, you can choose one of them:
- Take a 12-kilometer hike until you reach Salento. The path you will go along pass near the eastern side of the mountain and on the way you will learn about some myths and legends of the region.
- Or, return by Willys Jeep to Salento.
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Hot-Air Balloon Flight
Flights are made first thing in the morning. You will start the activity at 6:00 am, which is when the best weather conditions for the hot-air balloon flight occur, where you will be able to experience the whole process of the balloon inflation that takes between 30 and 40 minutes approximately. Once in the air, you will enjoy the beautiful scenery that our land has to offer. Since the balloon does not have a rudder, it cannot be steered, it is at the mercy of the wind and an exact landing point cannot be specified, which is why they are in constant communication with the ground team that will pick you up once you land; to take you to your starting point.
Horseback Riding with Picnic
You will go for a horseback riding through these amazing landscapes. The Coffee Cultural Landscape was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2011. This region is full of incomparable beauty, traditions, traditional architecture, coffee plantations, native forests, and strategic corridors for the conservation of global biodiversity and you will always find beautiful scenery to photograph. Many regions of the coffee triangle invite you to get on a horse’s back and enjoy the beautiful landscapes from another perspective. Here you will cross banana and fruit trees as well as coffee plantations, lakes. It is like remembering the nation’s ancestors during a time when horse was the driving force of the Quindío colonization, all this experience will have an special picnic with different types of cheese ,fruits,salads,wine,fresh juice, and so on.
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This day will see you travel – through private transfers and a flight – from your hotel in Quindio to Medellin for the next 3 nights.
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Medellin – City of Eternal Spring
Medellín – the “City of Eternal Spring” – located in the Andean highlands of Antioquia, is nowadays the most innovative city of Latin America. Its recent past was strongly related to the life of Pablo Escobar and violent gang fights. During the last twenty years Medellín went through some drastic changes. An innovative program of urban development that combines modern means of public transport and the construction of public parks and areas of recreation for the local people turned Medellín from the most dangerous city in the world into a modern example of urban transformation.
Explore the Andean capital of Colombia on a full day tour. Get an insight of the history of city visiting the “Pueblito Paisa” and enjoy perfect views of the city. Explore the famous Botero Plaza downtown with an exhibition of the Colombian artist Fernando Botero, whose sculptures have become a landmark of the city. Take the Metro Cable up to Santo Domingo, which was once a notorious area of gang violence in Medellín. The cable car was constructed to make the inner city more accessible to people from the outskirts and allows visitors a glimpse into the lives of the marginalized population. At the Comuna 13 district with its unique escalators you observe another innovative project that improved the quality of life of the people of Medellín.
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Flight over Medellin and Surrounding Area
During this unique experience you will enjoy a flight and see some highlights of Antioquia from above. The flight starts in Medellin, where you will first explore the city from above! Enjoy the view of the city center, the parks like the Botanical Garden, the MEtro Viaduct and much more. Afterwards you will continue your journey towards Guatape & the monolith Piedra del Peñol.
Normally you need 3 hours for this trip, but within a short time the huge rock comes into sight. After you have circumnavigated the rock once and taken some exciting pictures of the landscape, the journey continues to Guatape. The small colonial town will enchant you with its colourful houses and colonialist features. You will land in Guatape and can explore the city before returning to Medellin.
You have included two hours stay in Guatape, if you want to stay longer, this is possible for an extra charge. You will have an English speaking guide included.
Graffiti Tour Medellin
The City of Medellin offers a great variety of urban arts due to the city’s transformation of the last 20 years. Nowadays, the city is so full of countless artistic expressions of street art that the local authorities declared urban art a cultural landmark of Medellin.
Graffiti is not only about strong artistic and cultural elements, it is a way of political expression. See the graffiti of the Comuna 13 guided by some of the local artists themselves. This tour gives you an insight on history and daily life in this area and the importance of street art for social communication and identity.
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You will have a private transfer from your selected hotel to the José Maria Córdova airport in Medellin. After a domestic flight, a private transfer will take you to your hotel in Santa Marta for the next 3 nights.
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Flight Over Ciudad Perdida & Snowy Peaks
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the highest coastal mountain range on the planet, making the Colombian Caribbean one of the most diverse coasts in the world. Its starkly-contrasting geography houses all climates, from the tropical dry forest to the cloud forest, the barren plateau, and the eternal glacier. It is completely isolated from the Andes Mountains, and its snowy peaks Cristóbal Colón and Simón Bolívar, at 5,775 and 5,770m above sea level, are the highest of Colombia. In the immensity of this mountain range, the famous Lost City lies in the tropical clouds – also known as Teyuna or Buritaca-200. It is an ancient settlement of the Tayrona civilization and is considered to be, along with Machu Picchu, one of the most important archaeological sites in South America. The Lost City is at an altitude of 900-1,300m, in the foothills of the Cerro Correa peak, in the north-western part of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The site consists of a complex system of constructions, cobble-stoned roads, stairs, and walls intercommunicated by a series of terraces and platforms on which ceremonial centers, houses, and food storage sites were built. The structures discovered so far occupy an area of approximately 35 hectares, in which can be found about 150 stone terraces.
You start the tour by driving from your hotel to the nearest heliport, either the Santa Marta Marina or the airport. After a short briefing about the flight route, you will take off and head directly to the Lost City. The route depends always on the weather conditions and can be north or south of the Cuchilla de San Lorenzo. The flight to Ciudad Perdida takes about 15 minutes, and after a flyover above the terraces of the Lost City, you continue in a southerly direction to take a glance at the majestic snow-capped peaks, glaciers, and lagoons of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. After this breathtaking flight with a duration of approximately 60 minutes, you are provided a transfer back to your hotel.
On Day 12, you will take a visit to the natural beauty of the area.
Tayrona National Park
The foothills of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, the highest coastal mountain range on earth, dip their toes right into the sea, in which bays and coves of singular beauty are to be found. The white sandy beaches in this park are boarded on one site by tropical dry forests and on the other side by the crystal clear and blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, making the Tayrona Park one of the most beautiful in the country.
You will leave Santa Marta to take the scenic coastal road and reach the western entrance of the park approximately 30 minutes later. From here, you take an unpaved road through the tropical dry forest of the foothills of the Sierra to the bay of Neguanje. (Approx. 1 hour). And from there it’s about a further 20 minutes’ walk to reach your final destination, the most beautiful Playa Cristal beach. As its name suggests, the water here is crystal clear and we have plenty of time to relax and enjoy the Caribbean Sea. At about 4pm you will start your return to Santa Marta.
For tourists who do not want or cannot manage the walk, you can take a boat from Neguanje Bay to Playa Cristal and back. This transfer has a minimal additional cost and lasts approximately 8 minutes.
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Full InfoCharleston Santa TeresaLuxuryThe day begins with a private transfer from Santa Marta to Cartagena, your final destination on this trip and your stay in your hotel for the next 3 nights.
Rum Tasting
Spaniards brought many things and customs to America that transformed the continent. In the same way, they have adapted many of these to their culture and created an identity and products of their own. This is the case of sugar cane, which was taken to another level and today is the basis of one of the most exquisite drinks on the planet. Join in this space of knowledge and fun where we would learn from the most famous drink of the Caribbean, the Rum.
You will be picked up at your hotel and start your tour by walking to the bar, where an expert mixologist will tell us about the history and characteristics of this drink. This journey of flavors will take you to taste different Colombian rums, some of them catalogued as the best in the world. You will learn their secrets and discover how wide and rich the world of Rum can be and how small changes in the process give life to so many different flavors and emotions. After getting to know and living rum from a different perspective, enjoying one will be a real experience. The tour lasts approximately 2 hours.
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Day 14 begins with one of the best ways of getting to know the city, a tour.
City Tour Cartagena
Cartagena de Indias is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful cities in America. Its historical center, walled by fortifications built in the colonial era, retains its original architecture and is shown today in a myriad of colors that fill it with Caribbean life and joy. Its fascinating history as one of the pearls of that era, a place of collection of great treasures and the largest slave port in the colonies, gives immense importance to this World Heritage City. The stories about those pirate attacks of great magnitude are present in each of the fortifications that remain intact to this day.
The City-Tour begins with a visit to the Fort of San Felipe de Barajas, the largest fortification built by the Spanish in their colonies. In a one-hour tour you will be able to appreciate this masterpiece of military architecture in coral stone and you will learn about the defense strategy of the city in relation to its topography. Then you will go to the historical center to visit the San Pedro Clavér Convent Museum, former Jesuit Cloister (1605) and home of the so-called “Slave of the Slaves”. To finish, you make a tour of approximately 2 hours through the main squares, churches and streets of the city. You will also walk over the city walls to have the best views of the city and to know the most important bastions.
After spending the night in your hotel, you will spend your penultimate day with a trip to Rosario Islands.
Rosario Islands
The charm of the city of Cartagena is in its location in front of the Caribbean Sea. What better way to enjoy the city and its surroundings than in a luxurious sports boat or in a fully equipped yacht to live a nautical adventure without equal.
The tour begins with a pick up at your hotel and transportation to the pier where your captain and an assistant await you with the boat ready for a day of sunshine, crystal clear waters, white sand, and good music. Once the engines are turned on, you will leave the bay of Cartagena bordering the Fort of San Fernando de Bocachica, and then make a panoramic tour of the 27 islands that make up the Islas del Rosario Natural Park. Here, you can make stops for lunch or explore the coral reef with snorkels. It is suggested ending this tour with a stop at Agua Azul or at Cholón Cove, where you will have the opportunity to get off the boat and enjoy the crystal clear shallow water.
Please note that the equipment for snorkeling and fishing, as well as lunch, are optional and not included in the basic package and therefore have to be added in advance or paid on the boat.
This experience lasts approximately 8 hours and it is recommended to start at 8:00 am.
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On your final day, when ready, you will be taken to the airport via a private transfer to await your departing flight.
