Hello, please help me finalize my 2 1/2 week Colombia itinerary. We will be with our adult daughters for 2 weeks visiting Medellin, Cartagena, Tintipan, the coast PNN Tayrona and a 3 day Lost City Trek. Then we were considering going to the Salento region for the last 3 days, OR the El Dorado nature reserve near Minca. Do you have any advice to help me compare the Salento area with your area, especially considering what we will have already done? Thank you,

Annie

I really liked the El Dorado Reserve.. if you will you be there in dry season (Dec-Februrary)....Nothing more beautiful than the view from up on San Lorenzo Ridge on the right morning..

I've not been to the El Dorado Reserve so cant compare the two areas. We spent a couple days in Salento and really enjoyed our time in the brightly colored, charming small town. Cocora Valley with its majestic palm trees is quite near and you can hike there. You can read more about our time in Salento in our trip report
https://www.fodors.com/community/sou...o-colombia.cfm

One aspect you might consider is the ease of getting to one or the other. Traveling around Colombia often requires long distances.

We really liked Salento but didn’t go to El Dorado so cannot compare. It does get very busy at weekends but is empty during the week and many of the restaurants close then. Loved the Cocora Valley. Some photos of Salento opand othe rplaces we visited in Colombia in our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/category/colombia/

Jardin is also worth considering.

View from San Lorenzo Ridge

https://500px.com/photo/240434525/sa...-view-by-m-lgb

https://500px.com/photo/240434593/sa...-view-by-m-lgb

We did end up spending a few days in Salento and I loved it! We took a bike tour with Salento Cycling that afforded us amazing views of the wax palms, and also hiked in the Cocora Valley, mountain biked to a coffee farm, visited the Quindio Botanical Garden, and enjoyed the town immensely.

Thanks for your report back , acw.

good to hear you had a good time acw. Thanks for reporting back. Would love to have done a bike ride when there but the "Vuelta a Colombia" pro cycle race was on when we were then and I couldn’t stand te completion (and Lycra doesn’t really suit me