gpotvin

We are in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Columbia. In most of our travels we have found it extremely valuable to use an in-country agency. We are looking for suggestions for travel agencies for our trip. We are planning on 10-14 days including Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena and the coffee country.

crellston

14 days is about enough to cover those places - just! 10 days is totally inadequate. It can take along time to get from place to place in Colombia! As part of a three month trip around the country we spent 4 nights apiece in Bogota and Medellin and wished we had spend longer in both. We spent 10 days in Cartagena which in hindsight was too much though we did take aside trip to Mompox from there which was excellent.

Whilst those cities we wonderful, part of the joy of visiting Colombia is to be found in the smaller towns and villages. We loved Salento in the Zona Cafetera both of which are possible from Medellin. Jardin and Villa de Lleyva are also worthwhile considering, the latter is easily accessed from Bogota.

I can’t help with in country travel agencies as we travelled completely independently. We found it very easy, with a little research, to get around by bus and plane and book our own accomodation via booking.com and similar. In the current travel climate i think I would be more comfortable booking with someone in your home country and ensuring that you make best use of the consumer and financial protections available.

You may find some inspiration for planning your trip from our blog where there are loads of photos and some info on our travels there. https://accidentalnomads.com/category/colombia/
It is an amazing county and one of our favourites in South America, though not without its problems at present ( quite apart from Covid)

mlgb

I also have done several independent trips to Colombia as well as one guided tour for birding booked through Road Scholar. Although they are no longer booking the birding focussed trip, they have put up some dates for 2022 which covers some of the cities you are interested in.

https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-...ica/itinerary/

If you travel independently, in the smaller towns the lodgings will be happy to set you up, although English may or may not be an option. I enjoyed Medellin, Bogota, Jardin and Villa de Lleyva on my own but have semi-functional Spanish. Cartagena is just too friggin hot and humid for my tastes and is a bit out of the way to the rest of the itinerary. I think visiting off of a cruise ship for a day on an A/C bus tour is probably the only way I'd return there.

I can speak from experience that May is one of the rainy months in Medellin. Torrential thunderstorms in the afternoon.