Signature Colombia: Culture and coffee

Day 1

Arrive in Bogotá and transfer to hotel.

You’ll be met at the airport and escorted to your hotel in the capital. Bogotá is a city of sparkling prosperity, oppressive poverty, and everything in between. Its centre is awash with splendid colonial churches, fascinating museums, futuristic architecture and lively universities. Its population is diverse and engaging and its cultural life vibrant and seductive.

Stay at - La Opera

Day 2

City tour with Gold Museum.

On your first full day there is a guided exploration of the city with a walking tour of the historic core, the colonial Candelaria colonial district.

Set off from the Plaza de Bolivar, where the Cathedral and Congress buildings are located, continue on foot through the steep colonial streets towards the Gold Museum for a visit to this extraordinary, well-displayed collection of pre-Columbian artefacts housing more than 34,000 gold pieces. It’s arguably the most impressive museum of its kind in the world.

In the evening there’s an ascent of the steep hill towering over Bogotá, with a white church at its peak. The path up is quiet throughout the week, but on Sundays city dwellers depart en masse to climb or take the funicular railway or cable car to visit this place of pilgrimage. From here, at 3,152m, you’ll have splendid views. You’ll be driven to the cable-car/funicular railway station at the base of the mountain. Visit the church, the 14 stations of the Cross, handicraft and souvenir stands, and pause to enjoy the sunset. Take the cable car/funicular railway to return to the city.

Stay at - La Opera

Day 3

Fly to Pereira in the Coffee Region.

Fly to Pereira in the coffee region on the western slopes of the Cordillera Central. It has a pleasant, warm climate, and lovely bucolic scenery; with a mountainous, lush, green landscape of shiny coffee bushes interspersed with enormous bamboo jungles and banana plants.

You spend a couple of days in this beautiful, relaxing region, with walking trails, horse riding opportunities, zip-line canopies and colourful flora and fauna and fresh coffee omnipresent throughout.

Stay at - Hacienda Venecia

Days 4

Tour a traditional working coffee farm

Today you’ll learn about the intricacies of coffee production on a private tour around one of the region’s very best coffee fincas. In the lush farmlands surrounding this charming colonial finca, you’ll learn how the beans are cultivated, harvested, processed and roasted before being ground into premium highland coffee.

Stay at - Hacienda Venecia

Day 5

At leisure in the coffee region

There are lots of activities on offer at your coffee finca, some more strenuous than others. Set out and explore the eight self-guided hiking trails that wind their way through the coffee plantations to dramatic viewpoints. It’s a great spot for bird watching too – 260 species have been recorded – and there is a a field guide at your disposal. Artisan chocolate and rum workshops can also be arranged or you can just relax by the outside pool.

Stay at - Hacienda Venecia

Day 6

Continue by road to Medellin.

Medellín, the capital of Antioquia department, is a three-hour drive north of the Coffee Region. Known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’, Medellin enjoys a year-round temperate climate, and with a population of 3 million it is also the second-largest city in the country. Once a place to avoid it is now Colombia’s most exciting, innovative and dynamic city.

Stay at - Patio del Mundo

Day 7

Transformation Tour to Comuna 13 and visit to Casa Memoria.

Medellin is a city which is barely recognisable from the anarchic days of Pablo Escobar and the Medellin cartel. Lively, enterprising, optimistic and forward-looking, the city’s government and people have, since the turn of the century, succeeded in engineering an extraordinary transformation for the better.

And nowhere is this transformation better shown than in Comuna 13, formerly a very deprived and dangerous neighbourhood, wracked by drugs and gang violence, but now a relaxed, peaceful and enterprising place which welcomes visitors. Accompanied by a local guide, you’ll discover amazing works of street art created by Comuna 13’s inhabitants, and witness performances by dance troupes and musical groups.

Leaving Comuna 13 behind, you’ll ride on some of the gleaming escalators which take you down to the city proper, and finish your tour at the Casa de Memoria, a sobering but important museum devoted to the experiences of the people in Medellin during the civil war, and the devastating consequences they suffered.

Stay at - Patio del Mundo

Day 8

Optional excursions close to Medellin.

There are numerous excursions you can choose from close to Medellin. You might consider visiting the evocative town of Santa Fe de Antioquia with its whitewashed buildings, flower-filled balconies, cobblestone streets, churches, and plazas. Another popular day trip is to the 200m high Piedra del Peñol – the views from the top of the surrounding countryside are magnificent – and a visit to the nearby town of Guatape, famous for the colourful zocolos which adorn its buildings. Or you could take a guided excursion to the town of Santa Elena, birthplace of the ornate flower arrangements known as silletas, which are the cornerstone of Medellin’s week-long flower festival (Feria de las Flores) every August.

Stay at - Patio del Mundo

Day 9

Fly to Santa Marta; continue to Tayrona National Park

A short flight takes you to the colonial city of Santa Marta on the Caribbean Coast. From here it’s an hour by road to Tayrona National Park, where tropical jungle swoops down to exquisite sandy beaches and sparkling turquoise seas.

Stay at - Maloka Barlovento

Days 10-11

Exploring Tayrona National Park.

Spend one of your days exploring Tayrona National Park with a guide, hiking along trails through the humid rainforest and tropical dry forests, arriving at beaches fringed by coconut palms and strewn with vast, smooth boulders. Over 100 species of mammal inhabit the region, so keep an eye out for monkeys swinging overhead.

You’ll have a day at leisure to further explore and enjoy some downtime. Wander barefoot along the rugged beaches, unwind in a hammock and sip cocktails as the sunset stretches over the Caribbean Sea.

Stay at - Maloka Barlovento

Day 12

Continue along the Caribbean coast to Cartagena.

A private transfer takes you to the crowning jewel of Colombia’s Caribbean coastline, the historic walled city of Cartagena.

Stay at - Hotel Alfiz

Day 13

Walking tour of Cartagena.

Founded in 1533, the city quickly blossomed to become the main Spanish port in the Caribbean, and a gateway to the north of the continent.

Treasure plundered from native inhabitants was stored here until the galleons could ship it back to Spain, and it therefore became a tempting target for pirates. In order to protect their booty, the Spanish constructed an elaborate system of ramparts, which encircle the town.

Today, the walled centre has changed very little, allowing a glimpse of 16th- and 17th century Spanish architecture and town planning. Enjoy the shade provided by the buildings in these labyrinthine, cobbled streets, and explore the monasteries, palaces, churches, plazas and imposing mansions whose balconies are heavy with flowers.

Beyond this, the city opens up: an eclectic and seductive mix of Caribbean and African influences produces a vibrant street life, with fruit stalls lining the roads and pulsating rhythms emerging from cars and houses. A guided tour will help you soak up the atmosphere of this unique city.

Stay at - Hotel Alfiz

Day 14

Excursion to the Rosario Islands.

A full-day excursion takes you to the Rosario Islands, a group of some 30 offshore islets, with white, coral sand and dense mangrove vegetation.

Make your way independently (by foot or taxi) to the dock and continue by boat (sometimes choppy and bumpy, 1 hr) to the archipelago of El Rosario, 35km south of the Bay of Cartagena.

The surrounding reefs have a huge variety of fauna, and the whole area has been declared a national park. Spend your time wallowing in the warm, turquoise waters, or sipping coconut milk from the husk beneath the shade of a palm tree.

Stay at - Hotel Alfiz

Day 15

Transfer to the airport.