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Colombia: Go!

Just back from a tour to Colombia. It was so interesting - and the people warm and hospitable. Highly recommended. Although it was a tour, we had several meals on our own, and it was also incredibly cheap. Best food: Peruvian restaurants, as Colombia not known for great cuisine. Meals in nice restaurant ran to about $10 (with a fruit drink - Colombians not big on wine yet). An Uber ride for 40 minutes cost about $5.00 in Medellin (a most interesting city - with some impressively progressive things going on).

The Colombians very much appreciate our visiting this beautiful country, and even if you only know a couple of words in Spanish, a smile will get you very far.

Posted by
7054 posts

Do you mind sharing what tour you took, including the tour company and itinerary? I'd be interested in looking into it. I've been to Argentina (no tour, independently planned trip) and it was a great experience, beautiful country with really expansive landscapes and quite inexpensive. I have to admit that Ecuador is at the top of my list now, followed by Peru or Colombia. I have a few Colombian friends, they're very nice, down-to-earth and family-oriented people, so I'm not surprised by your comments. Colombia would definitely be a very interesting place to visit - very diverse landscapes, cultures, urban environments, etc.

Posted by
97 posts

Absolutely agree. We spent two weeks in Colombia back in February and it was one of our favorite trips ever. Other than in Cartagena, we generally didn't see any other tourists. Between my limited Spanish and help from Google Translate, we were able to get around fine and accomplish what we wanted to do. We booked our private trip with a Colombian agency called The Colombian Way.

Posted by
32363 posts

Laura,

How times have changed! Columbia wasn't considered a "safe" destination in the past, but I've seen a number of programs lately and it looks like a great destination now. Could you indicate which tour you took, and the duration of the tour?

Posted by
206 posts

Colombia is definitely on my to do list. Spent a far bit of time travelling in South America 20 years ago but unfortunately didn't get to Colombia. Quite a few of my friends I made there had been to Colombia and all said it was the friendliest place in the world and perfectly safe.

Posted by
260 posts

Took Overseas Adventure Travel. Hearty seniors. Not too dissimilar from R Steves trips in some respects. If you are interested in knowing more, contact me privately. It was a really fun trip.

Posted by
1829 posts

Is a big country, so a little more about the trip may help if you don't mind.
What cities did you see, other countryside areas you saw? did you fly, bus or other between cities, etc....?

I have off and on researched a trip as my wife's family is from Cali so will go at some point but always put it off due to either safety concerns or just hard to come up with other things to do other than see family on the trip that did not get really involved.
The obvious choice is to combine with Cartagena which is a place I would love to see, but Cali is the other side so requires flying to Cartagena.