Anyone been to Columbia?

[trigal]

My sister will be living in Bogota for two years and DH and I are thinking about a trip. Any experiences, insight, etc?

[emilyinchile]

ColOmbia @publius is right, and I know SJ has too. I've only been to Bogota (and a tiny town that I go to on business), not to other touristy spots like Cartagena/Caribbean coast or Medellín. I have some blog posts on it here: www.emilyinchile.com/tag/bogota

I think Bogota is kind of boring, to be honest, but I would definitely go if you'll have the advantage of a local guide and possibly a free place to stay. From a pure tourism point of view, I would plan to do 2-3 days in Bogota and the rest of your time somewhere else, but of course if your sister's there you may be happy to just hang out with her in Bogota for longer. Must do's for me would be the gold museum, Andrés (crazy restaurant, either the one in the city itself or the one in the suburbs if you have transportation) and Usaquén. I blogged the first two and went to Usaquén on a subsequent business trip for a really great dinner, and based on what I saw and what I've heard I would make time on a future trip to go wander around that area during the day.

[emilyinchile]

Jan 20, 2014 14:15:07 GMT -5 @rumpshaker said:

Colombia

^o) Well, this was helpful. And I say that as someone who finds the distinction important, as evidenced by the fact that I also made it before going on to give actual advice.

[SJ]

We have family in Bogota and I have been there several times, most recently in June for my cousin's wedding. I agree that you definitely only need a few days in the city. Take the cable car up monserrate, go to the gold museum, eat at andres carne de res, go to the salt cathedral and spend some time letting your sister show her favorite haunts and daily life.

We also did a day trip outside the city to do whitewater rafting, ziplining, etc which was fun.

Then I would go to Cartagena. It's romantic and gorgeous with a Caribbean vibe. We loved staying in the old walled city. Fantastic food. Islands nearby for day trips.

If you are outdoorsy look into the multi-day hike to theLost City.

Colombia is easy and relatively cheap to get to from the US. Only about 2.5 hours from Miami, have fun!!

[Alyssa]

I have no personal experience with Colombia but I once dated a guy who's mother is Colombian and he went to visit family down there a couple times. He mentioned once a highlight of a trip was hopping a plane and flying out to an island called San Andrés. San Andrés is a island owned by Colombia which is out in the Caribbean.  It's very tropical and lush with nice beaches.

[D2M]

My husband I went to Colombia in May. We spent most of our time in Cartagena and then spent a few days in Bogota before heading home. We actually loved Bogota and wished we had tacked on an extra day or two there. The museums are great, the food is great, and we just loved the vibe -- edgy, political, artistic. Even the graffiti was exciting. I agree with SJ that Cartagena is beautiful and magical; it felt like we were on honeymoon. Bogota has a very different feel, however, and it seemed like we got more insight into the politics of modern Colombia while we were there. We stayed in the colonial district, which people say isn't super safe after dark, but we had no problems.

[trigal]

Jan 20, 2014 7:42:39 GMT -5 emilyinchile said:

ColOmbia @publius is right, and I know SJ has too. I've only been to Bogota (and a tiny town that I go to on business), not to other touristy spots like Cartagena/Caribbean coast or Medellín. I have some blog posts on it here: www.emilyinchile.com/tag/bogota

I think Bogota is kind of boring, to be honest, but I would definitely go if you'll have the advantage of a local guide and possibly a free place to stay. From a pure tourism point of view, I would plan to do 2-3 days in Bogota and the rest of your time somewhere else, but of course if your sister's there you may be happy to just hang out with her in Bogota for longer. Must do's for me would be the gold museum, Andrés (crazy restaurant, either the one in the city itself or the one in the suburbs if you have transportation) and Usaquén. I blogged the first two and went to Usaquén on a subsequent business trip for a really great dinner, and based on what I saw and what I've heard I would make time on a future trip to go wander around that area during the day.

Thank you for the info! And for the spell check!

We are considering going to the Galápagos Islands as well. Any experience with that?