South America- help me brainstorm!

[SJ]

We are going to Bogota next June for a family wedding. Will probably be in Bogota 3-5 days with my entire family. DH & I are trying to plan more travel afterwards and I'm looking for ideas in northern South America or Central America.

-Rough timeline for total trip is 2 weeks, but we can take a little more if we want/need to
-My family is from Chile, but I think there is too much I want to show DH in Chile to combine this time
-DH has never been to South America. I have been to Peru, Colombia, Chile, Argentina & Brazil, but don't mind repeating.
-Budget is not a huge concern

I have been playing around with islands off the Colombian coast or Galapagos or Peru/MP (I have done the Trail, he probably won't want to hike) or...??

Any ideas?

[anna7602]

Two places that are on my to-see list in that area of the world:

- Cartagena: Vanidades magazine does a spread on it at least twice a year and the photos/descriptions are always breathtaking.

- Bocas del Toro, Panama: I have a friend who drove from NYC to Buenos Aires, Argentina over a year-long span and says this spot was her absolute favorite of all the Americas. (You can poke around her blog for more ideas: www.nytoba.blogspot.com/)

The Galapagos also sound like an amazing option.

[Deleted]

I wish we'd spent more time in Equador. The clouded forest and surrounding area sounded neat.

We did Galapagos and loved it, you could combine that with other parts of Equador for 2 weeks?

What have you seen in Peru? We spent time in Arequipa, but also enjoyed Lake Titicaca and La Paz. We heard great things about travelling through the salt plains in Bolivia.

You can check out my blog, we did a 6 week trip earlier in the year: aroundtheworldwithrebecca.blogspot.com.au/search/label/South%20America

[scout8]

I loved Isla del Sol in Bolivia. I also really enjoyed La Paz in Bolivia. We didn't make it to the salt plains, but I heard that is really interesting too.

I haven't been to the Galapagos, but it is definitely on my to do list.

[SJ]

Thank you! Very helpful thus far. I will check out the blogs.

[wanderlustfoodie]

I spent 7 days in the Galapagos, which was a terrific trip. Highly recommend Lindblad (in connection with Nat'l Geographic). I also want to spend a lot more time in Ecuador, the estancias there are gorgeous.

There are some great ecotours now operating out of Suriname if you want to go somewhere different. Or the Pantanal area of Brazil (not sure whether you visited that region previously). Or areas of Peru other than the Sacred Valley - the lake, etc.?

[emilyinchile]

Cartagena and islands sounds like a good combo since I think just Cartagena would require less time than you have. Otherwise Galapagos! Peru is just kind of another region to me, I'd stay farther north.

Bocas del Toro is also a good idea, especially since if you fly Copa you can have a long layover - they told me 20 days, I think - in Panama City. It could end up being cost effective to just buy a roundtrip to BOG via PTY and then get separate transport to Bocas del Toro (I know budget isn't a huge issue, but saving money when it's convenient is always nice).

[Captain Serious]

In addition to the places already mentioned, we loved Nicaragua. Where else can you have the same mountains/forest/beaches/volcanoes as Costa Rica, but be virtually alone?