Unique Cultural Tours
Unique Cultural Tours
Experience charming Colombia as you explore the 16th-century architecture of Cartagena, wander among the world’s tallest palm trees in Salento, sip the famous coffee of Armenia, and get a taste of the bustling Medellín. This incredible nine-day trip connects you with local culture, colonial architecture, gourmet cuisine, and stunning nature. The UNESCO World Heritage sites will inspire you, and you’ll have personal experiences with Colombians that the big companies can’t offer. Come travel with us!
Cost: $3,395 (market value $6,495).
A $500 deposit secures your space.
Get the Early Bird savings of $200 off when you register 6+ months before departure! Single rooms are available for $500.
Expert bilingual Colombian Guide
8 nights in comfortable, hand-picked hotels that reflect local culture
13 meals (8 Breakfasts, 3 Lunches, 2 Dinners)
2 in-country flights during the program
Private, air-conditioned ground transportation in each city
Personalized trip orientation 2 weeks prior to departure
All activities mentioned in this itinerary, including:
Cartagena City + Fortress tour
Sunset boat cruise in Cartagena
Beach pass and speed boat ride to nearby island in Cartagena
Guided visit to Cacao Farm by local guide and opportunity to make your own chocolate
Coffee finca tour and tasting
Salsa lesson
Night of playing Tejo, Colombia’s national sport
Locally guided hike at Cocora Valley
One morning of birdwatching with a local expert
Walking tour of Medellín
Comuna 13 tour in Medellín
Boat tour of reservoir near Guatapé
Walking city tour of Guatapé
Airfare to/from the US
Trip Insurance
9 meals
Alcohol
Tips for guides
You will book your own flights, although our team is happy to give you recommendations or assist you with booking flights.
Arriving in Cartagena:
Most people fly United/COPA through Panama City (no customs needed on layover), arriving in Cartagena in the evening. Our team will pick you up from the airport. This travel day is Day 1 of the itinerary.
You may choose to arrive a day early and explore this accessible destination on your own. We can provide the additional night in the hotel and transportation for $175 per room.
Departing from Medellín:
COPA has flights departing around 9 am that fly to Panama City and on to Denver or other major US cities. Again, no stop at customs in Panama City.
Historic walled city, Spanish fortress & Getsemani neighborhood tour
Beach day on a nearby island
Sunset boat ride
Hiking the Cocora Valley amongst the highest palm trees in the world
Guided birdwatching tour
Learn to play Tejo (explosive Colombian game)
Arabica coffee plantation educational park
Cacao farm tour and chocolate making experience
Merengue/Salsa lesson
Comuna 13 tour with traditional Colombian snacks
Walking city tour with a local guide
Day trip to nearby Guatapé, along with reservoir boat ride and walking tour
Activity Level - Walking up to three miles in a day, often on dirt paths, cobblestones, or other uneven terrain. Elevations up to 6,000 feet.
Yellow Fever vaccine NOT required with these destinations! Check with your doctor for your personal needs, but there are no vaccine requirements for this itinerary.
Experience Colombia:
Three different climates, a mix of city and rural adventures in this emerging tourist destination.
Day 1: Welcome to Colombia!
Arrive at the end of the day in Cartagena. Our driver will pick us up at the small airport and take us to our hotel in the Getsemaní neighborhood. If you arrive in Colombia before Day 1, we’ll give you the hotel info to book, or make the arrangements for you. Check out our recommendations for free-time activities here.
Meals: None
Day 2: Explore Cartagena
This morning we’ll get a tour of the key places in the city, the San Felipe de Barajas fortress, the modern (Miami-like) neighborhoods, the historical center, and our neighborhood of Getsemaní.
Following lunch, you could choose to retreat from the sun in your air-conditioned room, take a refreshing dip in the pool, or explore a nearby museum.
We’ll meet up together again at 4:30 to walk to the pier for a sunset boat ride in the bay. Afterwards, we’ll have dinner at La Sierpe, a favorite for gourmet Colombian fare.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 3: Tierra Bomba Island
You’re in the Caribbean, so you’ll want a beach day! We will take a 15-minute ride on a speed boat to a beach club where we have the day to swim in the ocean, pool, or just enjoy the sand and shade.
In the afternoon, we’ll head back to shore, collect our luggage, and go to the nearby airport for our flight to Pereira.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 4: Cocora Valley
After breakfast, we’ll enjoy a morning hike through the valley of green pastures, cows, hummingbirds, and wax palm trees.
Here is a short video of the hike.
The wax palm trees are described as looking like, “lit sparklers on the Fourth of July with their long skinny trunks topped with an explosion of palm fronds.” These 200’ tall trees are home to unique birds and much of the Disney movie, Encanto, is based there.
After a day in Cocora Valley, we’ll return to Salento where we can rest and relax or go out and explore the charming town.
Tonight, we’ll play Tejo, an explosive Colombian game reminiscent of cornhole.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 5: Salento
Wake up with the sun for an optional birdwatching tour and maybe even see the pair of Southern Emerald Toucanets that live in the area. If you’re not a birdwatcher, you could sleep in and enjoy a leisurely breakfast. This colorful small town that also inspired Disney’s Encanto is a great place for shopping, and we have a secret coffeehouse we like to visit.
In the afternoon, we’ll explore this special UNESCO World Heritage region through taste at a coffee plantation.
The farm tour includes understanding the native trees that protect the coffee plants, bean picking (typically November-March), cherry pulping, washing and the post-harvest processes. The tour is an outdoor, educational, interactive experience with a coffee-tasting component. Meals: Breakfast
Day 6: Armenia
After breakfast and fine locally grown Arabica coffee, we’ll learn about how Colombia produces some of the best cacao in the world at a working finca. You’ll get to see how a giant red cacao pod gets transformed into chocolate and taste the final product.
After this, it’s off to the airport for our evening flight into Medellín, the “City of Eternal Spring”.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 7: Medellín
Welcome to the big city! Medellín, Colombia’s second biggest city after Bogotá, has rebuilt itself from a hotbed of crime to become a hot spot for tourism in the past decade.
We’ll start with a tour of the infamous Comuna 13. Formerly one of the most dangerous slums in the city, it was revitalized and is now a place where you can find gorgeous murals and experience some of the urban culture of Colombia while learning about how this neighborhood transformed into what it is today.
Then, we’ll head into the central part of Medellín for our city tour. A local guide will explain how Medellín became one of South America’s most vibrant and sought-after destinations as you discover the local museums, churches, markets, and surrounding shops.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 8: Guatapé
After breakfast, we will drive two hours to visit the colorful, quaint, cobblestone street town of Guatapé. We will begin by taking a guided walking tour of one of Colombia’s best small towns, learning all about the painted zócalos (murals) and what they represent. Then, we’ll break for some shopping and lunch. You can pick up gorgeous handmade jewelry here or indulge your sweet tooth at one of the nearby bakeries as you trade in Medellín’s big-city bustle for the slower pace of life in this town.
In the afternoon we will explore the nearby man-made reservoir. This reservoir is part of Colombia’s largest power plant and was built by flooding the existing towns in the area. We’ll take a scenic boat ride and see a spire from one of the churches that predated the reservoir, poking above the waterline. We’ll also see one of Pablo Escobar’s old mansions on the shore and enjoy the surrounding rolling green hills.
Head back to Medellín to enjoy a final farewell dinner with your new friends before packing for the flight home.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 9: Fly Home
Arrive at the Medellín airport 2-3 hours before your flight. We hope you fully experienced the richness of Colombia through fun, hands-on exploration, city, and nature experiences with free time built in, all while enjoying the structure and security of traveling in a small group on our custom Viva Cartagena! tour.
Meals: Breakfast
