Colombia is a hot ticket!
Vibrant cities and Caribbean beaches make for a lively cocktail, says Jenny Coad
Colombia has undergone a revolution. Yes, the dark days of rule by drug traffickers (or narcos) and guerrilla fighters will never be forgotten — but the country has moved on. This week, Juan manuel Santos attended the first ever state banquet at buckingham Palace in honour of a Colombian president, and gave Prince Philip a pen crafted from a recycled bullet as a sign of peace.
meanwhile, the peace agreement with the Farc rebel group remains a work in progress but that shouldn’t put you off.
The country has been warmly welcoming back tourists for the past five years and you can fly direct from london Heathrow to the capital, bogota, with the national airline, avianca.
bogota is as busy as london (with a similar population of about eight million), but more colourful, noisy and fraying at the edges. Set between mountains and at more than 2,640m above sea level, it can also be chilly.
The old part of the city, la Candelaria, is home to the Gold museum and a gallery devoted to Fernando botero, one of Colombia’s most famous contemporary artists.
botero blows air into his subjects with a paintbrush. Sunflowers look like puffy pin-cushions and bananas like marrows. bottoms are simply enormous.
after two weeks on the Colombian diet — meat heavy, and a close friend of the deepfat fryer — you’ll understand why. in bogota, they serve hot chocolate with a lump of cheese
just for good measure Try it in Puerta Falsa, a cosy timberant framed restaurant in la Candelaria.
From bogota, we head inland to armenia — the region famous for its coffee — which is gloriously warm and green with brilliantly exotic birds
our hacienda, Casael Delirio near montenegro, is a harmony of dark wood and old coffee machines, with a pool, lovely grounds and a cook, Judith, who doesn’t speak a word of English, but makes us feel right at home.
Coffee is the theme of this region — but whateve you do, skip the National Coffee Park. it’s known as Colombia’s Disneyland — and you will leave feeling short-changed.
The Cauca Valley is more untamed. mountains rise above, clouds descend and they serve a version of mulled wine with passion fruit, cinnamon and the
local firewater, aguard
n and the
diente. We like pretty Filandia, with its pastel painted Baroque church and chatty square (most towns have a Bolivar square in honour of Colombia’s great hero, simon Bolivar, who helped free the country from spanish rule).
salento has a hippy feel, soaring views atop a 250-step climb and cheap restaurants.
our cheery guide Andres takes us to his favourite, el rincon de Lucy, which serves a hearty executive lunch for 7,000 pesos (about £3).
Those watching the Netflix series Narcos will know the city of Medellin as the stomping ground of notorious drug lord Pablo escobar.
in 1989, Forbes estimated his cartel made u.s. $30billion a year. He was responsible for thousands of deaths. escobar was killed in the city in 1993 while fleeing over the rooftops.
Now Medellin is celebrated for its social revival — and beautiful women. it’s a party town. our hotel, the style-conscious Charlee, is on Parque Lleras, where restaurants and bars buzz into the night.
The city has a glamorous side, but, like rio, the hills are home to some of its poorest people.
Crime rates have improved since the Metrocable gondola system was introduced in 2007 — its swift connections have led to better job opportunities.
We ride it from san Javier to La Aurora and see every layer of the metropolis.
FerNANDo Botero was born in Medellin and 23 of his oversized sculptures make a statement in Botero Plaza. A 24-hour stay does not do it justice, but the Caribbean is calling. Cartagena is one of Colombia’s star turns. The walled old town feels european, with brightly painted houses, balconies dripping with flowers and cartloads of exotic fruit. in the cooler evenings, you can explore by horse and carriage.
Buy a beer and sit on the old walls to watch the sunset over the sea. Head back into town for dinner. La Cevicheria serves the freshest fish and is near our hotel, Bantu, with its resident toucan, Tatu.
Move on to arty Getsemani and Cafe Havana, with its live music and deco interior. it draws tourists, but feels authentic.
There are city beaches and islands off Cartagena, but you’re better off continuing north beyond santa Marta. Koralia is a peaceful retreat on the beach, a four-hour drive from Cartagena and a short way from Tayrona National Park.
it’s back to nature, so there’s no hot water or wifi, the bedrooms are thatched and there’s the odd frog in the loo. But it’s comfortable, with delicious food and gnarly cocktails in the beach bar. The sea is rough and the beach is empty, strewn only with washed-up coconuts.
on a six-hour hike of Tayrona, we marvel at the gigantic boulders, the call of the howler monkeys and el Pueblito, the site of the pre-Colombian Tayrona people. Cabo san Juan beach, the halfway point, brims with backpackers, but is still beautifully reviving.
on the roads, the Colombians give the thumbs up to indicate (to police) that everything is good. exactly my verdict.