Colombia: The Heritage and Highlights

Day notes

WELCOME TO COLOMBIA!

On arrival, you will be met and transferred to your luxury hotel to settle in and have the evening to relax after your international travel.

Day notes

Start the day with a visit to the food market of Paloquemao. Surround yourself with the fresh aromas of just harvested produce and visit the beautiful flower exhibition. Then, discover Bogota's street art, where famous graffiti artists from around the world have come to leave their mark on the walls of the city.

Continue with a walking tour of the city's old quarter, known as La Candelaria, hosting many restored 300-year old homes and public buildings. Visit Plaza Bolívar, San Francisco Church, the 17th-century Santa Clara Convent, and walk along the lively pedestrian street Calle 11, bursting with local restaurants, some family-owned for eight generations.

The day’s highlight is a visit to the famous Gold Museum, which houses some 33,400 gold pieces from Colombia’s most relevant pre-Hispanic cultures. Learn about how they used gold in political and social occasions, their metallurgical techniques, and as expressions of their cosmo vision, myths, and offerings. This is your first introduction to the vast amount of gold belonging to pre-Hispanic cultures, and the Spanish lust for it following the 1502 landing party led by Vasco Nunez de Balboa.

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Today, we invite you to engage with the local community in a truly authentic way with an Evolved Experience. The Evolved Traveler believes travel is “evolving” into something more than we have previously experienced or knew it to be. There is a desire for it to be more meaningful, more impactful, more enriching, and certainly more engaging. We understand our guests wish to travel with a purpose and to truly engage with the cultures they visit, and that is why we have created the Evolved Experience.

Evolved Experiences are a core and unique component to all our journeys that provide you, our Evolved Traveler, with experiences that far exceed the par-for-the-course of luxury travel. Evolved Experiences allow our guests the opportunity to make a lasting impression on the communities they visit, extend their hand in a gesture of global community, and create memories that can be cherished for years to come, not only for themselves but for those they visit. 

If you’re in a country that exports some of the world’s best coffee, you can’t leave without visiting a coffee farm! Excellent coffee in Colombia can be found across many regions at haciendas that are continuously innovating and raising their quality standards. La Palma y El Tucan is one of these productive haciendas that is always optimizing and improving quality on each of their harvests to achieve a drink with the perfect body, balance, and flavor.

At La Palma y El Tucan, the goal is to shatter the status-quo by implementing groundbreaking social, environmental and technological innovations. Located in Colombia’s Cundinamarca department, they are changing the model that Colombia has used to grow, process, and market coffee - where productivity comes before quality. Their projects do not come at the expense of our surroundings, but instead by cooperating with our environment and our community. 

Here, witness the complete process starting from the seed and ending in the preparation with several innovative methods carried out by people who have a deep love for Colombia´s most representative product. And, of course, enjoy some coffee! 

Return to Bogota for an evening at leisure.

Day notes

Transfer to the Bogota airport for your flight to Bucaramanga. Upon arrival in Bucaramanga, transfer to Chicamocha Canyon where you will cross the canyon aboard a cable car. Take in the unique view of the second deepest canyon in the world on this 30 minute ride to the other side. Once across the canyon, continue to the Spanish colonial town of Barichara and check-in to the hotel.

After lunch at the hotel, stretch your legs with a 2.5 mile refreshing forest hike to the 230ft high, Juan Curi Waterfall. During the walk, enjoy the local butterflies, hummingbirds, and other bird species. Cool off after your hike with a swim in the pool at the base of the waterfall. For those who are more adventurous, rappel down a 200ft drop along the face of the waterfall.

Return to your hotel for dinner and time to relax or to wander the cobble stone streets of this charming town. 

Day notes

The royal roads of Colombia are a network of stone trails, first created by the indigenous people of several tribes across the country that would travel from East to West. Later, these trails were used and developed by the Spanish conquerors while searching for the legendary El Dorado and South America’s gold. Thousands of local inhabitants and their mules were made to work under the direction of the infamous Geo Von Lengerke for the transportation of tobacco and cotton in the region of Santander.

Early this morning, hike along El Camino Real, the royal road from Barichara to Guane. This easy, mostly downhill hike offers excellent bird watching opportunities as the first segment is made up of lush forest. On this trail, you’ll be sure to enjoy the charming views into Suarez Canyon as well as rural farm life.

After about 2 hours, arrive in the Spanish colonial town of Guane. Take time to relax and refresh before having lunch and time to look around this small town. Transfer back to Barichara to freshen up before your afternoon tour.

This afternoon brings your second Evolved Experience.

Barichara's architectural heritage has been extremely well-preserved, in large part because the material used for the structures also provides a cooler indoor temperature. The village’s white walls and green windows also match the surrounding sandy ground color of the mountains. Take a guided tour with an 17th-century colonial architecture specialist who will help bring into context the styles and building techniques of the era, such as the rammed earth “tapia pisada” technique. Head to an architectural workshop and put your hands and feet to work by participating in the construction of a house wall.

After this hands-on experience, head back to the hotel to relax and reflect on the day's adventures. 

Day notes

Depart Barichara this morning and take a flight to Medellin, Colombia's second largest city. You are met upon arrival in Medellin and transferred to the hotel for check-in.

This afternoon, take an overview tour of the city. Medellin has experienced many processes of transformation and became an inclusive city, giving every inhabitant a space to be part of the change. Learn about how art has helped to transform a community with urban graffiti art in the comunas, the innovative street food around the city, and the massive sculptures created by Fernando Botero.

Return to the hotel and enjoy the remainder of the evening at leisure. 

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Head outside of the city and drive through the unique landscapes of the Andes Mountains until you come upon a huge rock, called El Peñol, jutting out from its surrounding. Challenge yourself to climb the 637 steps to reach the top of El Peñol and experience a unique view of the area.

Make your way down the rock and explore the town of the “Zocalos”, Guatape. This town has special decorations on the base of the facades of its houses, and each one has a different meaning.

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Depart Medellin this morning with a flight to Cartagena, a city that combines centuries of history, culture, and flavors. The landing of thousands of slaves from West Africa and migrations of the late 19th-century make this a very diverse region.

You are met upon arrival in Cartagena and taken on a walking tour through the old quarter that covers Plaza de San Diego, Plaza Fernandez of Madrid, Park Bolivar, Plaza de Los Coches, and Plaza Santo Domingo. Walk along the walls and visit the bastions of Santo Domingo and San Francisco Javier to learn about the history and defense strategy of the city. Along the way, see the most illustrative streets and their legends, and visit the most important churches of the town, such as Cathedral San Pedro Claver and Santo Domingo.

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Today's tour will take you to the so-called “African corner" of Colombia, Palenque San Basilio town, a bastion of culture and history. It is the unique survivor of the 12 Palenques founded in the foothills of the Montes de Maria in the early 17th-century. Slaves, once brought to America, managed to escape and followed the legend of Benkos Biohó, founder of Palenque. The music and a formidable strategy of defense led to this officially becoming the first free town of Spanish America in 1713. Tradition, historical pride, and Palenquero – a language unique to this town – are still alive here.

Transfer back to Cartagena's old quarter for a 7 stop tour to delight our tongue with the traditional flavors of the city. 

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This morning, transfer to the Cartagena pier for a shared speedboat to Mucura Island. After 1 1/2 hours, arrive at the island hotel where you can enjoy the hotel facilities or simply relax on the beach.

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Take the shared speedboat back to Cartagena today. Upon arrival at the pier, you will be met and transferred to the hotel.

Enjoy the remainder of the day at leisure to relax or to explore the walled city on your own.  

Day notes

Today is at leisure until it's time to transfer to the airport for your departing flight.