Colombia (Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena) 🇨🇴
I went to Bogotá, Medellín, and Cartagena in September 2014 before starting a new job. I had a wonderful time exploring this beautiful country!
A note on taxis 🚕🚕 — have a ridesharing app downloaded before you go (Uber, Didi, and others are popular in Colombia), which is a safe way to hail a cab. If you are somewhere you can’t get wifi, ask a doorman, restaurant host, or hotel front desk to call you a cab. In my experience, everyone was super nice and helpful, and asking for their help to get a cab is totally fine. It is best to avoid hailing a cab on the street.
BOGOTÁ ⛰️🏙️
Activities
- The Botero Museum 🎨 (site; map) and adjoining museums are free, and I loved the Botero Museum and the special exhibition that was next door. Not to be missed!
- Ciclovía 🚲 (site) happens every Sunday. Use that day to go up to the neighborhood of Usaquén, get brunch at Abasto maybe? 🙂 and explore the Sunday crafts market in the streets in Usaquén, and wander back down through Ciclovía toward Zona Rosa and Zona G.
- Zona Rosa 🍽️🍸 (also known as Zona T, map) and Zona G (map) are more upscale neighborhoods, with a lot of restaurants, bars, etc.
Food & Drink
- Abasto 🍳☕ (site; map) in Usaquén (northern Bogotá, a nice place to start your Ciclovía experience) is one of the more beautiful places I’ve ever had brunch. Delicious food too… eggs served in cast iron skillets, big cups of Colombian coffee.
- Panadería Golconda 🍞 (map) is a great place to stop for roscones (circular corn pastries filled with guava paste) while you’re up in Usaquen on your Ciclovía day. Yum. Now you’ve got the energy to walk for miles.
- La Puerta Falsa ☕🍗🌽 (site; map) in La Candelaria (old historic center) is known for its tamal and chocolate. The hot chocolate comes in a whole plate set up with multiple breads, and the tamal is a huge banana leaf filled with rice, vegetables, and an entire chicken drumstick. It was rich and delicious.
- Ajiaco 🍗🌽 is a traditional soup from this region, with chicken and corn and vegetables. Keep your eye out for it.
- Andrés Carne de Res 🍽️🍸💃 (site; map) is one of the most famous restaurants. The main location is 20+ km north of the city, but my friend suggests just going to the much more accessible location in trendy Zona Rosa. Go at 7pm or so to get dinner (she highly suggests the lomo al trapo), and then stay and dance as the restaurant transforms into a nightclub. (I wasn’t able to experience this myself since I got sick when I was supposed to!)
CARTAGENA 🏝️🌅
Activities
Wander around the historic city center endlessly, and eat. By the time I got here, I was a little museum-ed out and didn’t go to many tourist attractions. I did not get bored — it’s small, but a charming, beautiful town, with tons of great places to eat and drink.
Don’t waste your time going over to the pretty high-rises you see in the distance. I did, and it was only interesting from the perspective of seeing what a crappy place you create when you line up many gated resorts in a row and abandon the public realm entirely (but if marveling at incomplete sidewalks is interesting to you, then…).
Food & Drink
- Restaurante Espiritú Santo 🍽️ (link; map): Open for lunch only. So inexpensive and delicious, with wonderful seafood.
- La Cevichería 🐟 (site; map) has a name that probably speaks for itself. And it was gooood!
- Ciocolatto Popbar 🍦 (link; map) had really delicious popsicles, including many different tropical fruit flavors. There are a few similar places nearby (La Paletería was also great).
MEDELLÍN 🚡🌆
I stayed at Black Sheep Hostel in El Poblado neighborhood. I loved the location, and had my own room for 65,000 COP/night. This is a great neighborhood to stay in, with options at all price points.
Activities
- El Poblado (map) is a beautiful neighborhood to walk around, including Parque del Poblado and Parque Lleras.
- Museo Casa de la Memoria (site; map) is a very moving museum about the country/region’s history with armed conflict. There are amazing interactive exhibits. It’s mostly in Spanish.
- Cable cars 🚡 (site) A unique experience in Medellín is to ride the cable cars! These are more than just a unique transit mode — they were integral to turning things around for Medellín, taking it from the murder capital of the world to a model city. To learn more about that, check out this episode of the 99% Invisible podcast before you go.
Food & Drink
- Pergamino Cafe ☕ (site; map) is a wonderful coffee shop where you can taste some of the best local coffees.
- Al Alma 🥐🍳 (site; map) was a beautiful place to get brunch.
- Get arepas! 🌽 I will never forget the arepas de chócolo con queso (corn arepas with cheese, and a generous amount of butter). Arepa con huevo has an egg in the middle and is a delicious breakfast or snack. So many delicious arepas.
Places I didn’t go
I only scratched the surface of Colombia, and would love to go back to more of the places my friends recommended. These are some of the places I didn’t make it to, but would be on my list for a next trip…
- The Eje Cafetera ☕ is the primary coffee-producing region. If you have more time in Medellín, there are some day trip tours, or you could do a few days.
- Guatapé 🚣 is north of Medellín, and is a stunning town with beautiful lakes. There are lots of easy day trip packages to go there.
- Parque Tayrona 🏝️🏞️ is the most popular national park in the country, located just east of the city of Santa Marta, which is a popular base for exploring that whole part of the coast. It’s a multi-day thing to go to Tayrona, involving walking a few miles from the end of the road to where the places to stay in the park are.
- From Cartagena, the owner of Marco Polo suggested going to Isla del Encanto 🏖️ instead of the island I visited (Isla Grande in the Islas del Rosario national park). The island I went to was also very beautiful, but I decided to stay somewhere very… natural… with no electricity or lighting, and not the finest mosquito nets. There is also a modern hotel on Isla Grande however (Hotel Majagua).