From Medellin to the jungles of Tayrona National Park
Colombia is the typical South American country where you can find a mix of everything: nature and developing cities, poverty and luxury, crazy traffic, people smoking pot on the streets, wildlife, backpackers, you name it. A lot of first time travellers in South America started in Colombia. We personally liked it, however we prefer the places which are more remote or more traditional. Although it is great for those who come here just to have fun, I think it can be a bit challenging to get to those really remote places.
Despite its bad reputation in the past, Colombia developed a lot recently and it is a country with a lot to offer. However, it is an extremely big country and it would take weeks to explore it all. Therefore, we only chose some places which were most appealing to us. But first, let`s start with some useful facts.
How to get there
The fastest way to get there is by plane. Bogota is the main entry point into the country, at least with the major airlines and the intercontinental ones. Also, we noticed there are some good deals from Europe to Bogota, around 600-700 euros round-trip.
One interesting fact is that there is no road from North/ Central America to Colombia, not even a primitive one, across the Darién: Colombia and Panama are the only countries in the Americas that share a land border but lack even a rudimentary link. The gap interrupts the Pan-American Highway, which breaks at Yaviza, Panama and resumes at Turbo, Colombia roughly 106 km away.
Visa
Colombia exempts a group of 102 nationalities and territories from the Visitor (V) visa for short- stay visits (stays of less than 90 days). Please consult your country`s Ministry of Exterior information to check if your country is included on the list.
Useful facts
Before moving on, here is some good to know stuff:
- If you go in the nature/ jungle regions ( which probably you will do ) – HAVE SOME GOOD DEET INSECT REPELENT! There are some small insects that bite you like crazy and the bites are very itchy and form blisters ( not sure what are the insects called but they can be found in Machu Pichu as well ). It is one of the most annoying things ever!!
- Colombia is a super big country and it is very mountaineous/ hilly – even distances that seem small can take a lot of time – therefore it is best to travel by plane in between places, unless you have some 12-13 hours to spend for a one way trip in between regions
- There are many airlines flying domestic routes in the country, some of them very cheap BUT read the reviews before getting excited for a cheap ticket; sometimes it is more expensive to book tickets for a last minure cancelled flight ( we personally opted for Latam and had only good experiences )
- Uber works quite well in the country( at least the parts we have been ), although it is illegal
- Medellin is way better than Bogota, from what friends told us ( if you have to choose between the two, go for Medellin )
- If you land in Medellin form an international destination, be prepared to spend 1-2 hours in the passport control
- In general card/ contactless payments work well but it is good to have cash in some regions ( for example Tayrona )
- Learn some Spanish or at least have an app to translate – most of the people do not speak English
Safety
In general, we felt safe throughout our stay. Not sure if we were just lucky. However, in Medellin at least, there were some dodgy areas. We constantly smelled marijuana on the streets and ocasionally saw people doing cocaine, as well. We read that the city centre of Medellin is not considered 100% safe and it is better to skip it. There are a lot of favelas looking quite bad, too.
However, we consider that if you respect the general rules such as: not walking alone at night, not going in areas which don`t look right, not displaying valuables etc, one should be fine.
Getting around
As mentioned above, being such a big country in a hilly landscape/ jungle, it takes ages to drive. So the fastest way to travel is by plane. There are many airlines doing domestic routes, some of them very cheap. However, we found that few had extremely bad reviews ( in terms of flight delays/ cancelations ) so we prefered to fly Latam, which seemed the most legit. We never had any problem with them, but their ticket prices are among the most expensive ones.
Our itinerary
We had only 9 days, which are not much in such a big country. When you substract the travel days within the country, you are not left with much. Therefore, we decided to go only to 2 regions: Medellin and Tayrona National Park.
We landed in Medellin from Peru, stayed 3 days there and then took a domestic flight to Tayrona, where we spent 5 days. After that we took another domestic flight to Bogota, where we had our flight back home.
Medellin – the city of eternal spring
This city has grown a lot in the past 10 years. From being one of the most dangerous cities in the world, now the streets are thriving with visitors. Positioned in between green hills, at about 1500 m altitude, this city looks stunning and has one of the best climates in the world. The way we saw it, is a combination of poor favelas and cool buildings with rooftop pools. The city has become famous for cleaning all the drug cartels and its green corridors which managed to lower the average temperature of the city by 2 degrees Celsius.
El Poblado is the neighbourhood with the best hotels and where you can find the coolest spots to hang out: brunch restaurants, specialty coffe shops, all sort of restaurants, shops, bars and clubs. To be honest, this was one of the few places in the world where we found so many amazing accommodations that it was hard to choose one! Although many people say that it is not the most authentic way to experience the city, I personally believe that this cool place deserves a visit.
Our hotel is called The Landmark and we absolutely loved it. They had a stunning rooftop pool and bar, 2 breakfast restaurants, spa, gym and a self laundry room ( where you can wash and dry your stuff in aproximately 1 hour ) which came in very handy.
Another place which is a must visit is Comuna 13, which used to be the most dangerous place in the world in the ’90s. This neighbourhood is the living example of the transformative power of art. A more detailed history can be found here.
In this article you can find a list of interesting buildings in Medellin.
Other stuff good to know, it is reccommended not to walk alone at night, apart from El Poblado, which seemed quite safe. Uber is working extremely well and it is very cheap. Cashless payments work pretty much everywhere. The metro line is very cheap and is a combination of trains and gondolas. You can only pay cash, though.
Tayrona Natural Park
When it comes to Tayrona, there are 2 main things to consider: weather/ crowds and park closures.
I put weather and crowds in the same category because it is a trade off in general. Rainy season tends to be April-May and September- November and it is said that if you get into the shoulder period, you have the change to experience less people. We were there at the end of November and we felt that we got both: rain and crowds. 🙂
Park closures: cccording to the National Parks Institution, Tayrona Park will close its doors throughout the years in February, June and October. Check official websites for exact dates on each year.
Another thing to consider is the fact of spending the night in the park or not. The entry fee is about 15 $ per person per day. There are few buses in the park that bring you closer to the trails, but in general the trails can only be done by foot or by horse. Beaches are not easily accessible. There are few hotels in the park, but you can also camp or rent a hamoock. However, we felt it was too crowded even at the end of the rainy season.
The jungle itself and the beaches extend beyond the actual boundaries of the park and there are many hotels outside. However, there are few places you can stay in the park as well. Both our accommodations were outside the park.
We spent a total of 5 days and to be honest, Tayrona seemed to be a more wild place in the pictures than in reality. Not sure if our experience was just an isolate event but we didn`t manage to see as much wildlife as people say and the beaches looked pretty dissapointing for us. However, it could be related to the fact that we went at the end of November, towards the end of the rainy season, or is just simply our personal opinion.
We had a really nice experience though in The valley Tayrona, a concept of jungle hostel: where people could enjoy sleeping and showering in the nature while enjoying pool drinks and social activities in the hostel. That place was super cool and we 100% reccommend it. Be aware that you have to cross a small river to get there. 🙂
After that we moved to a place closer to the beach. However, we felt that the place is really crowded with tourists ( even if it wasn`t full season ), a lot of beaches were either closed or they had strong currents ( therefore not allowed to swim ).
Bear in mind that a lot of places, even though they look fancy and they are quite pricey, don`t have hot water.
Another place that we really enjoyed and is less known is called Minca and it is up in the mountains. We rented a scooter and drove up there to do a cocoa tour. The place is called Finca La Candelaria and it is quite hard to get there ( we had to park our scooter and go by foot ) but it is totally worth it. They do both coffee and cocoa tours and it is better to get in contact with them to check the times. In general they do cocoa tours every day at 10:30 and 12:00 but do check before. You can find them on google.maps or on Instagram.
Next, please enjoy out photo gallery( which is not a good as in other destinations, though ), shot on our DJI Mavic 3 Classic drone and Sony A7III, using mostly 35 mm, 85mm and 135 mm lenses.
