THE FOUNDING DEPARTURE · 2027
Classic Colombia
Colombia’s story, from Muisca gold to today, in eleven days.
11 days · Bogotá, the Coffee Region, Medellín and Cartagena · 8 guests · From £3,995 per person
Why this journey
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Eight guests, never more
Small enough for one table at dinner, with private transport and specialist local guides throughout.
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The story, in chapters
Read The Story of Colombia before you fly. Each day is a chapter, and each evening your host explains how it fits.
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Time with the people who lived it
Casa de la Paz with people who lived the conflict, lunch at Mamá Luz, and Comuna 13 with people who live there.
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Fair booking terms
Set out in full before you pay anything, with a full refund if the departure doesn’t run.
The journey, day by day
Most people arrive in Colombia with a picture of the country that’s twenty years old. This journey replaces it with the real story: the Muisca and their gold, the colonial order, coffee, half a century of conflict and a hard-won, unfinished peace, and finally Cartagena, the port where Spain’s galleons loaded South America’s gold and silver, and where enslaved Africans were brought ashore.
Each day is a chapter, and each evening your host explains what you’ve just seen.
DAYS 1–3
Bogotá
Day 1 · Prologue: the city in the clouds
Private transfer to the HAB Hotel (or similar) in Bogotá, 2,640 m up in the Andes. A gentle afternoon to adjust to the altitude, then a welcome dinner: Colombia in an hour.
Meals: Dinner
Day 2 · Gold, and the long road to peace
Monserrate and Plaza de Bolívar. Casa de la Paz, where people who lived the conflict now build the peace. Fragmentos, a floor forged from melted weapons. Lunch at Mamá Luz, a kitchen with a story of displacement and survival. The day ends among the Muisca treasures of the Gold Museum.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
Day 3 · Salt, faith and the colonial order
Paloquemao market and a tasting of 20 Colombian fruits. In the afternoon, go 180 m underground into the Zipaquirá Salt Cathedral, then walk colonial Zipaquirá.
Meals: Breakfast
DAYS 4–5
The Coffee Region
Day 4 · Coffee: the crop that made modern Colombia
Fly to Pereira, in the heart of the Coffee Region. At Finca Lusitania near Filandia, follow coffee from seedling to roasting to your own cup, and learn how one crop shaped modern Colombia. Two nights at Sazagua Hotel Boutique (or similar), in the countryside outside Pereira.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 5 · The land itself
Walk among the wax palms of the Cocora Valley. They’re Colombia’s national tree and the tallest palms on Earth, some nearly 60 m high. It’s a moderate walk with a 300 m climb. Afterwards, time in Salento, a small coffee town of painted balconies.
Meals: Breakfast
DAYS 6–8
Medellín
Day 6 · Into Antioquia
A day on the road through the mountains to Medellín, the city of eternal spring. Hotel Quinta Ladera (or similar).
Meals: Breakfast
Day 7 · The city that refused to stay broken
Comuna 13, once one of Medellín’s most dangerous neighbourhoods, with people who live there. Then the House of Memory, and the Metrocable, the cable car that tied the hillside neighbourhoods to the city.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 8 · Drowned towns and new beginnings
The painted town of Guatapé and the great rock of El Peñol (around 700 steps to the top, optional). Below it lies the reservoir, which flooded the old town of El Peñol in 1978. Its people rebuilt their town on the hillside nearby.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
DAYS 9–11
Cartagena
Day 9 · Empire, silver and slavery
Fly to Cartagena. In the afternoon, San Felipe Castle, the fortress that helped hold off a British fleet in 1741, then the walled city. Nácar Hotel Cartagena (or similar).
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
Day 10 · The Caribbean, at last
A private speedboat to the Rosario Islands, a national park of coral reefs. Snorkel, swim, or simply rest.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 11 · Epilogue
Breakfast, then a transfer to Cartagena airport for your flight home.
Meals: Breakfast
THE FOUNDING DEPARTURE
Departing 2027
£3,995
per person, sharing a room
8 places. Hosted throughout by our founder.
Single supplement on request, until our ground team confirms the price.
What’s included
10 nights in hotels we’ve chosen, private transport, specialist local guides, the meals listed, all entrances, The Story of Colombia and the Classic Colombia Companion, a meet-the-group call, and a welcome dinner.
Not included
International flights; the two domestic flights (about £200–£250, and we tell you exactly which to book); travel insurance.
How you pay
A deposit secures your place, and the balance is due before departure. The exact amounts and dates are in our booking terms, which you’ll see before you book.
Fair booking terms
Set out in full before you pay anything. If the departure doesn’t reach four guests, everything you’ve paid is refunded.
Dietary needs arranged on request. Tell us when you book.
Not ready to talk yet? Read The Story of Colombia free, by email.
Is this journey for you?
Pace: moderate. Expect cobbled streets, a few farm and valley trails, and Bogotá’s altitude at 2,640 m. The climb up El Peñol is optional.
Who travels with us: curious, well-travelled people, as couples or on their own.
Questions
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Read our honest answer on the Is Colombia safe? page. The short version: this route stays well clear of the areas the UK Foreign Office advises against, and we’ll be with you throughout.
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You’re very welcome. There’s a single supplement, or we can pair you with another solo traveller who’d like to share.
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Your international flights into Bogotá and home from Cartagena. For the two domestic flights, we tell you exactly which to book, so the group travels together.
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British citizens don’t need one for stays of up to 90 days. Colombia’s online Check-MIG form is optional, but filling it in before you fly can speed up arrival. Check the Foreign Office’s entry requirements page for the latest.
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Check TravelHealthPro and speak to your GP or a travel clinic about 8 weeks before you go.
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Yes. It’s a condition of booking.
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You pay a deposit to secure your place and the balance before departure. The exact amounts and dates are in our booking terms, which you’ll see before you book. If the departure doesn’t run, everything you’ve paid is refunded.
Still have questions?
Talk to us before you decide. A free 30-minute call, with no obligation.