Colombia Road Trip: Itinerary and Safety

Hi everyone! So happy to be back on this forum—it’s packed with such useful info! 🙂 My husband and I are planning a 2.5-week self-drive trip to Colombia at the end of the year, including some domestic flights. My first question is: is it possible, easy, and safe to do a road trip in Colombia?

Below is our draft itinerary (with questions at each stop):

29/11: France → Colombia. Overnight in Bogotá. 30/11: Exploring Bogotá: La Candelaria and Montserrate. 01/12: Gold Museum (closed on Mondays). Drive to Zipaquirá (1.5 hrs) to visit the Salt Cathedral. Then drive to Villa de Leyva (3 hrs). Explore the town. Overnight in Villa de Leyva. 02/12: Return to Bogotá via Laguna de Guatavita (5 hrs). Is it worth the detour? Overnight in Bogotá. 03/12: Flight to Pereira. Drive to Salento. Overnight in Salento. 04/12: Cocora Valley (hike among the wax palms) followed by a drive around the area. Are there any waterfalls or other sights nearby? 05/12: Visit a coffee finca—any recommendations? Then explore the surroundings: Filandia, Manizales, waterfalls? Hot springs? Which ones? 06/12: Flight to Medellín. 07/12: Exploring Medellín: Centro, Plaza Botero, Comuna 13. How do you visit Comuna 13? Is it easy to get around Medellín? Metro? Buses? 08/12: Drive to Guatapé (2 hrs). Visit the town, stroll around the lake, then El Peñol. Overnight in Guatapé. 09/12: Return to Medellín. 10/12: Flight to Santa Marta. Drive to a hotel near Tayrona Park. 11/12: Tayrona—El Zaino entrance. 12/12: Tayrona—Palangana entrance, then Bahia Concha and Santa Marta. What do you think? 13/12: Drive to Minca (45 mins). Can we reach the village by car? Pozo Azul and Marinka waterfalls. Overnight in Minca (or back in Tayrona?). 14/12: Drive to Puerto Nao (5 hrs). Stop in Ciénaga on the way + boat tour in Nueva Venecia and/or Buena Vista? Not enough time? Overnight in Puerto Nao. 15/12: Exploring Cartagena: Centro, Getsemaní, the walls + La Boquilla if we have time. 16/12: La Boquilla (is it really worth it?) if we didn’t have time yesterday, then back to the beach. 17/12: Return to France.

So, what do you think? Is this doable, or should we tweak it? Thanks in advance for your invaluable feedback and tips! 🙂

Hi, first question—what do you mean by "autotour"? Did you already book your domestic flights? For your itinerary, it’s pretty classic, so you won’t have any safety issues (unless Trump invades Colombia or kidnaps the Colombian president). I don’t know if you’re calculating your travel times with Google Maps, but here’s a tip: don’t rely on them. Always leave an extra 2-hour window for your trips. For getting around cities, I’d recommend taxis—they’re really cheap in Colombia. For visiting Comuna 13 in Medellín, just go to the entrance of the neighborhood; there are tons of guides waiting there. Otherwise, you can wander around and join a group when there are explanations somewhere... For your stay in Santa Marta, I’d suggest staying in the Zaino entrance area and taking the bus to the different entrances. It runs every 20 minutes and costs 6,000 COP. For Minca, spend the day there and return to your accommodation in Tayrona. Since you seem to prefer the beach for the end of your trip, I’d skip Cartagena entirely and spend the last week around Santa Marta—there are lots of great spots and, incidentally, beaches that are much less crowded with fewer vendors than in Cartagena... but it depends on where you’re flying back to France from....

Hi there. Thanks so much for your replies! So, basically, we rent a car in each place we stay, and between the different spots, we take a flight. Yes, we’ve already booked our domestic flights with flexible fares. For driving times, I check Google Maps and know we need to allow plenty of extra time—maybe even a lot!

For the end of our trip, we’re not necessarily prioritizing the beach, but we do want to see Cartagena. We’d just like to spend the last day relaxing on the hotel beach where we’ll be... nice and quiet. We’ve definitely taken note about the taxis and visiting Comuna 13. 😏

Hi Petitbanjo, Great idea to travel to Colombia! You should take advantage of it while tourists haven’t driven prices up too much yet. We’ve just returned (a group of 3) from a 3-week trip mostly in the central part of the country: Bogotá, a flight to Neiva, then a road trip to Medellín, a flight to Bucaramanga, and finally a road trip back to Bogotá. We chose a Bogotá-based agency, CAPOA TOURS, for transportation, guides, and hotels. Everything was fantastic: drivers, guides, hotels, visits, fincas, etc. Communication with the agency was perfect. They even lent us a phone to reach them if needed. We usually rent cars or take buses in South America, but we’re glad we didn’t stick to that habit this time. Driving in cities and the countryside is really complicated. Roads are in poor condition, there are huge trucks everywhere, and motorcycles require constant attention. According to one guide, there are more motorcycle fatalities than drug-related deaths. For the Guatavita Lagoon (altitude 3,100m—oxygen can be scarce), the explanations are given by a Spanish-speaking guide and are quite interesting. In Salento, we spent a morning at a coffee farm, Finca Casa Vieja, with Santiago as our guide and the owner. Chocolate and tobacco fincas are also worth visiting for the chance to connect with locals. We had a guide from the agency for Comuna 13. Definitely a must-do. Taking the metro and a cable car is also worth it, as are Botero’s statues. Guatapé is a beautiful town, and the view from El Peñol (750 steps) is incredible. We ate very well, but watch out for portion sizes—we often ended up sharing a dish between two of us. Happy trip planning!

merci beaucoup pour votre réponse que je ne vois que maintenant (désolée :-( )