1

The beaches around Cartegena are not that great.

Start in Bogota for a few days and then spend a week around the Zona Cafeteria area. Choose from places like Armenia/Salento, Pereira, Manizales. Maybe do a trip to the Los Nevados National Park from Manizales. Then head onto Medillin. Then end your trip with 4 days in and around Cartegena.

Touristy but I liked it was the mud volcano near Cartegena.

2

Sorry mate, just noticed you were asking for hotel tips, not itinerary tips.

I stayed in Hostels when there so cannot really help you apart from saying stay in the Old Town of Cartegena.

3

No that's great thank you! We are looking for itenery ideas also.
So where would you say are the best beaches in Colombia?

4

I would like to offer you my suggestions for the best, most cost efficient accommodations in these beautiful cities. I highly recommend you stay at the residences of paisasky. You can find these wonderful people on the web at https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/651080 and http://paisasky.blogspot.com/. They are ranked #1 on tripadvisor. Here you will receive a 5 star complimentary breakfast any time you want complete with fruits, arepas, fresh squeezed juices, and unlimited coffee. You can also have all your clothes washed any time and you will have a 24 hour maid service. The bed is even a top quality tempurpedic mattress. Paisasky works hard to ensure that all services are top quality and you are treated like family.

When in Bogota, be sure to visit Monserrate, Museo del Oro, Botero, T-Zone, and Isaque. Also three hours from Bogota is the spectacular Villa de Leyva.

When in Medellin, be sure to go to the Catedral Metropolitana, Cerro Nutibara, Botero Plaza, Arvi, Guatape, and of course Santa Fe de Antioquia. There are great clubs and restaurants in las palmas, poblado, la 70, and Envigado.

When you visit Cartagena, be sure to visit Plaza santo domingo, the walled city, museo del oro,and the monserrate. The best clubs are Fragma, Babar, and Mr. Babillo. If you want a fine Italian cuisine, I highly recommend Dolce e Salato in Bocagrande.

Hope you enjoy your stay in Colombia and check out paisasky for the best experience of your life!!!

5

in cartagena stay in the old town or getsemani, in medellin in poblado, in bogota in the north part of chapinero...then of course spend the day visiting montserrate, candelaria erc...and at night go straight to zona G, 82, zona T , usaquen and enjoy....in poblado I recomend the kiwi hostel, in cartagena I usually stay in an old house very cheap and in bogota I like the area around calle 70...full of arts schools, photography's, language' s school etc and very nice place where to have a lunch or a dinner....taste "local" a very good restaurant on the carrera 9 and calle 69a ...good colombian food ....enjoy colombia

6

Thank you so much for all the tips! such a great help
I have also been told to visit Santa Marta, do you know how far this is from cartagena roughly? and would you just get the bus?

7

I couldn't agree with you more, a must-see in Colombia is Santa Marta, go to the Tayrona Park, that's amazing! If you need to planing the buses that you'll take go to my profile and there you can find a good search engine to find buses, In conclusion: Go to many as you can, Colombia is so beatiful.