Colombia tips...

Hi I live in Colombia at the moment and one of my favourite places is Salento, if you're a countryside guy you'd probably love it, there's lots of walking and huge palm trees. It's quite close to Armenia.
Definitely do the Ciudad Perdida trek if you can, it's awesome! It's through jungle and up hills, seriously fun.
If you like whales the humpbacks come to the Pacific coast at this time of year. You can get a boat to see them from Buenaventura which is a pretty grim city but it's fine to pass through and I loved seeing them.
I've got a blog about Colombia at https://frontierfreedrifting.com/ there's not loads on it yet but it could help.
Hope you have a great time!

If you run short on time, Ciudad Perdida would be my #1 suggestion, instead of Leticia.
If you like archeological sites look at San Agustin in the south.
In/around San Gil outdoor activities are popular - also worth to consider, along with a short visit to nearby Barichara, a small colonial town.

Thanks, good suggestions. I like the idea of Salento but am struggling to fit it into a 'route'. I'm very keen to get in some form of jungle action since it's the one thing I haven't done in SA yet in terms of landscape! Leticia appealed as it's only 2hrs from Bogota and about $60 return!

Is Ciudad Perdida sufficiently jungley? Not sure if my boots are up to it! ;)

Is Ciudad Perdida sufficiently jungley? Not sure if my boots are up to it! ;)

If you like trekking that shouldn't pose a problem for you. I wore trainers. Yes, it's muddy at places and you'll be crossing a stream several times, probably with your shoes on.

Hello.
We ´ve travelled across Colombia many tiems (my partner is from Bogotá)... and South America.
3 weeks is short for Colombia as you need time to take a bus (The country is big and there are big mountains).
FOr that short time I think too much time will go in Ciudad Perdida (and it´s expensive by the way).
Same for Leticia. And it´s just a town (limitary feeling there). To live the jungle you need to navigate the Amazon river, go to the villages... So time! and also quite expensive in Colombia. We did Iquitos-Leticia-Manaus, great experience... True, with VivaColombia return tickets are around 60$ + leticia tax.
Night in Ipiales (Lajas is a nice place) maybe better than Pasto even if next day longer way to Popayan... or Laguna COcha near Pasto (Nice countryside, green).
Popayan. for the colonial city 1 day is OK, surroundings villages, cheap thermal baths...
The you have to decide...
By land...Tierradentro and San Agustin are nice, countryside, and nice and cheap accommodation. Then up to Bogotá.
Or Eje cafetero, Salento and Valle de Cocora so beautiful.
Then from Bogotá, fly to Santa Marta and do Tayrona... the Cartagena.
On our blog in spanish many useful infos.
Enjoy.

If you're going through Popayan, and you love it in the countryside, you really should make time for San Augustin, with it's hundreds of famous statues. It's actually a much larger collection of archaeological sites than the Ciudad Perdida, and the setting is the hills is pure countryside. It takes at least 2 whole days to see it, not counting the transport to get to/from there. Mocoa nearby is great too, with similar Andes foothills landscape like San Augustin, but absolutely nothing like Leticia, which is lowland jungle right on the Amazon river.

Gracias a todos!

Some great suggestions here, I am just going to see where I end up rather than over-planning but a few people have suggested Salento now so I think this may be worth a look.

Safe travels!

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