Eje Cafetero

Well dammit

I just typed a big reply and the server didn`t like me putting in a link and deleted all my text!

In summary, yes Salento is great.Very busy for the long weekend as a popular tourism spot for the locals. Stay at Plantation House owned by Tim who will sort you out finca tours/walks/horse riding whatever.

Yes the baths are good. Go to Pereira and then town of Santa Rosa. Road leads up to super expensive hotel but baths 1km before this are reasonable and very nice. Cheap accomodation along the road or back in town, same with food.

Besides that, there is basically exploring the region, driving some great roads (stay off the main drag for some exceptional roads carved into cliffs etc.

Photos of Colombia - Click on the chapter for the thermals

Gracias Richie.

Is the Parque del Cafe worth it? I hear it's quite expensive (COP 30,000), and I know how cheesy touristy things in Colombia can be...

Dont know I didnt go!

Struck me as very touristy and there are some recomended coffee fincas you can stay on. I would personally opt to stay on a farm instead of recreated coffee village when you can just go see the real thing!

might be fun, sorry can`t help more.
try the website of Black Sheep Medellin hostel (google it) - the owner has some recomendations

Tims Plantation House has some info and links to the things to do around there, as does the Black Sheep as said above. I emailed Tim as I wanted to make a reservation, and mentioned to him I was thinking about doing the various things, and he said he wouldn't recommend the coffee park to me- more of a disneyland with a coffee theme. Might be great if you're travelling with children though. Saying that- I do like rollercoasters and they have one. From what I can see from the parks website, you can get different passes that allow different access levels to the attractions, or you can pay individually for each attraction/ride you want to do.
As Richie says above, he recommended more the real coffee farms. They're very helpful people -- not even met them yet, so email them and ask for more info.

Hi there, and thanks for the info. Could you put up Tim's Plantation House contact details? He's not in the LP.

Also, can anyone recommend either Parque Ucumari or Sanctuario Otun Quimbaya?

Which are the better thermal baths - Santa Rosa or San Vicente?

thanks

Just got back, so here's a head's up. Cocora is nice (but not amazing). The Amaime hike is a good 5 hours - you don't have to be Superman to do it, but it helps to be fit (one friend bottled out after 1 hour, the other kept going but did moan on quite a bit...). Worthwhile though (going the extra mile up the "montaña" at the end makes for a short cut, because the walk down friom there is very easy) - and you get the best palm tree views on the way down from there.

We went to the San Vicente thermal baths, which everyone says is nicer (because more natural) than Santa Rosa. It's a good 45 mins on a bumpy unpaved road - you don't need a 4x4 but it helps. It's nice enough but not very classy (teeming with big Colombian families, and it feels a bit like I imagine Butlins or Pontins to be like). But I was there on a long weekend - mid-week is probably a world away.

The coffee park is quite nice - calm (even on a long weekend) and interesting and not tooo Disney-like. COP 16,000 (US$ 7) to get in. Worthwhile on the whole.

We stayed in Salento, which I'd recommend. There's not much to do, but it's pretty and chilled - most of the "finca hotels" in e.g. Armenia are - at least on weekends - packed out with large Colombian families (especially if they have pools).