Revised Itinerary

This itinerary looks much better than the one you posted yesterday. You can do this one. The only thing I can see is you probably will want one or 2 nights more for Jardin/Jerico. This won't be a problem for you since you don't actually need to stay in Salento for 3 days, or there are other places where you can cut back by a day or 2.

If you rent a car in the Zona Cafatera, that gives you some mobility, so you can more easily explore the countryside. I would only suggest going to Manizales if you use that as a base to go up to the Los Nevados national park. Manizales isn't very intersting itself, though it does have a nice teleferico. Alternatively in the Zona cafatera, you could just arrange a stay on one of the coffee fincas, and soak up the campesino atmosphere.

If your itinerary stays as is you have to forget about Mongui. We went to Mongui before Villa de Leyva. We took a bus from Bogota to Sogamoso and then a bus to Mongui. From Villa de Leyva you will have to go to Tunja first, then Sogamoso and Mongui. And then back to Sogamoso and Tunja for San Gil and then Barichara.
I think it would take at least 3 hours from Villa de Leyva to Mongui and then once you are back in Tunja it would be 4.5 hours to San Gil, change bus stations and another 45 minutes to Barichara. So you would hardly have any time in Mongui. Skip it. Traveling there and then to Barichara takes too much time. Mongui is beautiful but Villa de Leyva is great too and I liked Barichara the best of all the towns we saw. Also, a big attraction for me in Mongui was the Paramo de Oceta hike but you need a day for that.

Villa de Leyva: apart from wandering through the town we also hiked up to El Santo early in the morning for a nice view. And we walked via Casa Terracota and El Infiernito to the Centro de Investigaciones Paleontologicas and loved it (the English tour was great) and El Fosil. We also hiked to Laguna de Iguaque, tough hike to a beautiful spot. I recommend you do that hike for sure as it is your chance to see the paramo (the frailejones are amazing). There were other hikes possible in the area. There is also a monastery but we didn't go there.

Barichara is beautiful. Great views as well. Don't miss the ecopark behind the Santa Barbara church. And check out the cemetery.

When you go from San Gil to Bucaramanga you can check out the Chicamocha Canyon. We wanted to go but the only day we had we were informed the road was closed because of a bicycle race...

Salento: it is a nice town. There is a viewpoint. There are coffee farms where you can take a coffee tour. There is the Kasaguadua natural reserve (an interesting project... two men are working to return former livestock pastures back to cloud forest.). And of course the Cocora valley where you can do a short hike or a long hike (I recommend the latter and go to Acaime as well to see the hummingbirds). Two days there is enough: one for Salento, Kasaguadua (if of interest) and a coffee tour. One for the Cocora Valley. But maybe this is where you will go horseback riding and then that could be day 3.

Sunday is a good day for Manizales. Try to see one park (we went to Los Alcazares for a hike and to see birds but there is also Recinto del Pensamiento).
There is also the cathedral and the Chipre viewpoint (and the Monumento a los Colonizadores) for the sunset. On Sunday the locals go there and it was a lot of fun. Great atmosphere. Good street food too. We also enjoyed the cable car.

You can't go to Jardin and Jerico in one day. You need at least a full day for Jardin and you first have to get from Manizales to Jardin. That can be an adventure. From Manizales you can take a bus to Riosucio. But make sure you are there in time for the bus to Jardin. We went from Jardin to Manizales: the bus to Riosucio was a chiva for part of the way... quite the experience, very narrow unpaved road and amazing views (3 hours). In Riosucio we took a bus to Manizales (2 hours).

Jardin: it is a beautiful town. A few nice hiking trails (look for birds) and you can go back to the village by cable car (don't miss the wooden one!). When we were there in February the waterfall in the cave (La Cueva del Esplendor) was closed for maintenance (not sure for how long) so that was unfortunate (you can hike or go by horse). We went to the cock-of-the-rock preserve (beautiful birds). We were there on a Saturday and loved watching the cowboys come into town in the evening with their trained horses. The tourist office in Jardin is quite helpful and will give you a map and tell you about hikes, things to do, buses...

As a day trip from Medellin we chose El Penol and Guatape. Never made it to Santa Fe.

So you chose La Guajira. Let me know how you like it. Another destination I kept reading about but could not get convinced about. As you know, I chose Tayrona (and Minca) instead.

Are you into salsa? Otherwise I would not worry about Cali. I have not been (well, we were there but only because our bus stopped there briefly) but I keep hearing it is just not that interesting.

I see no need for a car. In Salento we walked a lot and jeeps go everywhere as well (Cocora Valley...). Then take a bus to Pereira and a bus to Manizales. In Manizales we walked and took taxis. And the cable car.

Wonderful!!!

random things:

• what is the difference between a hacienda and a finca? do you recommend staying at one or the other in the zona cafetera, and committing to staying at the same one for the full 3-4 days? or would it be more fun to hop around and switch it up?
• my Moon guide recommends Salamina as the loveliest cafetera town and yet nobody sees to mention it much.
• re: Cali, I am on the fence. I don't think I would do more than 1 night (2 days) more as a way of "Checking the box". I am not a salsero, in fact i get kinda anxious around amazing dancers, but could this be my Dirty Dancing moment? Nobody puts Bobby in a corner.
• La Guajira took the place of Ciudad Perdida simply because it looks way weirder/wilder and more Mad Max (but with beaches!).
• So basically you're suggesting I drop Mongui or, if I do go, that I hit it first from Bogota... correct?

Do you think I am giving myself the appropriate time to see things overall?

And as a general note, how much pre-booking did you do re: hotels and tours? did you have everything locked up to a T when you got there?

THANK YOU !!!! :) :) :)

Roberto

If you just want to walk through the village you could go to Mongui first, I guess. For us the Paramo de Oceta was important. Mongui is beautiful and off the beaten path but I don't know if you want to commit to going there for an afternoon. You will see many other beautiful towns.

A finca is a farm and they are often called Hacienda... I don't know if there is a difference. I can't help because we didn't stay at one. We just went for a coffee tour. You could pick one for your stay in Salento maybe.

I have the Moon guide too and we looked at Salamina as well. And Filandia. And we almost went to Santuario... And we considered Tamesis... Sometimes places just seemed hard to get to. And actually, to be honest, at one point we just didn't need yet another village... But I am sure it is lovely.

We normally don't book much in advance at all because we like the flexibility. We had an Airbnb in Bogota, Cartagena and Medellin (all pretty early in our trip) and we booked those. Afterwards we just found a hotel when we arrived somewhere (I did have a list of places within our budget... but of course we also stayed at hotels that were not on the list) and for the first time we also used booking.com but only a day or so in advance and only if we thought we were getting a good deal. And we did almost everything on our own but if I did want to go on a tour I would wait till I was there. I do think you might want to book La Guajira a few days in advance. It does look quite wild but I would have wanted to go on my own. I think that would be more rewarding and it would of course give us more flexibility. After reading a lot about it I found it actually sounded quite touristy but I figured it would be better on our own. But it was not cheap and it takes time and I was just more excited by Tayrona. Tayrona can be crowded but I found a way to get away from the crowds. And I just love wildlife. I had never seen a titi monkey and I saw them there. And I was quite happy getting up at 5 am and watching howler monkeys for hours (I sat in the middle of the trail... and hardly anyone passed me as everyone was sleeping... and watched a father, mother and baby for an hour). Anyway, enjoy!

hey all

as of right now my itinerary lands me in VDL on the last weekend of August.

I heard it can get quite busy around there on weekends - is it busy in a "lively, lovely" way or in a totally obnoxious get-the-heck-outta-there way?

I could flip my itinerary around and hit the Zona Cafetera after my first 4 days in Bogota, then do VDL at the tail-end of my trip. Just wondering if it's worth reconfiguring the trip.

Weekends in towns like Salento and Jardin (assuming VDL is the same) were just busy with locals. Although the streets were packed I kind of liked it... It was a festive atmosphere. In Jardin the cowboys came to town with their trained horses. Great street food. In Salento people walked up to the viewpoint and the plaza had lots of street food and vendors. I actually thought weekends were great for people watching. Just sit outside and watch or mingle and enjoy Colombian culture. But I liked Mondays too... the peace and quiet when everyone had left.

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.