3-4 weeks in Colombia October

Hi everyone,

I have done a lot of reading, research and seeking recommendations but as with everyone my itinerary is slightly individual so I would really appreciate the advice of people who have done similar parts of my trip. My main question is:
1. I'll be in Colombia in October. I arrive in Cartagena as the beginning of the month. Realistically, is the rain going to impact on the trip? Will some things not be recommended e.g. cuidad perdida, amazon, pacific coast?

and also, any general comments on the below plan. i haven't allocated any times as prefer to sort this out as i go:

*arrive cartagena (fixed arrival, have to start here)
*travel to santa marta via baranquilla
*ciudad perdidad
*fly from santa marta to medellin
*add in a pacific coast trip for whale watching. options are fly from medellin, or medellin to cali and then go to buenaventura
*cali, then on to bogota
*bogota fly to leticia for amazon trip
*boat trip out to iquitos and fly on to lima. Need to be in Lima for 30/10

This trip plan is also potentially slightly expensive, I guess I'll have to moderate the remainder of my trip!! Thanks for any thoughts on this plan.

October is the height of rainy season for much of Colombia. So yes, rain could easily impact your trip. I'm not sure you'll find tour operators organizing trips to the Ciudad Perdida that time of the year. You're likely to get better weather in southern Colombia then, including Leticia.

If I had a month, I'd want to include the Zona Cafatera, the coffee region. You could do that stopping at places like Manizales and Salento, if you use bus to go from Medellin to Cali.

If you can't get to the Ciudad Perdida because of the rain, consider going to San Augustin in southern Colombia instead. It's a fascinating archeological site, and the weather should be better down there in October.

I can also recommend going to La Guajira visiting Punta Gallinas and Cabo de la Vela. It is a interesting desert with beautiful beaches and indigenous communities. It is a place like no other with awesome sea food and it is pretty save in regards to weather - expect hot, sunny and windy.

Don't go to Cali, it has very little of interest. I have spent a total of 6 months of my life there on holiday and apart from leaving it to go to more interesting places, I enjoyed very little of it.

Minca near Santa Marta is well worth visiting as is Tayrona. For the amazon I read in the book watching guide there are cheaper places than Leticia I will check what it said.

To make things more difficult for you, if you are into things like rafting, mountain biking, hiking, etc check out San Gil, it is just north of Bogota and easily worth spending a few days before heading off to Bogota.

Also coming from Santa Marta, it is worth looking into spending some time in Tayrona national park. I was there last year in the middle of September and rain was not an issue.

There is also a small town just north of Tayrona called Palomino which was one of my favourite places I visited in Colombia. There are only a couple hostels in the area and it is on a mostly deserted stretch of beach. Every night at midnight, the bar at the hostel would close and everyone would head out to drink on the beach under the stars. Very little light polution so if it is a clear night, you will see a beautiful sky. 2 of the nights i was there i also saw phosphorescents in the water which makes a late night swim even more fun. There's river tubing (think a poor man's Vieng Vieng) and people go horseback riding, but this is mostly just a place to hang out and enjoy the beach.

The one caveat to going here is that this is not somewhere to go get a great cultural Colombian experience. For the most part, i was just spending my time with other back packers and you are sheltered from the town unless you walk in to eat. But i met some great people when I was there and it was a great part of my trip.

it's only 45 minutes-1 hour past Tayorna, i left Santa Marta and took the 2 hour bus to Palomino, spent 4 days there and spent 1 night (2 days) in Tayrona on my way back - It was a great way to spend 6 days of my trip

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