Not sure how many people are interested, but I always like to read other people's trip reports when planning a trip and wish more people who ask questions would return and report after their travels.
We are a mid aged, mid budget couple of travelers and visited Colombia along with Ecuador and Chile this trip (reports on those branches to follow). We don't party/ shop/ tan. We only speak "tourist level" Spanish and it was our first time in these countries, although we have made several other trips to other countries in Latin America. We are country people at home, but on our travels usually enjoy a range of country and city time. We don't have to see all the sights, we like just seeing how people live their lives.
We started out with 4 nights in Bogota staying in a hotel on Avenida Jimenez- pretty much the border between the old town and the cbd. Avenida Jimenez looks like a big busy road on maps, but as it is mostly a bus route and closed to private traffic in that section it was not at all bad, and quite suitable for walking by the long water feature. We felt comfortable there day and night but we are not party people and go home after dinner. We had easy access to all that the old town has to offer as well as to the pedestrianised Septimazo and the cable car up the hill. We liked access to "3rd wave" coffee shops (branches of Arte y Pasion and Contraste coffee lab) nearby. We also loved fresh juices from street carts around town. The highlight of our time in Bogota was a walking tour with the original Bogota graffiti tour. Our guide, Jay, was so knowledgeable, likeable, organised and passionate it was a privilege to go along. We learnt a lot about both graffiti and Colombia- he just wishes that people would stop watching "Narcos" on Netflix. We also visited the gold museum, the Botero museum (excellent and free with well displayed European masters as well as lots of Boteros), strolled the Septimazo its full length, walked to the base station for the cable car (guidebooks say this is sketchy but it felt fine during the day, tons of uni students around, and our hotel said it was fine) up the cable car to the church/gardens/view on top. We took tons of photos in Bogota and felt very happy to be there. We wished we'd had a little longer (we never made it to the more upmarket parts of town to the North), and particularly wished that we had been there on a Sunday (when many of the roads are closed and you can bike around areas that are otherwise hard to access). - A great stay in Bogota!
We then went to Villa De Leyva- it takes a long while to get there - took us close to five hours including getting to the bus station, which means it's too far for a short trip, but not really worth a longer one. We had a lovely place to stay in a traditional courtyard building and the staff could not have been kinder (no English, but we could all get by). The town is attractive but VERY touristy (mostly Colombians), we had some OK food here but also several meals that were the worst of our trip. We wandered the surrounding countryside, terracotta house etc. A lot of the surrounding countryside is pretty dry and barren. We were pretty underwhelmed by what we had anticipated that we would really enjoy. If you are fit and well acclimatised, then the hike and park Iguaque might be worth visiting for some Altiplanos landscape and frailejons. Overall felt like we had spent time here that could have been better spent elsewhere, especially given the time taken to get here and back from Bogota.
After returning to Bogota, we flew to Cartagena. It has a totally different feel to elsewhere in Colombia. We stayed in a charming Airbnb in Getsemani - great spot close to Plaza Trinidad. Old town and Getsemani both very photogenic. It is touristy but considering that we were there over Semana Santa it was not terrible. Lots of choices of all kinds of cuisine. If someone only has limited time I would prioritise Bogota and Medellin, but if you can fit Cartagena in it is a unique place with a distinctive Caribbean vibe.
From Cartagena we flew to Medellin for four days. We stayed in an Airbnb in the Laureles- Estadio area. It was a nice neighbourhood, leafy, lots of restaurants and cafes, easy access to the metro and the football stadium. We did a walking tour with Zippy tours in Comuna 13. I 100% recommend a visit to Comuna 13 but was very disappointed with Zippy tours especially compared with our walking tour in Bogota. It had too many people, our guide was rushing the whole time, lacked knowledge or enthusiasm for the subject matter, finished up well before the other group even after having spent ages at her family juice business. I didn't use them but suggest Casa Kolacho would be a much better choice. Comuna 13 itself was great and we enjoyed our time there a lot more once the tour had finished. We also liked riding the cable car from San Javier metro. We were so impressed with the changes that theses infrastructure projects have bought to disadvantaged communities. It gave the whole city a really positive outlook and so much better than just increasing policing. We also enjoyed Parque San Antonio (Botero's two peace birds - whole and bombed), the sculpture park, Park Arvi, Museo de Antequioa, city centre, the botanic gardens (Iguanas) and surroundings (more street art). If you have any interest in wholesale markets you will enjoy plaza Minorista (great for a juice or street food) - lots of photo opportunities . We didn't fit in a Real City tour (either of the central area, or even better the one to Moravia)- said to be excellent. We didn't get to visit El Poblado (where many gringos stay and play), or a football game (although we sure heard the crowds), and there are more cable cars popping up everywhere that we would have wanted to ride and nor could we fit a trip to Guataupe and La Piedra. Medellin would be top of my list for a revisit to fit these things in next time. It also seems to be growing in popularity with expats and just has a great feeling of positivity and welcoming visitors after such a tragic past.
After Medellin we flew to Armenia for a visit in Salento. We stayed in a hotel on the edge of town, close to the view point. Salento was also very pretty but very touristy (we saw more gringos and heard more English here than anywhere else), but tons of Colombians too who are enjoying being tourists in their own country again. There are a few activities that are almost obligatory- visiting and hiking Valle de Corcora, visiting a coffee farm, Filandia etc. We had two of the best dinners of our trip at a tiny restaurant run by a lovely Venezuelan lady on Cr4 (forget the name) It would be nice to strike out on your own for walks etc but it is very hilly. In Valle de Corcora, conventional wisdom has you taking an anticlockwise route so that the palms are the grand final, however we preferred the opposite as the palms look much more impressive from below than above and you can tackle the climb to la Montana when fresher. We had a very pleasant stay although it wasn't really my kind of place. The countryside here is beautiful, and I imagine that the coffee towns while not so charming would provide a much more interesting look at people living life. I believe that you can access some longer hikes into the national park which could be worthwhile. So I recommend either more rural or less, but not getting sucked into the "popular colonial" villages.
All in all we found our trip a great first visit to Colombia, it was very affordable, we always felt safe, we appreciate that the trail while well trodden by backpackers, certainly hadn't succumbed to mass tourism yet, and recommend a visit sooner rather than later.
