Santa Fe - Merida in 1 day

We're looking for an efficient way of getting from Santa Fe to Merida in one day. Our plan is to leave Santa Fe in the morning and catch an afternoon flight from Caracas to Merida (I suppose that there are no direct flights between Merida and any of the airports near Santa Fe). Questions are:
- is it possible to get directly to the airport (without coming to the city of Caracas)?
- how many days in advance should we arrange the tickets?

Thanks for any info and other suggestions for making this route.

the nearest airport from santa fe would be Barcelona (flight to caracas takes 45min). From pto la cruz it's about 30minutes taxi ride (but from santa fe to pto la cruz tkaes also some time). Maybe you can even catch a bus from pto la cruz to merida (overnight?) We bussed from santa fe to the llanos in 1 day (from santa fe to pto la cruz and pto la cruz to mantecal, changed buses in marracay i believe), no problem, so merida is possible too

Hi,

You would necessarily have to fly or bus into Caracas ino rder to fly or go by bus to Merida. If flying, fly from Barcelona in the morning and connect to Merida in the early afternoon.

If going by bus take it from Puerto La Cruz or Barcelona to Caracas. Take the night bus to Merida at 09:00p.m. Arrive in Merida at approx. 10:00a.m. the following morning.

You could also combine fyling and taking the bus. For example bus to Caracas and then fly to Merida, of fly to Caracas and then by bus to Merida.

Hope you find this info useful.

All the best,

Thomas

Caracas
berry_venezuela@hotmail.com