The Best Two Week Itinerary in Colombia: Sea and Jungles

This post contains affiliate links, If you make a purchase through these links I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

I feel like Colombia is going to be a hot topic in the travel world. While Colombia has been on many people’s “too dangerous to visit list” for quite some years, it’s made some changes for the better. You have to be more on your toes than a visit to Europe but Colombia is a fantastic destination to visit. It can offer you a little bit of everything, beautiful coastline, gorgeous jungle, and historic cities. If you are the type of person that likes an adventure with a side of culture, this is the perfect vacation for you.

My itinerary here is a bit different than typical first-timer to Colombia itineraries. For this trip, it wasn’t a priority to visit cities. I went with the safe and relaxing option and chose to focus on Colombia’s natural highlights. I don’t have any regrets about this. Even though I chose to skip cities, the places I did visit are quite rightfully on the beaten path in Colombia.

I did this two-week Colombia itinerary in late March and had wonderful weather. In general, the best time to visit Colombia is December-March and June-September. This avoids the hottest and wettest months of the year. With two weeks in Colombia, you will have time to see some of Colombia’s top sights at a relaxed pace.

Top 5 Experiences to Have in Colombia

1. Spend some time wandering the forests of the world’s tallest palm trees in the Cocora Valley
2. Visit a coffee farm and taste some really good Colombian coffee
3. Appreciate the Caribbean coast and see some wildlife in Tayrona National Park
4. Soak up the jungle atmosphere and go swimming beneath waterfalls in Minca
5. Snorkel over a sunken plane in the Rosario Islands

Safety in Colombia

This is one topic that is always going to be changing so I recommend checking out any recent travel warnings, in Canada, here are Colombia’s travel warnings. It gives a good idea of areas to avoid travel as well as common scams and crimes and recommended vaccines.

In general, I felt safe when I was traveling in Colombia. For me, I felt the least safe in Cartagena, but only about being mugged or pickpocketed. Cartagena was the only place I didn’t use my DSLR camera. I was also very cautious about pulling my phone out. Colombia is not a walk-around with your phone and camera out kind of place. I counted only about 5 other DSLR cameras the whole time I was in Colombia, which is a huge change from traveling in North America or Europe. In Colombia, they have a saying that is “don’t give papaya” which means not to display wealth or you risk it being taken from you so keep this in mind on your visit.

If you are able to, book a travel doctor appointment at least a month before visiting Colombia. Depending on your exact itinerary, certain vaccines may be recommended. For this itinerary, antimalarials were not recommended but Yellow Fever was for Tayrona National Park. Tayrona National Park does require Yellow Fever vaccines for entry but I didn’t see them ask a single person. There are also optional vaccines that can help prevent sickness if you eat contaminated food. They definitely gave me more peace of mind.

Where to Stay in Colombia

Colombia has some really nice accommodations. You can stay as cheap as 10$ a night or really splurge. I chose to stay in hotels or private rooms at hostels. I found all of these places were really helpful with booking taxis or cars to and from airports. They were also great resources for where to eat and what to do in the area. All of these places have tons of hot water and good wifi connectivity.

I used booking.com for all of my accommodation bookings, here’s a round-up of where I stayed:

Salento: Hotel Salento Plaza Great location, great hosts, quiet, fantastic rooms
Minca: Casas Viejas by Masaya Favourite place I stayed, felt like a jungle oasis with massive rooms, infinity pool, loads of activities
Tayrona National Park: Senda Koguiwa Perfect location to visit Tayrona, great restaurant, extremely private and massive rooms, pool, beautiful grounds
Cartagena: Hotel Boutique Las Carretas Great location, great staff, nice rooms, fantastic breakfast and sitting areas

Spending Two Weeks in Colombia

Day 1: Arriving in Colombia and transiting to Salento

The most efficient flight route for this itinerary is to fly into Pereira or Armenia and out of Cartagena. In my case, I was able to get cheap tickets that were roundtrip to Cartagena so it required a bit more planning. If you are not flying directly to the Eje Cafetero (Coffee Region) then you likely will not arrive in Salento on the first day.

From Pereira or Armenia get the bus to Salento or arrange a private driver with the hotel you are staying at. I flew into Pereira and used private transport, it took about an hour. The drive between Pereira and Salento is absolutely gorgeous. You are surrounded by the Andes mountains and go by many fields of bananas and bamboo. As you approach Salento you drive through winding roads with towering cliffs covered in tropical plants and dripping in ferns.

I stayed at a hotel really close to the central plaza, Hotel Salento Plaza, and would happily stay there again. After checking in, use your time on your first day to explore the town. It’s the perfect time to check out Salento’s two viewpoints.

On your first day, I recommend you check out the little booth next to the Willy Jeeps as on the front you will find departure times and prices for Jeeps to the Cocora Valley and Filandia. On the back of the booth, there are prices for Jeeps and entry to different coffee tours.

Day 2: Cocora Valley

Plan to go to the Corcora Valley on whichever day has the clearest weather. I recommend going as early in the day as possible to avoid crowds and afternoon rain showers. You can find my full guide to Cocora Valley and Salento here.

With the Willy Jeeps, it is really easy to get to the Corcora Valley. The Corcora Valley was one of the highlights of my Colombia itinerary. It really is a beautiful area to hike in. Surrounded by the towering Andes and massive palm trees, I was constantly amazed by the scenery here.

It is fairly easy hiking though I would recommend hiking boots or shoes, especially if it’s muddy or wet. Overall the hike took me about 5 hours with lots of photography breaks. I was only able to go as far as the farm and back as there were mudslides that closed part of the trail.

Once you are done in Cocora, head back to Salento and grab an early dinner. After dinner, explore the shops on the main street and pick up any souvenirs or coffee that catches your eye. Salento is the best place on this itinerary to do souvenir shopping.

If you are up for it, try out a game of Tejo. This game is unique to Colombia and involves throwing metal pucks at explosives set in soft clay. You can find tejo in the basement of the pool hall. You’ll know it’s the right place because there is a plaque outside with the rules for tejo.

Day 3: Coffee Farms and Waterfalls

My recommendation for day three is to spend the morning horseback riding to the Santa Rita waterfalls. This activity should take about 3 hours and give you enough time to visit a coffee farm in the afternoon. There are several companies in Salento that offer this, your hotel can recommend one or you can check out Cabalgatas San Pablo.

In the afternoon, get a Willy Jeep to one of the coffee farm tours. I did the tour of Finca El Ocaso and really enjoyed it. It was nice to learn about the coffee growing process and see a demonstration of how to brew coffee properly.

If you are up to it, the road between Salento and the coffee farms is a really nice walk so it’s possible to walk one way if there is nice weather. Otherwise, take the jeep back and explore Salento in the evening.

Day 4: Transit to Minca

Salento is a bit out of the way so the easiest and fastest way to get to Minca is by flight. Head to the airport in Pereira and grab a flight to Santa Marta. I would try to get an early flight so it’s daylight when arriving into Minca. Minca is about an hour from Santa Marta and you can grab a taxi at the airport. In this case, the hostel where I stayed was down a dirt road so you can either book transport with the hostel or grab a moto-taxi when you arrive in Minca.

The scenery here is quite different, around Santa Marta you are surrounded by sparse-looking hillsides covered in cactuses but as you drive into Minca you enter a lush jungle landscape.

By the time you check into Masaya, most of the day will be gone but there should be some time to check out the infinity pool or take the short walk to the sunset spot to check out the views over the mountains. I highly recommend staying outside of Minca as it the town itself felt quite dusty and not really anything more than a place to sleep. I highly recommend staying at Casas Viejas by Masaya as it was my favourite place on this trip and overall was one of my favourite travel experiences. The private rooms here overlook the jungle with huge windows and tons of privacy and you are in the perfect place to go on hikes and explore the jungle.

Day 5: Exploring the Jungles of Minca

Your two days in Minca can be as relaxing or active as you want. I went for the active version and did all the activities that were offered by the hostel. You can find my full guide to Minca here.

I started my time in Minca with hummingbirds zipping overhead during a morning yoga session. Afterward, I joined a small group to hike to private waterfalls. If you only do one thing in Minca, make it the waterfall hike at Masaya! The guide was wonderful and kept things going at a great pace. The hike takes you through bamboo forests, coffee plantations, and the jungle. On the hike, there were two opportunities to swim below waterfalls. Both of these experiences felt like the perfect jungle waterfall experience, with no crowds! The tour ends at the La Victoria coffee farm where you can have lunch and coffee.

After an afternoon relaxing in the pool (those views!!), I joined a night hike to see what the forest had to offer. You never know what you will get with nature hikes. We were lucky enough to see a couple of types of tarantula, frogs, and an opossum. Some barefoot prints of children in the mud also let us know that people from the Kogi indigenous group had recently passed through.

Day 6: Birdwatching and Chasing Waterfalls in Minca

On my second full day in Minca, I woke up early to go birdwatching. There are so many birds here, you will see lots even around the hostel. The birdwatching turned out to be a lot of fun. You don’t need to go very far to see birds here so it was a short walk. I ended up seeing over 30 different species of birds. Some of my favourites were the toucans, tanagers, orioles, and the noisy crested oropendola.

After birdwatching, you can either take the day easy or head down to Minca to check out Pozo Azul and Marinka waterfalls.

In my optimism, I walked to Pozo Azul. I can’t stress how much I recommend you not do that. It’s 8km straight downhill the entire way and really hard on the toes. Get the hostel to order you a moto-taxi.

After a nightmare of a walk down to Pozo Azul, I was completely disappointed. It was absolutely covered in people. There were honestly too many people to appreciate the natural beauty of it and it would be difficult to find any space, so I just left. Maybe if you get there super early it would be a better experience. There is a moto-taxi stand at Pozo Azul so it is easy to get a motorbike here.

From Pozo Azul I got a moto-taxi up to the Marinka waterfalls. It’s a really beautiful road and I did see people walking between Minca and Marinka. Marinka is quite commercialized. It’s a huge facility that has a restaurant and changing rooms. There are even massive rope hammocks to hang out in. Marinka has multiple tall waterfalls and feels a bit more resort-like than the waterfall hike I did yesterday. You could easily spend an afternoon relaxing at Marinka.

Day 7: Transit to Tayrona National Park

While many people who visit Tayrona National Park do stay overnight in the park in one of the tents or hammocks, I just had no desire to do that. I did a day-hike into the park and stayed just outside the park entrance. You can find my full guide to Tayrona here.

To get to Tayrona National Park you can either get a private taxi that takes you directly between Minca and the hotel or you can get a bus into Santa Marta and from there another bus to Tayrona National Park. When you arrive, check in to your hotel and relax for the rest of the day. I stayed at Senda Koguiwa and really liked it. Nice pool, spa on site, and absolutely massive rooms. The rooms are individual buildings so there is tons of privacy and quiet. Mine also had a private deck on the back where I was able to see little tamarin monkeys in the trees above it.

There wasn’t really time to explore the park today so I just explored the river behind the hotel and relaxed by the pool. If you arrive in Tayrona earlier, just a short taxi ride away is Playa Los Angeles. You can’t swim here but it’s a nice beach and there is a great lookout point above it as well.

Day 8: Hike to Tayrona National Park

Wake up early and head to Tayrona National Park. I would plan to be there either right at opening time or just before, when I visited opening time was 8 am. Make sure you have some cash as well for the buses within the park and any purchases. You have to purchase both an insurance bracelet and an entrance bracelet before you are allowed in. I would highly recommend taking the bus from the entrance to the start of the trails. It cost 5k each way but it was so worth it to save energy for the nice parts of the park.

It is a long day to hike and there are quite a few stairs so make sure you have plenty of water, sunscreen, and a hat. The hike is absolutely beautiful. You go by multiple great viewpoints to stop and look at the sea. Some of the most dangerous beaches are roped off and are clearly marked that swimming isn’t allowed. The forest here is honestly so beautiful. I saw lots of wildlife here too. Multiple groups of capuchin monkeys, agoutis, cotton-top tamarin monkeys, thousands of leafcutter ants, an abundance of lizards, and beautiful blue morpho butterflies. The trick to spotting monkeys here is if you hear anything crashing through the trees, look up, it’s a monkey.

The main sight to see at Tayrona is Playa San Juan. This is the main beach and quite beautiful. There are bathrooms and changing rooms here for a fee. The beach was getting quite crowded by the time I was leaving so I really do recommend getting there early. The sand here I found quite painful so it might be worth having water shoes.

The hike did take up most of the day, although I was back by 3 pm. There are also horses that you can rent for a reasonable price and they look well cared for.

After the hike is a perfect time to check out the spa service at Senda Koguiwa and settle in for a nice dinner by the pool.

Day 9: Transit to Cartagena

Either head to Santa Marta to get a bus to Cartagena or arrange private transit. It is 5.5 hours of solid driving so plan on this taking up most of your day. You can read my full guide to Cartagena here.

I arrived in Cartagena with enough time to walk around the old city and enjoy a coffee. If you only try one coffee place in Cartagena, make it San Alberto, right in front of the Botero statue. San Alberto has fantastic coffee and you can order your coffee based on the type of coffee maker and do a lovely presentation on it. My favourite thing here though were the cold coffee drinks that they serve with a coffee or almond popsicle. Speaking of popsicles, one of my regrets was waiting until the end of my time in Cartagena to try the popsicles. La Paleteria is a great popsicle store to try out, they have a ton of flavours here.

I found Cartagena to be quite loud and chaotic after spending the first part of this 2-week itinerary to Colombia in the jungle and by the sea. It was not my favourite place to be so I was quite happy with only two full days in Cartagena. I highly recommend staying in the old town to be within walking distance of restaurants, the port, and the sights of Cartagena. I stayed in Hotel Boutique Las Carretas which I found to be an extremely convenient location with really nice rooms and a very helpful front desk.

Day 10: Exploring Colombia’s Walled City of Cartagena

Cartagena is a little different than other places on this Colombian itinerary. You have to watch your pockets and bags and will constantly have people trying to sell you hats and drinks and any other thing.

The main sights in Cartagena are quite compact as most are within the walls of the city. To get oriented, I did a free city tour with Beyond Colombia that explored the walled city and explained some of Cartagena’s history. It was great to have some context to the sights. Given that it’s one of Colombia’s oldest cities and it’s importance as a port, there’s a lot of history here. Unsurprisingly, some pretty dark history included being an arrival point for African slaves and the Spanish inquisition’s role in Cartagena.

While the free tour was great, I actually wish I had done an all day tour like this one that took in Getsemani as well as the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas. I explored both on my own in the afternoon but it would have been better to have more context for the city. The fortress of San Felipe really is worth walking to as it is massive and quite impressive.

After seeing the San Felipe fortress, explore around Getsemani as it is on the way back to the old town of Cartagena. I loved the streets here as there were tons of street art and cute roads. If you are in Getsemani, you will be in the perfect location to check out a really unique restaurant called Celele. You do need a reservation for Celele. It’s totally worth it as they feature ingredients that are unique to Colombia and have really good options for vegetarians. At Celele I experienced some of the strangest flavours of fruits and flowers that I have ever had as most of them were brand new to me.

Day 11: Day Trip to the Rosario Islands

Today is the last full day on the Colombia itinerary and it’s the perfect day to explore the Rosario Islands. My day in the Rosario Islands was one of my favourite things to do in Colombia and you can read my full writeup on the Rosario Islands here.

There are a lot of options for exploring the islands and it can be a bit overwhelming. For, I wanted a relaxing day where I could lay on a beach and go snorkeling so the best option was to visit one of the private resorts. There are quite a few options here, with each resort having a different vibe. I wanted something more low-key and relaxing so I went with visiting Islabela resort. It was the perfect choice as the package included lunch, transportation, and an all-day pass at the private resort. If you are looking for more of a party vibe, the Bora Bora beach club was recommended and is very near to Islabela so the snorkeling experience should be the same.

To visit Islabela, you should book in advance as it may book up. You need cash to pay the port fee (about 20k per person) but everything else can be paid by credit card.

You do have to get to the port early and walk all the way to the end of Dock 1 to get to the Islabela boat. Once you make the 45 minutes boat ride to Islabela, you are assigned a lounger and given a welcome drink.

The beach at Islabela is quite small but the water is so warm and it’s a great spot for swimming. Lunch is included with the trip as well, pasta for vegetarians and fish for everyone else. There’s yoga and kayaking and for an extra fee, you can go snorkeling.

The snorkeling here is not to be missed. They will take you over reefs where you can see schools of fish, eels, and crabs. After snorkeling over reefs, our guide took us by Pablo Escobar’s abandoned mansion and stopped above a plane wreck for us to snorkel over it. The plane was intentionally sunk, and I believe it is a former drug-running plane. It was a very unique experience and definitely a highlight of the trip.

Day 12: Flight Home

You probably won’t have much time in Cartagena before your flight home today but if you do, explore some of the cafes and grab any last-minute souvenirs to take home.

With More Time in Colombia

For this itinerary, I had an extra day in both Salento and Tayrona National Park but cut them from this final itinerary because they ultimately weren’t necessary. If you want a more relaxed pace you could add these days back in. Alternatively, you could add these two days to Cartagena if you want to do more of the day trips there like going to the Totumo mud volcano or exploring more of the Rosario Islands.

With an extra 3 to 4 days I would add in Medellin between visiting Salento and Minca. I really wish I could have fit Medellin into this itinerary with a day trip to Guatape but it just didn’t work with only two extra days.

Like this? Pin it for later!