Colombia’s Caribbean

You can’t get away from the country’s recent reputation, yet Bogotá and the north of the country are areas increasingly more secure and thus open to visitation

Here is a country with arguably the best music in Latin America, Cartagena is arguably the most charismatic city on the continent, with the Caribbean coast, luscious colonial architecture and a cultural heritage rivalled only by Salvador in Brazil.

Cumbia, vallenato and batuca are all sounds that will blow you away in all the major cities; Valledupur in the north has a music festival and the small towns of the northern coast will enchant you with Gabriel Garcia Marquez style characters ready to charm you as you go

The carnival in Barranquilla is rivaled only by those in Brazil, yet it’s less commercial so the purists among you should revel in the revelry! Santa Marta provides a gateway to the Tayrona national park and near the town is where the true Caribbean spirit of Colombia spreads itself out in scenes more associated with that big neighbour further south