2024 was a bit of a milestone year for Matt, so we decided to extend our Christmas holidays to a bit of a longer period out of the office, to head to South and Central America for 25 Days, covering the 3 countries of Colombia, Panama and El Salvador, plus the Caribbean islands of San Andres and Providencia.

This post will give you a bit of a flavour of the route, what you’ll enjoy and how to get the most out of your traveling time…25 days is a long trip, but there’s a lot to do in each of these countries that could easily have the whole time devoted to them. As such we gave ourselves around 3 nights in each destination from which to explore the most we could, so for a 72 hour look on each place then explore the following posts:

• 72 hours in Bogota
• 72 hours in Medellin
• 72 hours in Santa Marta
• 72 hours in Panama
• 72 hours in San Salvador
• Sun Drenched San Andres
• The Caribbean Paradise of Providencia
• New Year in Cartagena de Indias

When to go

December marks the start of the dry season in this part of the world, although you may still get a bit of rain in places and some cloudy and breezy days on the beach…that you may be thankful for this when you are subjected to the full force of the equatorial sun beating down on you! March is peak summer when blue skies will be abound, particularly for San Andres and Providencia where, combined with the absence of wind the azure waters will be like the calmest of lakes.

Where to go

Colombia was the main destination of our trip and as the 4th largest country in South America, it could easily take up many months / years to visit; but as well as the time limits we had there are also some security limits to what the Dutch government would let us explore! So the central highlands and Caribbean coast were our target destinations a nice mix of cities, mountains, jungle, sun and sea:

• Bogota – the lofty capital city (at 2640m) with a perfect climate and great intro to Colombia. Stay in the area of Chico and enjoy your time wandering from bar to restaurant be it day or night. Spend a day to explore the Old Town of La Candelaria, see the colourful graffiti’d streets and climb (or be carried up) to the amazing views of Montserrat. Keep a day to trip outside of the city to the beautiful Guatavita lagoon and the stunning Salt Cathedral.

• Medellin – stay in the El Poblado commune, either in Barrio Provenza if you want a party or Barrio Manila if you want leafy streets and a wide choice of food. Infamously the home of Pablo Escobar, a tour of the city will take you to all the noteworthy places of death and destruction the he and his cartel wrought. Hop on the best public transport in the world for a cable car ride up to Barrio 13 and take a ride on the hillside escalators that which you past the colourful graffiti and shops that have transformed this area. Day trip to Lake Guatape and scale it’s Escher-like Peñol rock. If here during Christmas, then a visit to Medellin’s kilometre long lights is a must!

• Santa Marta – Literally fly to the beach on the Caribbean coast. Enjoy the quaint old town; pick up a boat to sail to the sparkling waters of Tayrona; and escape the heat with a trek into the hills of Minca for waterfalls, bamboo and coffee.

• San Andres & Providencia – two island jewels in the Caribbean just off the coast of Nicaragua. San Andres is the bigger and busier of the two, with crystal clear waters to swim with Sharks and swimming spots all around the island that you can visit with your golf cart. Providencia is a perfect paradise, much quieter and laid back, with the world’s 3rd largest reef to explore during the day and the tastiest of restaurants for the evening.

• Cartagena de Indias – the true home of the pirates of the Caribbean, nowdays a buzzing tourist hub, that has colourful echoes of Cuba, mixed in with a healthy does of capitalism. The heat may keep you in the shade, but you can also escape for the day with a boat ride to Las Islas Del Rosario. Dancing away on a rooftop terrace is the place to be for New Year’s eve!

As the main hub of Central America Panama has to be in your trip as most flights of the region will go in and out of here, plus it has some stunning and unique sights to see, such as the self named Canal, it’s beautiful Casco Viejo (old town) and a long day trip to the San Blas Islands or a bit closer to Isla Taboga or Lake Gatun.

And little know El Salvador is a wonderful surprise, once the murder capital of the world, its new President has cleaned up the country, that along with its natural beauty and plethora of volcanoes now makes this the next big destination of this part of the World! Fly into San Salvador and do your exploring from there, particularly the old town (that is quite polished); the Flores route and a hike up the Santa Anna volcano.

How to go…safely!

Let’s start by saying that where we visited in Colombia, Panama and El Salvador we always felt welcomed and above all, safe; in the right parts of Bogota and Medellin, and pretty much all of Santa Marta and Cartagena you can go about your touristic daily life with no problems, see all the main spots and enjoy the best food to your heart’s content.

The narco industry, however, still takes its toll on all the border lands with Colombia and its neighbours and extends inwards to the centre of the country, that gives you a triangle of places to visit without gathering the ire of your government should you face any problems. Panama is pretty safe across the country, and thanks to President Bukele El Salvador is now one of the safest countries in Latin America!

So given these parameters we followed a bit of a hub and spoke approach to this trip, to fly into the main points and then join various tours to explore both the cities and surrounds at each point…backpacking with Rimowas!

There are multiple airlines to use (try Latam, Avianca and Copa) and airports are generally not too far away from the cities and in great working order. Just make sure you get to the airport in time (especially in Panama) as check-in queues can be quite long and slow, whether you have checked in online before or not and whether you have bags to check in or not.

Other Practicalities

You can pretty much use the US dollar in all of these countries, it is the official currency of El Salvador (along with Bitcoin!) and is the currency of convenience for Panama and Colombia…although having some pesos for Colombia is probably a better option.

Uber is available and reliable in all three countries, although it has a tenuous relationship in Colombia where technically it is not legal and yet everyone uses it! Be prepared to sit in the passenger seat with the driver, learn their name and pretend to police that you are best buddies going out for the day!

In the islands of San Andres and Providencia taxis are a bit more rare / over-priced, so take your driving license (although no one will ask to see it!) and rent yourself a super powered golf cart or scooter to get around the islands…also being much more fun that a taxi!

With that we shall let you browse the above links to get some more details on these great places to visit, and above all, enjoy!