COLOMBIA | Bradt travel guide

TRAVEL GUIDE 

This new, fourth edition of Bradt’s Colombia has been thoroughly updated to include all the most recent developments in this emerging South American destination and to bring to the fore the country’s fast-developing ecotourism offering.

After decades of trouble, Colombia now offers one of the most exciting new travel experiences in South America: following the 2016 peace accord, tourism is rapidly reviving as a key economic driver. Ranked the world’s third most beautiful country by Forbes Magazine, the country has nature at its heart. By some estimates, Colombia – being blessed with Andes, Amazon, coast and more besides – houses a staggering 10% of the planet’s animal and plant species: pink river dolphins swim in the Amazon near Leticia, ocelots slip between trees in vine-tangled rainforest and birdwatchers marvel at avian riches in the vast savannah of Los Llanos and various mountain ranges.

In historic Bogotá, the capital, you can gaze in awe at the shimmering pre-Columbian treasures in the Museo de Oro that eluded the gold-greedy conquistadors, get a taste of fine dining at one of the best restaurants in the Americas and tour the city’s Instagram-friendly street art. Elsewhere, discover Mompós, a colonial backwater undergoing a renaissance with its traditional silver jewellery shops and international jazz festival, and explore the UNESCO Seaflower Biosphere Reserve in the San Andrés Archipelago – where Providencia is the least developed and visited island in the entire Caribbean.

Alternatively, why not go stargazing amid lunar landscapes in the Tatacoa Desert, cruise the Magdalena River from Cartagena to Barranquilla, watch humpback whales along the Pacific Coast, learn to wrangle cattle during the Coleo festival in Villavicencio, visit ancient rock paintings in unexplored Guaviare, try the traditional fermented tipple of the original Muisca people, admire the rainbow river of Caño Cristales or explore the untouched jungles of Chiribiquete National Park.

New elements of this edition – updated by Latin American specialists who have worked on dozens of guidebooks – include coverage of Yopal, San José del Guaviare, Caqueta, Vichada, Guainia and Palomino. Whatever floats your boat, Bradt’s Colombia has you covered.