Skip to content

Steennot Travels is launching soon. We are not taking bookings yet: put yourself on the list and you will be the first to receive a no-obligation proposal.

Steennot Travels
NLEN

Destinations / Latin America

Put together personally by Yari Steennot

Colombia

From the Andes to the Caribbean jungle: coffee, cities and Tayrona

17 daysWith private driverStart any dayfrom (indicative) € 2,210 pp (estimate, not an offer)
See the indicative priceDay by day in the brochure (PDF)For information only, not an offer yet

Brochure not opening? Email me and I will send it to you.

My recommended private route through Colombia: Bogotá by bike, two nights on a coffee hacienda dating from 1894, reborn Medellín with Comuna 13 and Guatapé, colonial Cartagena with a boat trip to the Rosario Islands, and to finish the wild Caribbean coast: hiking in Tayrona National Park, a visit to the Kogi and three nights on a jungle finca in the Sierra Nevada. You travel with your own party on your own dates; airport pickup, hotels, private drivers and three domestic flights are arranged in advance, and you change whatever you like.

Highlights

  • Bogotá by bike: street art, colonial streets and a game of tejo, followed by the Gold Museum
  • Two nights at Hacienda Cafetal de la Trinidad, a coffee farm dating from 1894
  • Comuna 13 and Plaza Botero in Medellín
  • El Peñol rock and colourful Guatapé
  • Cartagena's walled old town (UNESCO) and snorkelling in the Rosario Islands
  • Hiking through the jungle to the bays of Tayrona National Park
  • A walk to the Kogi village of Teykú with a guide from the village itself, and tubing down the Don Diego river
  • Three nights on a jungle finca in the Sierra Nevada: waterfalls, cacao and sunset over Santa Marta

Day by day in the brochure (PDF)
For information only, not an offer yet

What I will arrange for you after launch

You travel, I arrange everything. You travel privately: no group and no fixed guide tagging along.

  • Airport pickup and the transfer on your last day; the details are in the brochure.
  • All hotels and guesthouses, booked in advance at the level you choose: Budget, Comfort or Premium.
  • Transport on the ground with a private driver and private transfers; domestic flights or trains where that makes sense.
  • The activities and entrance fees on the route. Prefer a guide? I can add a local guide to any activity.
  • Breakfast, and the meals at remote places with no alternative (such as a safari lodge, desert camp or yurt camp). For the other meals I give you my restaurant recommendations, but you choose completely freely where you eat.
  • A personal intake, at your home or by video.
  • A WhatsApp line with me, before and during your trip, and my personal 24/7 number.
  • A call-back after your trip.
  • Your international flight: after launch I will also book your flight for you. Prices on the site exclude the flight.

Travel whenever you like

Your dates are completely free: there are no fixed departure dates, you leave on the day that suits you. My recommended route takes 17 days. Shorter or longer is possible too; I adapt the route.

The months I recommendPossible too, let us discuss

This is advice, not a rule. If you want to travel in another month, I tell you honestly what to expect (rain, heat, crowds) and adapt the route.

Price by level and transport

You choose the level of your hotels and how you get around. Same route, same care; only the hotels and the transport differ.

BudgetSimple, well-rated hotels and guesthouses with private bathroom and breakfast, including on the coffee hacienda.
With private driver€ 2,210
ComfortCharacterful hotels in colonial houses, a coffee hacienda and boutique hotels with character on the coast.
With private driver€ 2,550
PremiumBoutique hotels in top locations, the best room on the hacienda and a top hotel within the walls of Cartagena.
With private driver€ 3,480

Estimated prices per person, based on 2 travellers, excl. international flight. Travelling solo, count on a supplement of roughly 60%. With four travellers the price per person drops by roughly 14%.

If you are interested, I am happy to send you the hotel guide with all the addresses.

More about self-drive and the private driver on this route

Self-drive (not available on this route)

We do not offer self-drive in Colombia as a standard option. The route is stitched together by three domestic flights, and in Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena you do not need a car: traffic is heavy, with number-plate driving bans (pico y placa). The Belgian FPS Foreign Affairs advises against renting a car yourself and strongly advises against driving at night. The only section where a rental car works is the coast: from Cartagena to Tayrona and the finca, returning the car at Santa Marta airport. On request I arrange it for you, as long as the travel advice for the coastal road is favourable. Expect a supplement of approx. €60–90 per person (one-way fee included; fuel, tolls and parking are paid by you), and the last stretch to the finca is done in the lodge's jeep.

Private driver

You do not have one driver for the whole trip but a trusted, licensed driver per region: in Bogotá (also for the drive to the coffee hacienda and back to the airport), in Medellín, in Cartagena (also for the 4.5–5 hour drive to Tayrona) and around Santa Marta, where a driver with a 4x4 takes you to the finca and the airport. He collects you at your hotel or the airport at the time stated in your travel documents, stops wherever you like on the way and drives in daylight only. Within the cities you walk or take a taxi arranged by the hotel. Drivers speak Spanish and sometimes a little English; I can always interpret over WhatsApp.

Flight & price

After launch I will also book your flight for you. The prices on this page exclude the international flight.

Return flight Brussels–Bogotá not included: allow about € 690–980 p.p. depending on the month (cheapest in February and March, most expensive in December and July). After launch I will find you the best flight with your proposal.

Indicative price (estimate) per person based on 2 travellers, excl. international flight. This is not an offer: nothing is being sold yet. Indicative price (estimate), not an offer. In high season the price can be higher, in low season lower. All prices are indicative estimates, not an offer. Nothing is being sold yet; after launch you receive a no-obligation proposal with the price of that moment.

Travelling responsibly

We choose small, locally rooted places to stay: a family hacienda that has grown coffee for five generations, a beach lodge on the edge of Tayrona and an ecolodge in the Sierra Nevada that works with people from the valley. If you take a guide, they come from the neighbourhood itself (Comuna 13, Cartagena, Tayrona). In the Kogi village of Teykú you are a guest on the community's terms: with your own party only, with a guide from the village itself, with an entry permit and a contribution that go directly to the village, and without photographs of people who do not want them. In Tayrona and on the Rosario Islands we ask for reef-safe sunscreen and you stay on the trails; the sacred site of Pueblito is closed at the request of the indigenous communities and we respect that. Flight CO₂ emissions can be offset through a certified project.