Coastal Colombia comes down to two places with nothing in common: Cartagena, a sixteenth-century walled city on the Caribbean coast, and San Andres, a Colombian island lying seven hundred kilometres away, just off Nicaragua. You do not choose between them for the same reasons.
The essentials in four lines
Where to go: Cartagena for history and street life, San Andres for the sea and the diving.
Best time to go: December to March, outside the two rainy seasons, which run March to June and September to November.
Entry: Canadian passport valid for the length of the stay, no visa up to ninety days, Check-Mig electronic form to be completed within seventy-two hours before the flight.
For San Andres: a tourist card is bought at the departure airport and must be shown when you leave.
Two destinations, two holidays
Cartagena de Indias
An old town ringed by eleven kilometres of walls, a World Heritage site, with flowered balconies, shaded squares and a heat that drops all at once at nightfall. The city beaches at Bocagrande are not what you come for: the sand is grey and the water cloudy. The real beaches are in the Rosario Islands, forty-five minutes away by boat.
Cartagena is walked, preferably in the evening, when the stone gives back the day’s heat. It is a city destination, not a resort one.
San Andres
A small island thirteen kilometres long, ringed by a coral reef and by a sea locals call the sea of seven colours. It is Colombian, but the population also speaks an English creole inherited from the British West Indies. You can circle it by scooter or golf cart in half a day.
This is where the beach hotels, the diving and the snorkelling are. Johnny Cay and El Acuario are day trips by boat.
When to go
From December to March the Caribbean coast is dry and breezy. That is the best window and Colombia’s high season.
Two rainy seasons follow one another, March to June and September to November, with a risk of flooding and landslides, mostly inland. On the coast the effect is milder than in the mountains.
Colombia sits south of the hurricane belt. San Andres, further north, is more exposed than Cartagena.
What you need in hand
A Canadian passport valid for the whole stay. No visa is required for a tourist stay of ninety days or less, and the immigration officer sets the length granted.
The Check-Mig electronic form is free and must be completed within seventy-two hours before the flight, both ways. It asks for flight details, your accommodation address and a phone number.
For San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina, the tourist card is bought at the departure airport and shown on the way home. Do not lose it during the stay.
For the current official advice, see the country page on travel.gc.ca.
On the ground
Money
The currency is the Colombian peso, and the numbers carry a lot of zeros. Pay by card where you can and withdraw larger sums at once to limit fees.
The heat
Cartagena is hot and humid all year, around thirty-two degrees with heavy humidity. Sightseeing happens early in the morning or after five in the afternoon. At midday you are in the shade or in the water.
Getting around
In Cartagena everything inside the old town is walkable. For San Andres, the domestic flight from Cartagena or Bogota takes a little over an hour and should be booked with the rest of the trip.
Who Colombia suits
Travellers who want a real city with history, music and food rather than a beach and a buffet. Divers, for San Andres. Anyone who likes combining two moods in one ten-day trip.
Less so anyone after a classic all-inclusive on a long beach: that is neither the country’s model nor what it does best.
To plan this trip, see also Carthagène, San Andres, resorts that suit families and the All-inclusive vacations section.
