I stayed at Botanico Hostel Bogota and overall liked it! Good safe location. The hostel had lots of cute areas to sit and hang out. Fairly easy to meet people. Small kitchen to cook. There was yoga & salsa classes, as well as a hostel dinner you could join. It could be loud at night, but I had no problems sleeping since I use a bluetooth enabled eye mask to blast white noise.
The staff were overall helpful & available 24 hrs per day, which was incredible helpful given I got super sick during my time here. Not sure if I picked something up in Mexico City before flying here or whether I got something that hit very quickly in Bogota, but regardless I was miserable. It was very nice that the staff were always around to help if I needed it.
The only downside (which really isn’t the hostel’s fault), but there are lots of water outages in Bogota. Each district gets assigned 24 hr periods of no running water. Normally that would be fine, but when you are sick and need to use the restroom (a lot) & showers to feel better, this was less than ideal. They did have basins of water to manually flush the toilets, but still not what you want when very sick.
As I mentioned, I got pretty sick so I didn’t eat much of anything while here but I would highly recommend Orígenes Café, where I got a smoothie bowl and a delicious breakfast sandwich & La Chopperia, where I got an awesome chicken burger.
Definitely try Ajiaco Soup while here!
Not sure I should mention this again, but my best advice for what to do in Bogota is NOT GET SICK! Unfortunately all I really was able to do was sleep & try not to die When you travel this long, you are bound to get sick along the way, but it always sucks.
My last day I started to feel a little better so I managed to go on a walking tour to start to learn about the history of Colombia, but there is definitely other cool things here that I had to miss because I was sick
No major thoughts, however if you only are going to be in Colombia for a week, you can probably skip Bogota & head straight to Medellin or the northern coast like Cartagena, Santa Marta & Tayrona National Park.
The goal of my time in Medellin (& really in Colombia all together) was to slow down, rest & catch up on life things before taking off again on my grand adventure. But to make it productive & give some structure I used my time here to take some Spanish classes! I took classes here. My daily routine included getting up for my 8:15am F45 class, then getting a yogurt bowl at Cafe Campesino, then going to my Spanish class from 10am-1pm. I loved my teacher so much that we’re going to continue classes over zoom while I’m back in California summer 2024. In the afternoons I spent my time at the airbnb catching up on never ending to-do list. When traveling life stuff falls to the wayside quite easily. It was so lovely having 6 weeks to knock out it all out! Figure out health insurance for the back half of the year: done! Execute a Roth conversion: check! Call my Grandpa: yep! Life is good in Medellin. I also met some fun people at the language school and it was so cool getting to be friends for a few weeks instead of the usual 48 hr friendships that happen at hostels. Also my good friend Sabrina from growing up (known each other since elementary school) joined me for my last two weeks (one week in Medellin + one week up North in Colombia). We genuinely spend more time abroad than in the US since she lives in LA and I’m in San Francisco (usually). Colombia was our 11th country & 5th continent together
I stayed at an Airbnb for my 6 weeks in Medellin. I knew I wanted a break from hostels and it was such a treat to have my own room & bathroom. I also loved being able to cook 90% of my meals in a lovely, beautiful kitchen! This place was a 10 min walk to Provenza (my favorite part of El Poblado). There are tons of cute cafes, restaurants and shops. There are gyms nearby & I always felt safe walking around (although at night I tended to Uber). Overall it was a good place, but I probably wouldn’t stay here again. I would get a place in either Laureles (another cute neighborhood) or find a smaller, cheaper spot. I had hoped the big co-living situation would bring a social element, but the roommates were a little weird (and both American) so that was a bummer. I did love the views from my window, especially during the crazy rainstorms
I spent 6 weeks here and ate at many fun restaurants. The food scene here is overwhelmingly great. Come hungry! Here are some favorites:
Breakfast/brunch
Lunch or Dinner
Dessert
I don’t even know where to begin. I just loved everything about Medellin (except having to be cautious about walking alone at night – that was annoying). Medellin is so green, it basically feels like you are living in nature, but you are also in a major city. Even though I was there in rainy season, the sun still came out plenty. The people are SO kind & generous. They were so patient with my Spanish & genuinely so excited that I was doing my best to learn their language – I loved it! It really opens up the travel experience to be able to communicate in someone’s native language.
Medellin has a great work/life balance and everything is just so chilled (sometimes hard for my American brain, but I eventually settled in). For example, every time I was checking out at the grocery store, it took a minimum of 10 min even if there was only one person ahead of me in line. I just had to learn to embrace it haha.
Also, if you have ever wanted to learn Spanish, the best way to do it is to go live in a Spanish speaking country & take classes. Medellin/Colombia is known as a great option because they have a very neutral/easy accent & they talk slower than other Spanish speaking countries. Guatemala is also known as another good option!
Medellin is a great spot to just come hang for a few days, weeks or even months! Bring your laptop & work remotely. It’s just awesome! I can’t wait to go back
We stayed at Masaya Casas Viejas Hostel. It’s actually not technically in Minca, as you have to take a 4×4 vehicle for about 30 min up into the mountains/jungle to get to the actual hostel. But let me tell you – it’s worth it! It’s a little oasis nestled high up in the clouds. There’s an infinity pool, hammocks, chaise lounges, co-working areas, yoga in the morning, and delicious food. Beds are comfy & wifi works most of the time It was very easy to meet people since you don’t leave the property much, unless you head out to a waterfall hike! Would absolutely recommend this place 9/10 (just wish the showers had warmer water, but hey you can’t complain being this remote!)
At the hostel restaurant Not too many options. Some folks headed into Minca for lunch (3 hr hike away) but generally people ate at the hostel. Luckily the food was very good!! Each meal had tons of great options to choose from.
Relax & enjoy the views You can do some waterfall hikes, but Sabrina & I chose to just chill our time here. We did some yoga, lots of reading, played Monopoly Deal & President with all our new friends, and enjoyed the gorgeous sunset over the jungle.
This is a perfect spot to spend a few days (3 nights max I would say), to just recharge amidst your backpacking trip & make some friends who are likely heading in the same direction as you!
I really enjoyed it here. After 6 weeks in Medellin I was slightly worried about the jarring nature of jumping back into backpacking, but this was a perfect way to ease back into it. We met so many fun, interesting people & I loved my lazy days. Finally finished a book I had started 3 weeks prior!
Holy moly this was paradise on earth. Senda Watapuy is a dream. DO NOT HESITATE to book here!!! We loved every part of our stay. The room was incredible (they installed mosquito nets to address bugs). The private pool was amazing (love being able to skinny dip in the morning). The food at the restaurant was great. The grounds were fabulous. A true jungle oasis.
Once again, you are mostly stuck at the hotel in terms of food but the good news is that I loved the food here. Very expansive menu, but in classic form, I fell in love with their caesar salad and ate that most meals. One cool thing they offered was that you could order food from the menu on your phone and specify if you wanted to eat it in the room, at the pool or at the restaurant – very convenient.
The main thing to do in this region is hike in Tayrona National Park through the jungle to the beautiful beaches. However, our hotel was right at the edge of the park so while we did go into the park for a short hike, we decided we preferred to spend our time reading by the pool, with views of the gorgeous jungle.
We also got some massages.
You can literally walk to the park entrance from the hotel, which is nice though! Bring sunscreen, bug repellent and water!!
This was such a treat! 10/10 would absolutely recommend this place (mostly talking about the hotel) to anyone. I felt like I was on a true vacation.
I stayed at Los Patios and wouldn’t recommend it. It’s in a good location, but they have a lot to improve. The AC barely worked, so we asked to lower the temp 1-2 degrees and it turned to an ice box. The dorm room floor stayed dirty the entire time. Very hard to meet people. When I asked the front desk about where the start of the walking tour was she said there are no walking tours in Cartagena other than theirs, which is just a straight lie. Very bizarre as there are like 10 free walking tours I found online. The hostel is so loud that you really can’t sleep at night or morning. I’ve stayed at 100+ hostels and this isn’t it. 5/10
I only had one full day here so I optimized with a morning walking tour to hit the highlights and one last cheap massage before heading back to the US. Would highly recommend Relax Spa Cartagena de las indias for a spa treatment while visiting Cartagena. If you have more time here, I hear the island day trips or overnight trips can be quite fun!
Cartagena was so colorful and beautiful!! I would’ve happily stayed here another day but not another week because it was so HOT, & I am not really a beach or party person, which Cartagena is known for. Overall it was a cool spot though!
Fun to have two different types of budgets in this post, but admittedly my type of fun might different than most haha.
Accommodation: $532 ($44 per night) Our stay at Senda Watapuy drove the average up, but it was worth it!!
Food: $199
Groceries: $0
Activities: $167 (massages + walking tours)
Local Transportation: $172
Miscellaneous: $83
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Accommodation: $1157 ($30.44 per night)
Food: $335
Groceries: $327
Activities: $859 (includes $665 for 6 weeks of Spanish Class)
Local Transportation: $250
Gym: $234
Miscellaneous: $91
Transportation to next destination: $0 (I booked my flight home to California with points – yay!)
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