Bogotá, Coffee Country and Cartagena

Two nights in Bogotá, two on a bamboo-built farm in the coffee hills of the Andes and three in walled Cartagena, joined by short flights. A private tour of the Salt Cathedral at Zipaquirá or a helicopter to the colonial towns of Villa de Leyva and Barichara, a cacao workshop and a balloon over the coffee country, then a day on the water among the Rosario Islands.

Length: Seven nights
Pace: Three stays
Style: City, coffee, walking, Caribbean
Route: Bogotá to The Coffee Region to Cartagena

BogotáTwo nights
The Coffee RegionTwo nights
CartagenaThree nights

Days 1 to 3 · two nights

Bogotá

An evening arrival. The next morning, Paloquemao market and its 1,200 stalls of fruit, flowers and local food, then the Botero Museum, where an expert on Botero can join you with personal stories of the artist, and the Gold Museum, and dinner in Zona G or Zona Rosa. The hotel can arrange a private tour of the Salt Cathedral at Zipaquirá, built underground in a salt mine, or of the lagoon at Guatavita, the lake of the El Dorado legend, or a Four Seasons helicopter to Villa de Leyva and Barichara.

Where you stay

Four Seasons Hotel Casa Medina Bogotá

Casa Medina occupies a 1946 building on Carrera 7 designed by the Colombian artist and architect Santiago Medina Mejía, now a declared monument of cultural interest. It sits in Zona G, with Castanyoles serving Spanish food under a greenhouse atrium and Boulevardier pouring whisky in a speakeasy-style bar.

A two-storey hacienda with bamboo verandas and a tiled roof behind gardens and a pool. — Photo: Hacienda Bambusa

Days 3 to 5 · two nights

The Coffee Region

A one-hour flight to Armenia. A Willys jeep to a coffee farm for a private visit, tasting and picnic lunch, coffee in Salento, and a walk in the cloud forest of the Cocora Valley, welcomed with a canelazo, where in the Ritual de la Palma you plant a wax palm of your own. At the hacienda, a tour of the cocoa plantation and a cacao workshop, a ride on horseback through the river, a cooking lesson with Chef Paula, or a hot air balloon over the valley.

Where you stay

Hacienda Bambusa

Hacienda Bambusa is a farm 40 minutes from Armenia airport, reached by a dirt road below the Central Andes. The house is built of bamboo and clay in the regional style, with four junior suites, two suites and a master suite with private pools, and Chef Paula Serna cooking from the garden.

Days 5 to 8 · three nights

Cartagena

A flight to the coast. A walk through the colonial centre, with the Castle of San Felipe de Barajas and the convent of La Popa, a full day on a private yacht to the Rosario Islands, a private salsa class in a colonial house and a night at a salsa club. The hotel keeps its own beach at Acasí on the island of Barú, an hour from the city, with six bungalows and a restaurant for a few guests at a time.

Where you stay

Hotel Casa San Agustín

Hotel Casa San Agustín is three historic houses on Calle de la Universidad in the old centre of Cartagena, redesigned as a single hotel. There are 20 rooms and 11 suites, and the Alma restaurant cooks with the flavours and colours of the city.

Arranged on request

The Salt Cathedral, privately

A private tour of the Zipaquirá Salt Cathedral, built underground in a salt mine north of Bogotá, arranged by the hotel with transport and a guide.

By helicopter to the colonial towns

Four Seasons helicopter journeys from Bogotá to Zipaquirá, Villa de Leyva and Barichara.

Guatavita, the lake of El Dorado

A private tour to the lagoon at Guatavita, the site of the El Dorado legend.

Cacao and a balloon over coffee country

At Hacienda Bambusa, a tour of the cocoa plantation and a hands-on cacao workshop, and a hot air balloon flight over the farms of the Quindío.

Acasí, a beach on Barú

The hotel's own beach on the island of Barú, an hour from Cartagena, with six rustic bungalows and a restaurant kept for a few guests.

A wax palm of your own

In the cloud forest of the Cocora Valley, after a welcome with a canelazo, the Ritual de la Palma has you plant your own wax palm, by arrangement.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

A day at the La Trinidad coffee farm outside Bogotá, for the harvest and a tasting.
An early start from Bogotá for Chingaza National Park, a páramo above 3,000 metres, home to the Andean bear and white-tailed deer, trekking by Monteredondo to Laguna de Chingaza on trails chosen for the season.
A rum and chocolate tasting in Cartagena in place of the salsa class.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.