#61 best destination in the world
Gold Museum, Bogotá
- Museum that exhibits a selection of pre-Columbian gold and other metal alloys
- #23 of the top 25 museums in the world
- Contains the largest collection of gold artifacts in the wrold
- Also features pottery, stone, shell, wood, and textile objects made by indigenous cultures
Caño Cristales
- Colombian river known as the “River of Five Colors”
- Quartzite rocks formed 1.2 billion years ago
- Fast river with many rapids and waterfalls
Cartagena
- Colonial walled city and fortress
- Settlement by indigenous people dates back to 4000 BC
- Served as a place of expansion for the Spanish empire
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
Santa Cruz de Mompox
- Spanish colonial town reached in 1812 which recruited nearly all the able bodied men to form the basis of the army for victory in Caracas
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
San Agustín Archaeological Park
- Contains the largest collection of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in Latin America
- World’s largest necropolis
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
Monserrate
- Mountain 10,341 ft above sea level where a 17th century church with a shrine has been built
- Considered sacred in pre-Columbian times when the area was inhabited by the indigenous Muisca
- Pilgrim destination and major tourist attraction
- Can be reached by funicular and aerial tramway
Castillo San Felipe de Barajas
- Castle located on a hill in a strategic location, dominating approaches to the city by land or sea
- Built by the Spanish during the colonial era
- Construction began in the year 1536
Museo Minca
- Storytelling of the history of Minca, they also try to help the local community
- Learn about the history of coffee, indigenous people, civil wars and political conflicts in Minca
- Afterwards, have a chat and drink a coffee together
Las Lajas Sanctuary
- Basilica church built inside the canyon of the Guáitara River
- The present church was built in a Gothic Revival style between 1916 and 1949, taking up a total time frame of 33 years to build
Tequendama Falls Museum
- Museum and mansion that overlooks Tequendama Falls on the Bogotá River
- Before renovation, the building was an abandoned hotel, known as the Tequendama Falls Hotel
- Built in 1923, as a mansion to elite citizens of the 1920s
- The building functioned as a hotel from 1928 until its abandonment in the early 90s for more than two decades due to Bogotá River contamination
Guatapé
- Resort town known for its houses decorated with colorful bas-reliefs
- It sits by the vast, man-made Peñol-Guatapé Reservoir, a busy water-sports center
- Piedra del Peñol, a giant granite rock southwest of town, has hundreds of steps to the top, where there are sweeping view
Cave of Splendor
- Unique cave with a river running through it in the mountains above Jardin, a small pueblo
- Carved out by a running stream that turns into a waterfall as it flows through the roof of the cave
Phoenix Air Museum
- See 27 full size aircraft and 4 locomotives, two model airports and two giant working model railroad layouts
- More than 3500 models, many in realistic dioramas
- There is also a collection of 30 uniforms and flying suits, both military and civilian
Tierradentro
- One of the ancient Pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia
- It started to flourish around 200 BC, and continued into the 17th century
- Contains a hypogeum that has an entry oriented towards the west, a spiral staircase and a main chamber, usually below the surface, with several lesser chambers around, each one containing a corpse
- The walls are painted with geometric, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic patterns in red, black and white
- Some statues and remains of pottery and fabrics can be seen scarcely due to grave robbery before the hypogea were constituted as protected areas
- The pre-Columbian culture that created this funeral complex inhabited this area during the first millennium AD
- Tierradentro Archaeological park features hypogea dating from 6th to 9th centuries AD
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
Costs
all flights $1,836
food $10/day x 17 days = $178
hotel $23/day x 16 days = $368
tickets (all attractions) $327
TOTAL for whole itinerary $2,709