Best museums
Museo Botero. This museum, in Bogotá’s La Candelaria neighborhood, houses one of the finest collections of international art on the continent. For more information, click here.
Museo de Antioquia. This is perhaps the best museum in Medellín, and features the works of Colombian sculpting master Fernando Botero. For more information, click here.
Museo de Oro. The Gold Museum, teeming with pre-Columbian artifacts, isn’t only the best museum in Bogotá – it’s the best museum in the whole of Colombia. For more information, click here.
Museo de la Independencia. Housed in a charming 16th-century colonial building in Bogotá, this fascinating museum takes a unique approach to exploring Colombia’s independence. For more information, click here.
Pygmy marmoset, Amacayacu National Park.
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Best national parks and preserves
Amacayacu. Located on the Amazon River, this jungle is home to a wide array of wildlife, including 500 species of birds, pink river dolphins, sloths, and boisterous squirrel monkeys. For more information, click here.
Macuira. At the end of the Guajira Peninsula, where the arid desert meets the refreshing ocean, exotic birds and iguanas frolic in an incongruously located patch of tropical forest. For more information, click here.
Reserva Natural Cañon Río Claro. Discovered by a campesino tracking a jaguar that was decimating his livestock, this area of outstanding beauty now attracts people from all over the world. Find out why for yourself. For more information, click here.
Tayrona. Where the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas end, stunning white-sand Caribbean beaches begin. It’s also home of the famed Ciudad Perdida. For more information, click here.
Museo del Oro.
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Best festivals
Carnival. The biggest carnival celebration outside of Brazil takes place over four days before Ash Wednesday in Barranquilla. For more information, click here.
Feria de Cali. This festival, held from the 25th–30th of December, in Cali, is a celebration of all things salsa that also features cultural exhibitions and Paso Fino horse parades. For more information, click here.
Feria de los Flores. Every year, during the first two weeks of August, flower growers parade through the streets of Medellín carrying elaborate displays on their backs in silleteros (wooden racks). For more information, click here.
Wayúu Festival. Uribía, dubbed the ‘indigenous capital of Colombia’, holds Colombia’s largest indigenous festival every May. The festival celebrates the Wayúu people and their unique cultural heritage. Expect lots of eating and dancing. For more information, click here.
Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata. Valledupar is the birthplace of vallenato music, and at the end of April the city celebrates this fact with four days of raucous live performances heavy on the accordion and guacharaca. For more information, click here.
Fiestas de San Pacho. Catholicism meets Afro-Colombian customs in September and October in Chocó’s Quibdo, with street parties, parades, and sancocho cookouts. For more information, click here.
Carnival of Barranquilla.
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Best beaches
Cabo San Juan. The coastal lagoons in Parque Nacional Tayrona are jewels in the sparkling crown of Colombia’s Caribbean coastline. For more information, click here.
Capurganá. Visit the remote Chocó Department, near the Panamanian border, and laze on a little-known, picturesque white-sand beach. For more information, click here.
Johnny Cay. This small coral atoll is ringed with turquoise waters that crash on the south shore, making for perfect bodysurfing conditions. For more information, click here.
Palomino. A small town in the Guajira region that is home to one of the most stunning beaches in the country – watch out for strong currents though. For more information, click here.
Playa Blanca. Probably Colombia’s most famous beach, this stretch of pristine white sand is just a short hop from colonial Cartagena. For more information, click here.
Cabo San Juan.
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Best activities
Birdwatching. Colombia has over 1,900 confirmed bird species within its borders, making it a hotspot for bird-watching enthusiasts. For more information, click here.
River rafting. The country’s myriad rivers make for some exceptional whitewater rafting – especially in the adventure-sports capital of San Gil. For more information, click here.
Hiking/trekking. National parks Los Nevados and El Cocuy offer some of the most rewarding hikes and treks on the continent. For more information, click here.
Dancing. You can’t come to Colombia without hitting up a salsoteca – and those in Cali are world-renowned. For more information, click here.
Trekking in El Cocuy Cordillera National Park.
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