Tours to Colombia
Colombia is associated with drug cartels and mafia crime lords. But this is fundamentally wrong! Holidays in Colombia are poorly studied settlements of ancient Indian tribes, historical sights, luxury resorts with the most comfortable hotels, cozy bungalows and pristine beaches.
Despite the fact that international tours to Colombia are a relatively new phenomenon for the country, the service in hotel complexes, restaurants and bars is very well developed. The leading tour operator in Colombia highly appreciates the level of comfort of Colombian hotels and restaurants, and offers the widest choice of places for a luxurious holiday for Russian tourists who have booked individual tours from Moscow and other regions of the Russian Federation.
What attracts travelers to this small but densely populated country? Colonial facades and cozy courtyards of Cartagena, a comfortable modern resort of Santa Marta with luxurious beaches, high ocean waves for professional surfing, the majestic Andes, which give endless opportunities for ecotourism.
Currency: Pesos
Language: Spanish
Colombia, the official name of the Republic of Colombia It is a country with diverse cultural traditions that have absorbed the lifestyles of at least three continents, with picturesque landscapes, modern cities, rich in natural resources, and friendly people. This is one of the two states of South America that have access to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
The name of the country comes from the name of the famous traveler-navigator, Christopher Columbus, who discovered America.
The picturesque nature of Colombia, long sea coasts, the unique nature of the Amazon, as well as numerous traces of ancient civilizations, make the country one of the best tourist areas in South America.
Capital: Bogota.
Geography:
The state is located in the northwest of South America, its area is 1,138,910 km². Colombia borders Brazil and Venezuela to the east, Ecuador and Peru to the south, and Panama to the west. It is washed by the Caribbean Sea in the north and the Pacific Ocean in the west. Colombia includes the San Andres and Providencia archipelagos, located in the Caribbean Sea at a distance of 750 km. from the shore, the islands of Gorgon, Gorgonilla and Malpelo in the Pacific Ocean.
Climate:
Climatic and landscape features, as well as flora and fauna, make it possible to divide the country into five different natural regions. That is why in the country you can find a landscape and climate for every taste: beaches with white sand and palm trees, mountain rivers and waterfalls, fertile valleys with a mild climate, long green mountain ranges, snow on high peaks, endless plains (shrouds) where herds graze animals and, of course, the Amazonian jungle.
Colombia is dominated by equatorial and subequatorial climate types. The average monthly temperatures in the lowlands are about 29 °C, in the mountains at altitudes of 2000-3000 m – 13-16 °C. Precipitation ranges from 150 mm per year in the northeast to 10,000 mm in the Pacific Lowlands (one of the wettest places on Earth).
Language:
Spanish is the official language of Colombia, spoken by all the inhabitants of the country with the exception of some Indian tribes. In total, there are about 75 surviving Indian languages in Colombia, but their number is declining every year. In the tourism sector, English is mostly understood, in the provinces it is very difficult to find a Colombian who speaks it.
Population:
About 44.2 million people, of which 58% are mestizos, 20% are whites, 14% are mulattoes, 4% are blacks, 3% are sambos, 1% are Indians
State system:
Republic. The head of state and government is the president, elected by the population for a 4-year term, a second term in a row is possible.
Colombia is divided into 32 departments. Departments are divided into municipalities. 33rd on the list is the Santa Fe de Bogota metropolitan area, which has a special status.
Religion:
The vast majority of the population of Colombia – Catholics 90%
Money:
Peso (International name: COP), equal to 100 centavos. In the country’s monetary circulation there are banknotes of 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000.20,000, 50,000 Colombian pesos.
Currency exchange:
Currency can be exchanged at exchange offices, airports, banks. The exchange rate used in hotels differs slightly from the bank one. You can pay in dollars, especially when buying jewelry. When traveling around the country, it is more convenient to pay with local money. In the capital and resort areas it is possible to pay with credit cards of the world’s main systems (especially in large stores and hotels), in the provinces it is impossible. Traveler’s checks can be cashed at the branches of the capital’s Banco de la Republica (usually a photocopy of the passport is required). It is almost impossible to use traveller’s checks outside the capital.
Tourism:
Procolombia is a public non-profit organization that promotes tourism in Colombia.
Estimated exchange rate
Colombian Peso (COP) / United States Dollar (USD)
1 USD = 1,914 COP
1000 COP = 0.52 USD
Colombian Peso (COP) / Euro (EUR)
1 EUR = 2,653 COP
1000 COP = 0.37 EUR
Time:
Behind Moscow by 9 hours.
Official holidays and days off in Colombia:
January 1 – New Year;
January 6 – Epiphany;
March 19 – Saint Joseph’s Day (Joseph);
April 20 – Maundy Thursday;
April 21 – Good Friday;
May 1 – Workers’ Solidarity Day;
May 13 – St. Mary’s Day;
June 1 – Ascension;
June 22 – Feast of the body of the Lord;
June 29 – Day of Saints Peter and Paul;
July 20 – Independence Day;
August 7 – Anniversary of the Battle of Boyaca;
August 15 – Dormition;
September 20 – Friendship Day;
December 8 – Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
December 25 – Christmas.
Communications and communication:
The international code of Colombia is 57.
Santa Marta
Santa Marta is the capital of the department of Magdalena, located in northern Colombia on the Caribbean coast near the Sierra Nevada mountains. The city of Santa Marta is an important seaport, historical, cultural and tourist center.
The city was founded on July 29, 1525 by the Spanish conquistador Rodrigo de Bastidas. It is believed that the city was named in honor of Saint Martha, whose memory was celebrated on this day. Santa Marta is one of the first cities founded in Colombia by the Spaniards. It is easy to understand the choice of a place for the port – the beautiful harbor of Santa Marta lies surrounded by mountain peaks that rise as a wall just outside the city blocks, and the local Tayrona tribes were widely known for their ability to work with gold even in the time of the Aztecs. Some of their products, which were never sent by the conquistadors to Spain through the new port of Santa Marta, can be seen in the famous Museo del Oro in Bogotá. Here you can find the Villa La Villa de San Pedro Alejandrino (XVII century), in which Simon Bolivar spent the last years of his life, a small Bolivar Museum (its exposition consists of art objects, donated by the peoples of the countries whose independence Bolivar fought for – a truly national hero of many countries in the region), the Cathedral of Santa Marta (XVII-XVIII centuries), the Sitios Historikos building, the Tayrona Heritage Center and several dozen colonial-style mansions. The surroundings of the city are rich in sights – within a radius of 50 km from Santa Marta you can see the Sierra Nevada del Santa Marta National Park; the famous “lost city of Tayrona” – Ciudad Perdida (50 km southeast of Santa Marta, 5th century AD) and a complex network of paths and steep stone stairs (more than 1350) of the Inca civilization period to the south of it, in the Buritaka valley; isolated settlements of the Kogi Indians, one of the most ancient ethnic groups in South America; Tayrona National Park (25 km east of Santa Marta);
Santa Marta is the most popular beach destination in Colombia. The average annual air temperature here is: 27 ° C. In the vicinity of the city, the best resorts of the country are concentrated with white sand beaches, a large selection of hotels and excellent fish restaurants, Playa Cristal, Playa Grande, Neguanhe, Arrecifes and El Rodadero, as well as the beautiful Taganga Bay and the village of the same name, are widely known among diving and beach lovers. Here are the best snorkeling spots and dive spots in Colombia, where lovers of the underwater world can admire the magnificent coral gardens and watch the life of the inhabitants of the Caribbean. The picturesque beaches and bays of the Tairon National Park, which stretches 35 km east of Santa Marta, are considered to be the best in Colombia.
