zanskar

For my latest trip report, I present a (relatively) recent journey to Providencia- a Colombian island in the Caribbean; and Cartagena des Indias, a city on the Colombian Caribbean coast. Our route went via Miami with a stop off there in both directions. I hope that you enjoy it and that it may give you some inspiration for your future travels.

Background
Mrs Zanskar and I decided that a trip westwards to Latin America had lots of appeal. I have been to Southern South America in the past (Brazil, Argentina, Chile) but none of the more northerly countries, and Colombia sounded very enticing. The country has become significantly safer in recent times and it has a ‘South America in miniature’ reputation with a good mix of mountains, beaches and culture. Time limitations meant that we needed to concentrate on one aspect of this and we chose to try out a Colombian Caribbean island as well as the famous port city of Cartagena on the mainland coast. Connections meant that we would also spend a couple of days enjoying Miami and the Florida sunshine.

Planning
I am a bit of an Avios/BA fan and tend to prioritise travel with BA if possible. My plan was to use BA to get to Miami and then use Avianca to get to Colombia from there. Many of you will know however that Avios reward availability has been pretty dire recently and the Miami route is no exception. As a result it was necessary for me to buy cash tickets but I am no fan of longhaul travel in Y. Therefore to minimise costs I used the IATA Matrix method of tracking down good value ‘ex-EU’ returns from BRU (thanks Flyertalk!). I then bought a return reward flight saver from LHR-BRU using miles and an AMEX companion voucher which was about to expire and with a night in the Sheraton Brussels Airport it wasn’t too bad value all added up. It also got me up to BA Silver which is not something I can otherwise easily attain given that I do not tend to travel for work. The inter-Americas flights were a bit complex, a mixture of Avianca, a Colombian airline called SATENA and one flight on COPA Colombia. All in all it added up to a grand total of 18 segments for a 2 week trip!

Getting to Miami
The flight out to Belgium and then overnight was fairly nondescript, but was easy enough. We stayed in the Sheraton which is essentially on-site in the airport.

The following day we had a very early flight out of BRU (around 6am) on Club Europe. The 2 male crew were not particularly friendly but were efficient enough and I enjoyed the cooked breakfast.





Breakfast



LHR layover



On arriving at LHR we had about 6 hours to kill so we spent a bit of time touring the various Galleries Club lounges and had a session in the Elemis Spa which is not something I have tried before. As has been stated by other posters, the massage chair is really quite painful, but the whole thing was a reasonable way of killing a bit more time. As you can imagine, 6 hours is pretty tedious although I have had worse!
Eventually it was confirmed that our flight to MIA was from one of the B gates and we wandered across.

Today's taxi





Having Marco Polo Gold courtesy of Amex I had taken the trouble to book us seats 63A and 63B on the upper deck of our 747 which is thought of as a good pairing for a couple by various flyertalkers including T8191. Again, in common with others I am a big upper deck 747 fan and will miss it when these birds finally retire out to the desert.





We had a delay of an hour or so while a crew problem was sorted out during which time the charming crew plied us with lots of champagne! As a result I was a bit zonked out for a lot of the flight, but the lunch was pretty good. We had bought a plane picnic to supplement the fairly dire tea and sandwiches bit at the end and we made good time across to MIA.





Starter



Main



Dessert



Nearly there

zanskar

I had been dreading immigration at MIA as there had been horror stories circulating about 4 hour waits. In the event, it wasn’t as bad as feared- 90 minutes from stepping off the plane to the taxi and the immigration guy was friendly and good-humoured.

We then spent 2 days in Miami beach, which we really enjoyed. I like the art deco district, we also spent some time on the beach, got into some South American food and went to the Seaquarium, which is entertaining (if you haven’t done the whole Orlando thing). I enjoyed a South American restaurant called Ola at the Sanctuary which had great (though pricey) food including excellent Cerviche. Miami was also an opportunity to start practicing my Spanish, which we heard quite a lot more than English in certain areas!















Seaquarium







Ola at the Sanctuary







After 2 days it was time to head south. As we had a very early flight we stayed in the fairly dire MIA airport hotel but it was worth it as the Avianca flight left at about 5:40am!

The flight down to Bogota was on an A319 and left on time. I thought the legroom was really pretty good, the crew nice and everything else perfectly acceptable- for Y, really quite impressive, and this held up for all the AV flights we subsequently took.

Early morning ride



Legroom fine





Our route



Breakfast



Crossing into a new continent



Coming into Bogota

zanskar

Unfortunately we were only in transit in Bogota and stayed in a rather down at heel lounge in the domestic terminal before boarding our A320 flight to San Andres.

Lounge in BOG



San Andres and Providencia are two islands in the Caribbean Sea, situated off the coast of Nicaragua. San Andres in particular is a popular beach destination for Colombian tourists and there are lots of flights back and forth from various mainland cities such as Bogota and Cali. We were more interested in Providencia- a small island you can only reach via San Andres itself. Getting there is no mean feat- there are a couple of internal Colombian airlines such as SATENA flying between the islands, and traditionally getting the flights meant going via a Colombian travel agent. Thankfully the SATENA website does now accept foreign credit card bookings (on a Spanish website) and with the help of Google Translate, I was able to get our return tickets relatively easily.



Providencia is a gem in many ways. It is unusual in that it is predominantly English speaking and this hails back to the days when the pirate Henry Morgan used it as his base. Geographically it is thickly forested and mountainous. It has plenty of beaches, and while none of them could be described as straight out of a Bounty advert, they are enjoyable nonetheless. There are various accommodation options but only one could be described as being luxurious. There are plenty of reasonable restaurants and lots of fresh fish as you would imagine. There is one road which circles the island and you can hire mopeds or golf buggies at reasonable rates to get around. Barbados this is not. The pace of life is unbelievably slow, the locals relaxed beyond belief and there isn’t a great deal to do beyond diving (excellent), eating and chilling out. It will appeal if you hanker after the unspoiled Caribbean with few tourists and little in the way of development but will disappoint if you are after a more action-packed or party island experience. Personally, it was just what I was after and I really enjoyed it.

Flight from San Andres to Providencia



The flight over





Providencia island



Our golf buggy!



Providencia traffic jam







Rolands Roots Bar

zanskar

Colombian warship patrolling the coast!



Crab Caye- really stunning place









Colombia has talent too



Mmmmm



After a number of days of chilling out in Providencia it was time to move on to our next destination, Cartagena des Indias.

To get to Cartagena involved taking our short flight back to San Andres, then a direct flight on COPA Colombia on an E190 down to CTG itself. All very straightforward and easy.



Our E190 to CTG

zanskar

Cartagena is obviously a lot more well known than Providencia and is a wonderful place to spend a few days. It lies on the Caribbean coast of mainland Colombia and has been an important port city throughout its history, which in itself is fascinating. It has been the subject of raids by competing colonial powers, plagues, and was the site of uprising against Spanish colonial rule. The historic centre is renowned for its Spanish architecture and is highly recommended for wandering around, enjoying the beautiful buildings and atmosphere. Outside of the centre is a bustling, busy, chaotic and modern South American city with a large population. For the traveller it has a lot to offer.

We spent most of our time in Cartagena wandering around the historic centre and seeing the various museums and attractions. It always felt safe to walk around the town centre, even at night. There is a really excellent selection of restaurants, I particularly enjoyed the cerviche, and there are at least two outstanding cerviche restaurants as well as many other different cuisines. A popular thing to do in the evening is to take a horse drawn carriage around the city as the sun sets before going for dinner. We did this although the condition of the horses was not great it has to be said.























Hotel Santo Toribio- highly recommended







Great cerviche





Palace of the inquisition- plenty of torture instruments!



Horse-drawn carriage



Local food



Overall a great city, again very much recommended even for a couple of days. There are direct AV flights from MIA, so quite easy to get to from the US as well.

zanskar

And so it was time to say goodbye to Colombia with a great deal of regret that we had only seen a fraction of what is clearly a super country to see and travel to. The direct CTG-MIA flight on AV was very convenient for our journey home, and once again we had a day in Miami for the way back. This time we splashed out on a night in the famous Biltmore hotel which is clearly a Miami institution. We enjoyed the huge pool as well as the restaurant which did an excellent Chilean Sea Bass.

Lunch on AV Y between CTG and MIA



Coming back into MIA



The Biltmore





So back to the UK, again going from MIA-LHR and then to BRU before getting the short flight back to LHR again. This was a bit tedious but prevented the possibility of a BA ‘account audit’ and gained some extra tier points. The flights were all fine except for a truly disgusting main course on the BA from Miami. Still, you can’t win them all.

MIA oneworld lounge



G-CIVJ rolling in



Starter on board



Dreadful main




I hope you have enjoyed my latest trip report and welcome any comments.

noniron

What a fabulous TR, congrats an a great trip!

JohnnyColombia

Very cool zanskar!

A question, did you manage to go BOG-ADZ-PVA-ADZ-CTG without having to spend a night in ADZ?

Glad you enjoyed yourself

Kacee

Thanks for the report and the great photos! Certainly brought back memories of Providencia. And my two hour ordeal with a San Andres travel agent booking the flight to Providencia. Delighted to hear that Satena will now allow on-line bookings.

Bretteee

I have been wanting to visit San Andres and Providencia for years now.

However I noticed that the hotels on both islands were not particularly nice.

Where did you stay in Providencia? Which is the most luxurious hotel? Did you stay on San Andres? How many days should one stay in each place?

Thanks for a very interesting report and nice pictures.

AVIOS BA points are very expensive to use on long haul BA / AA transatlantic flights.

I did get a good deal on Aer Lingus New York to Dublin though but had to buy onward ticket to Geneva.

Good deals though from the US as long as one is not using them to go to Europe.

zanskar

Thanks for your comments.

In answer to specific questions:

Basically yes, no problem. We got all the way from MIA to PVA in a single day and didn't need a layover in ADZ so it would be very easy from BOG.

We stayed in a hotel called El Pirata Morgan which is in one of the main villages. It is pretty basic but was clean and served our purposes fine. There is only one luxurious resort on Providencia and it is called Deep Blue. We went there for lunch and to visit Crab Caye and it seems pretty nice. Downsides are that it does not really have much of a beach that I could see, it is pricey (obviously) and it is rather out on a limb away from other restaurants/hotels etc so you will be a bit away from the action (what little there is!).

How long to stay in Providencia really depends what you are looking to do. If you are into diving you could spend several days doing that, otherwise activies are a bit limited. We were content to chill and do little and stayed about 6 nights. So it depends what you are after.

We did not stay on San Andres but it has a lot more big resort hotels and some nightclubs etc which you would not find on Providencia. It is also purely Spanish speaking while lots of people on Providencia speak English. I am not sure about the luxury hotel scene on San Andres but imagine there is a fair bit more choice than on Providencia as the island as a whole has a much bigger population.

duniawala

Great TR. And fabulous pictures.

Kacee

If you want a luxury vacation, Providencia is not the island for you. Most accommodations are very basic. That is a large part of the charm.

I am not a fan of San Andres (at least not for vacation). It is a small and very crowded island and prices are high. The prettiest beaches have a highway running right next to them. There are some upscale resorts but IMO much better islands in the Caribbean for a luxury vacation.

JohnnyColombia

I very much agree with Kacee's assessement of San Andrés which is why I was curious to know if noniron managed to get to Providencia without spending a night there.

San Andrés desperately needs some pesos spending on it. Colombia has way nicer islands for holidays, such as Múcura, Gente de Mar and San Pedro de Majagua

I'd like to see Providencia but I cannot see me jumping at the chance to go through San Andrés "immigration" again to get there

Herb687

That's a fair statement. These are not luxury travel destinations. Providencia especially not since putting up a Ritz-Carlton or Rosewood property would kill 100% of the charm of the island (laid-back, non-commercial, isolated, authentic, rustic, like stepping back to the Caribbean of 60 years ago...)

If luxury hotels are your goal you don't need to be on ADZ or PVA.

Heck probably 50% of the rooms available on ADZ are in what would be classified as dumps in many parts of the world.

I stayed at the largest hotel on PVA. 20 or so rooms I believe. Posada del Mar (managed by/booked through Decameron)

On ADZ I stayed at the "most luxurious hotel" Casa Harb. Casa Harb is a nice boutique property, a private home converted into a boutique hotel. It was a nice - a quality B&B with some cool decor but far from a true luxury property.


As mentioned above on PVA I stayed at Posada del Mar (Decameron-affiliated) which, at the time, was probably the "best" hotel on Providencia but NOT luxurious. Not even remotely close to luxury. Again, luxury is not the point of PVA.

There is now a boutique hotel on the island called Hotel Deep Blue. I plan on staying there when I return. Looks nice from what I've heard but I would manage my expectations and not exactly expect Rosewoodesque luxury.

For me, when I go back I would probably spend 3 (or 4) days on PVA - enough time to just relax extensively and swim and snorkel a lot. There's not much to do on the island if you don't want to just relax, hang out on a beach, enjoy the natural beauty and completely decompress and disconnect from the modern world.

I'd probably also spend 3 days on ADZ - there's a little more touristy diversion there.

My mainland Colombian GF on the other hand said she wouldn't want to spend more than 2 nights on PVA when we go back. She likes action and stuff to do and got bored on a remote island with absolutely nothing going on...