Our luxury adventure begins in Bogotá, Colombia's cultured capital, at 12 midday today, when your guide will pick you up and take you out for lunch at Prudencia, where a four-hour, eight-plate degustation menu gives you plenty of time to get to know each other, and to get a feel for Bogotá’s historic yet avant-garde, rustic yet elegant sensibility.

Prudencia is in La Candelaria, Bogotá’s most historic neighborhood, and after that lunch, a wander around is in order! As befits one of South America’s most bohemian neighborhoods, it’s a place of contrast - its two most public attractions are graceful, colonial government buildings around the Plaza Simón Bolivar, and street art in Plaza Chorro de Quevedo.

We’ll finish the day diving into popular culture, with Colombia’s most beloved pastime, tejo, a sport hinges on throwing things at a packet of gunpowder until it explodes… it’s crazy fun, bizarre, uniquely satisfying and uniquely Colombian!

Meals: Lunch and dinner included

Accommodation: Hotel Salvio, Parque de la 93, Bogotá

The twice-built underground cathedral of salt of Zapaquira is a site of pilgrimage for devout Catholics, and a jaw-dropping underground extravaganza of carving, color and sound for the rest of us. We’ll spend the morning exploring this underground marvel which has to be seen to be believed.

This afternoon you have a choice - take in more of Colombia’s amazing culture and history at Bogotá’s world-famous Gold Museum, or if you’d prefer some retail therapy, Zona T is the place to be! Here we can wander through the funky cafés, independent art galleries and styley boutiques that showcase Colombia’s many emerging and established fashion designers, or head to the Andino Mall to stock up on heavyweights like Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, and more.

Tonight we’ll eat dinner at Harry Sasson, perhaps Colombia’s best-known New Andean fusion restaurant.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Hotel Salvio, Parque de la 93, Bogotá

We’ll take a flight to Medellín around the middle of the day today. If you feel like getting up early, we’ll fit in a visit to either the sensory feast that is Bogotá’s central produce market, Paloquemao, or the spectacular lookout of Monserrate with its panoramic views of Bogotá and the surrounding Andes, before heading to the airport.

From Medellín airport it’s a quick (1.5 hour) drive to Guatapé, where we’ll head for the world’s most glamorous glampsite (and Katy’s favorite place to stay in the whole world), Bosko. Here we’ll spend the evening enjoying a five-star dinner and a massage, in between soaking in the luxury of our domes, and the spectacular views from the infinity pool.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Hotel Bosko, Guatapé

Guatapé is one of the most beautiful places you’ll ever see, enfolded in wave upon wave of the greenest hills imaginable, all wrapped around a huge, quixotically crinkly lake. We’ll take a boat cruise and soak it all in this morning - helicopters buzzing around overhead, jet-skiers flashing past, wide open water and sky, and the hidden coves where generational coffee farms rub shoulders with drug smugglers’ and tech barons’ weekenders.

The natural environment, all curves and color, is reflected in downtown Guatapé, a famous attraction in itself for its quirky, colorful zócalos - exuberant frescoes that adorn every available surface below waist level - and folksy, uniquely Colombian charm.

In the afternoon we’ll climb the 207 stairs to the top of the Piedra del Peñol - Guatape’s bizarre feature rock, which juts 720 feet (220m) straight up out of the ground, the one dark and craggy presence in one of the world’s most gentle and lovely landscapes, which we can see to the horizon from the top.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Hotel Bosko, Guatapé

We’ll spend this morning having active adventures on the lake! We have jet skis, flyboards, stand up paddleboards and kayaks at our disposal and there’s time for a good session on two of these. If you’ve never tried these before, this is the perfect opportunity to give them a whirl as our qualified instructors are there to get you afloat!

After lunch we take an incredibly scenic 30-minute helicopter flight to Cauca Viejo, our home for the next couple of days.

Cauca Viejo is a strange and special private town, where everyone is obliged to build their houses in the style of olden-days Colombia. Sounds a little odd, but in practice it’s paradise.

Cauca Viejo is the dream of one man, Rodrigo Restrepo, and it’s a dreamy place - you can imagine Gabriel Garcia Marquez writing his books sitting on a flower-filled balcony overlooking its cobbled streets. This afternoon, after the massage we earned on our reactive morning, Rodrigo’s descendants will give us a tour of the tiny, incredibly charming town.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Luxury colonial-style villa, Cauca Viejo

Coffee has a very important and particular place in Colombian culture. The places it’s cultivated are naturally super-beautiful, and the towns that sprung up to service its distribution are ultimate Colombia: charming, colonial, and colorful, they’ve changed little in hundreds of years. The weather is always springlike; the temperature is always perfect. In short, a trip to coffee country is a must in any trip to Colombia.

We’ll start ours with a tour of a coffee farm, where we check out the plants that grow the coffee and the plant that processes it, and of course try a few cups.

We’ll also explore the gorgeous little town of Jerico - known for its colonial charm, baroque churches, artisanal leather handbags, and delicious, cardamon-infused sweets - and savor the serenity of the stunning scenery all around it.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Luxury colonial-style villa, Cauca Viejo

This morning we’ll drive a couple of hours to Medellín, a seriously happening city that has lifted itself from the ashes of a dark, narco- and terrorism-stained history to become the pride of the Americas. Here art, fashion, tropical exuberance, cutting-edge gastronomy and a joyous rumba (party) culture all compete for the attention of visitors, while social inclusion, powered by progressive city leadership and united by an amazing public transport network, brings wellbeing and palpable pride to the paisas (locals).

This afternoon we’ll explore the dynamic streets - buzzing with artisanal breweries, taco stands, art galleries, cutting-edge fashion, and massive street art - of Poblado, the upscale entertainment district where we’re staying. Our destination is Provenza, the classic starting point if you’re thinking of heading out to enjoy Medellín’s famous nightlife tonight. Pedestrianized Provenza is given over entirely to bars and restaurants, with plenty of outdoor space for people-watching, and was voted the 15th coolest street in the world by Time Out Magazine in November 2023.

The good life continues at the aptly-named ElCielo (heaven), the incredibly sleek, swank hotel where we’ll stay the night and enjoy an 18-course ultra-modernist-Colombian degustation dinner. Prepare to be blown away.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: El Cielo, Medellín

We have a few options this morning - tandem paragliding on the morning thermals is one, a Pablo Escobar tour is another, and a tour of Medellín’s historic colonial center (and home to two world-famous museums of modern art) is another. If you hit up the nightlife last night, sleeping in, or lazing around by the rooftop pool at El Cielo, might be in order.

This afternoon we’ll head for Medellín’s most unmissable barrio, and in some ways a microcosm of urban Colombia, Comuna 13. In 2002 it was the scene of Operation Orion - a horrifying massacre by Colombian armed forces, ostensibly targeting far-left terrorists, where nine innocent locals were killed. Locals, including the guide who will show us through Comuna 13 today, still bear the psychological scars of that night. They’ve also reaped the benefits of Medellín’s renewal, with free university education and perhaps the world’s only free public escalators to help them get around their incredibly steep, incredibly labyrinthine neighborhood.

With its sobering history and vivid present, Comuna 13 is an experience you won’t forget.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: El Cielo, Medellín

This morning we’ll fly to Colombia’s most famous city to visit, Cartagena. A city on the shore of the Caribbean, Cartagena oozes with charm, history, and magical realism.

We’ll spend the afternoon exploring the historic, walled city center with its elegant plazas, cobbled streets, and religious and military remains from colonial days. And once the sun goes down, we’ll really get a taste for Cartagena with a private rum tasting (or chocolate tasting if you prefer) to ease our way into another gourmet dinner.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Casa San Agustin, Cartagena

Paradise-like Baru Island is one of the main attractions of Cartagena, and what better way to enjoy its white sand and turquoise waters than on an exclusive private beach? A 45-minute boat ride brings us to Acasi, where with a select (no more than ten) group of people we’ll spend the day swimming, wandering the beach, lounging in hammocks and deck-chairs, and enjoying a gourmet lunch of fresh-caught fish.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Casa San Agustín, Cartagena

Today starts with Getsemaní, Cartagena’s incredibly colorful Bohemian district where we’ll wander narrow streets thronged with street vendors selling everything from frozen margaritas to massive paintings, and get an eyeful of the street performers, graffiti, and hole-in-the-wall bars that make Getsemaní throb with a magical-realist, Afro-Colombian life that’s very different from Cartagena’s stately center.

In the afternoon we’ll head to another very different area, among the sleek high-rise resorts along Cartagena’s peninsula where we’ll visit an emerald factory. Here we can see some of the world’s largest emeralds, see how they’re processed, and maybe pick up a precious souvenir or two!

We’ll take in our last sunset in Colombia from the best possible vantage point - aboard a yacht cruising the Bay of Cartagena, with a drink in hand, before an elegant al fresco dinner at a harbourside seafood restaurant.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Casa San Agustín, Cartagena

We’ll get you to the airport in time to take your flight home today… or if you’d like to stick around, ask us about all the other experiences we have to offer in Colombia!

Meals: Breakfast included