Monday, September 19, 2011

travel to Colombia - Interesting Places to Visit

http://travel-to-colombia.blogspot.com/2011/09/travel-to-colombia-interesting-places.html
travel to Colombia - Interesting Places to Visit
Travel tips for your trip to Colombia Hotel Maps Famous Places in Colombia helps you to make your trip to Colombia in the holiday a Splendid One




Colombia travel advice seekers should be prepared for a sensory assault that will entice and thrill visitors. Columbia has a great deal of diverse attractions and activities, with two coasts facing the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It has everything from deserts to glaciers, steaming rainforests, secluded islands, pristine beaches and modern cities.

Western tourists and visitors will probably want to fly in by plane to Bogota, which is the capital. Depending on the itinerary, it's also possible to hop over by plane to other destinations like Cartagena, Cali or San Andres. Visitors entering from Ecuador or Venezuela can come in by bus or car, and those coming from Panama can take a boat.

Safety-wise, visitors don't have all that much to worry these days. Metropolitan zones are about the same as any other city in Central & South America. Visitors should take standard precautions such as avoiding a tough neighborhood after dark and not heading off solo into isolated regions.

The real draw for visitors is the variety of the destinations and the natural beauty. The choices range from Bogota's flesh pots to the Salsa clubs in Cali and the Carnival in Barranquilla, among others. Visitors can spend many days & weeks enjoying all this, not to mention the tropical rainforests, majestic humpback whales in the Pacific, and the pristine beaches and coral reefs near Caribbean coast islands like San Andres, Santa Catalina and Providencia.

Speaking of which, scuba diving is one of the premier attractions here that draw in large number of visitors from all over the world. As mentioned above, visitors can explore the underwater marine life on both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. There are some destinations on each coast that are famed for their excellent dive spots.

San Andres and Providencia probably offer the most popular dive spots on the Caribbean coast. Isla Gorgona and Malpelo Island on the Pacific Coast are quite famous and popular among both tourists and expert divers. Visitors need to choose from amongst these locations based on their taste for adventure, diving skill and travel logistics.

So for example, a visitor planning to head out to San Andres can reach it directly by air even though it is 700 km away from the mainland. Another plus point here is that since the coral reef is really long, tourists and divers can enjoy the dive spots and attractions of Providencia & Santa Catalina along with San Andres. The biggest attraction is, of course, the famous 'sea of seven colors' which is a good indicator of the diversity of marine life here.

Pacific coast divers at spots near Malpelo Island or Isla Gorgona tend to be more adventurous. A trip here involves a flight to Guapi from Cali, followed by a boat ride to the island. Crystal clear and cold waters await divers, along with whale sharks and hammerheads. Isla Gorgona is an especially tourist-friendly place with nature tours, whale watching and beaches, and a history as an old prison island like Alcatraz.

To end this healthy dose of Colombia travel advice on a general note, visitors are advised to consider longer stays. It's not possible to drive-thru or jump from one airport to another over a quick weekend. Every destination has to be considered as a mini vacation by itself that needs to be explored and enjoyed at its own sweet pace.