Colombia - cheap flights?

delorean_2

Hi all,

I'm thinking of visiting Colombia in September. Either Bogota or Cartegena for 1 week. The best flight only price i've found is about £795 return from Gatwick.

Has anyone got a better price than that?

Also, has anyone been to Colombia before? Where did you visit and what are good places to see and things to do?

Thanks.

delorean_2

Anyone got any ideas? I still can't find flights at a decent price. When's the best time of year to go? Are there typhoon/monsoon seasons? Etc etc. I can't seem to dig up much information so far, most of the travel sites have very scant information!

pin

In terms of going to Colombia, have a look at the Thorntree forums at Lonely Planet. There should be loads of info about Colombia there.

delorean_2

Hi pin, yeah I tried the Lonely Planet site. All i could find was a few scant details about local hotels and guest houses in Bogota, but nothing on Cartegena or anything else about Bogota really.

I can't even find the Columbian embassy website or any Colombian tourist board info! Well, unless i'm searching for the wrong stuff? *confused*

stratford_2

HiyaI've not been there and although S. America is on the travel agenda for me at some point in the future I must admit Colombia sounds a little too hairy for me (albeit an interesting place). That said it appears that some more mainstream tour operators are thinking of sending groups there from next year - take a look at this article in the telegraph travel section this weekend which might be helpful and also gives an interesting angle on the potential threqat out there.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2006/07/15/etcol15.xml Might be worth 'cheating' and getting some ideas from the following tour companies!
http://www.lata.org/SearchResultCountry.php?CountryID=23

puffinmuffin

Colombia is still a pretty "off the beaten track" destination and has only recently been opening up. Still lots of no-go areas. could you fly to a neighbouring country and travel from there? Air France flies there for ~£700. A loney planet guide has been published recently i think.

delorean_2

Yeah, it's somewhere i'd like to visit. Not just to say "i've been to Colombia and lived" but because it looks like a genuinely interesting place to visit, steeped in history.

I'm not entirely sure if I can squeeze it in before October as i'm moving to Canada to live. But if the price is right...

thomthom_3

i go to colombia twice a year, to bogota. unless very special offers are about, the cheapest you can get is around £530 -550 per person. as luck would have it, most of the airlines that fly to bogota have just put out these lowest normal fares. Iberia, Continental, American, Air France. Avianca and Delta also fly there but don't know about prices.

You have to check each day but I just checked Air France and they have fares for £556, via Paris to Bogota - seemed to be a lot of availabilty for Sept/Oct, though it does change each day.
the service on Air France is good, planes comfy too.

American Airlines fly via The States. Easiest route is via Miami. they had tickets around £540 recently but, again, it changes on a daily basis.

Iberia also has tickets for £550 ish but these go quickly 'cos of the 2 countries' links.

Finally -the cheapest https://www.airmadrid.com. they have dirt cheap tickets, if you get them in time, can be as low as £300 (at mo are £450 for october) but you have to get to madrid with different airline etc.

i don't work for the airlines! just a few years of trying to get the best fare myself.....

for good info on Colombia, look at www poorbuthappy.com , there are many articles, discussions. links and chat

thomthom_3

sorry - read my poor typing, site is https://www.poorbuthappy.com

cartagena's old city is lovely - historical architecture, very hot, carribean coast with sea/beaches.(they filmed The Mission near there) Read up on bogota as per your tastes - loads of great restaurants and bars, shopping centres. the city is getting better each year...and safer. make sure you know where you want to go there. it's is hard to recommend where to go without knowing what type of hols you like...

if you plan to travel out of bogota, it is best only to fly out to where you want to go, rather than overland- for safety. (you can buy great value multi-leg internal flights, https://www.journeylatinamerica.co.uk used to be good for these, or avianca - the colombian national airline - https://www.avianca.com)

you can fly to cartagena with American via miami too....

hope it makes sense - typing fast...

finally - british embassy site, in english....

http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1097485921501

delorean_2

Thanks a million for the above information, very much appreciated!

Do I need a visa and any specialist travel insurance for visiting Colombia? Or any dealings with the Foreign Office?

black-saturn

Hope you have a good time. I've travelled to lots of places and some on my own. Perhaps one day I'll be as brave as you