Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It is good to know renting a car and driving around is a possibility. That is my fav way to explore.
You don’t need to rent a car. Besides people there drive like idiots and the mountain roads can be quite scary. There is plenty of public transportation you can take to visit those small towns. Many are not far from Medellin or bogota. If you need to move between big cities I would fly. Those roads in Antioquia(Medellin state) can make you very sick. I almost threw up when we were going to the coffee region when we were still in Antioquia. Next time I’ll take a flight. And the road is scary as hell in Antioquia. You probably won’t have much time anyway.
Colombia should build high speed trains like they did in Spain. That would be fun l. From Medellin to Bogota in less than an hour. I’ll stop day dreaming now.
The drug lord could do something more productive than financing beauty pageants or stupid telenovelas lol.
I don’t know. I’m not familiar with the area. I know there is some drug activity in the southern pacific coast but I don’t know if it’s affecting Buenaventura now. Maybe someone from the Cali region can chime in.
Colombia should build high speed trains like they did in Spain. That would be fun l. From Medellin to Bogota in less than an hour. I’ll stop day dreaming now.
Spain doesn't have 3 mountain ranges intersecting & dissecting all its major cities to contend with. Nearly twice as high and 3 x as thick as anything they have in the Iberian peninsula. Hardly any place apart from Tibet has as difficult a topography as Colombia between its main hubs.
Spain has substantial flat land connecting all its major cities, even going up/down to/from Madrid is a short, steady incline, less incline than going up to Ibague from Girardot/Melgar (Magdalena river valley). So yes, together with the 'mermelada' culture, keep dreaming. Its not a new issue either, transport has always been a challenge as evidenced by the popular song "Santa Marta tiene tren, Santa Marta tiene tren pero no tiene tranvia". One thing that there's no excuse for is the lack of public transit between the Caribbean cities; Santa Marta-Barranquilla-Cartagena as its almost completely flat land between the 3! A train system would be relatively simple.
In any case Antioquia is one thing, the Coffee region another! In the coffee region + Cali it pays to rent a car (you can get from $33 US a day inlusive of tax/insurance/costs), since highway infrastructure in those parts is good. Dual carriageways unite all the 4 main cities (Cali, Armenia, Pereira, Manizales) and secondary towns of Cartago, Buga/Lake Calima. Decent enough single carriageways lead off the short distance to the villages like Santa Rosa, Filandia, Buenavista, Salento, Salamina from the main hubs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanLuis
What about driving from Cali to Buenaventura?
You have to cross the entire western range of the Andes to get to Buenaventura from Cali; it's the thinnest and lowest range of the 3 ranges but still a feat in itself (see below). Still the route is mostly dual carriageway, so better than those Southern & Eastern Antioquia roads mentioned previously. It's made easier by the Dagua river canyon that cuts the range making the lowest mountain pass a semi-reasonable 1,900 metres high. You won't find a mountain pass as low as that in the Central or Eastern Andean ranges!!!
In summary Cali-Buenaventura doable but expect a lot of large container trucks and petrol lorries making their way to and from port. Buses are probably the worst offenders for bad driving.
Road to Buenaventura = 17 tunnels, 70+ viaducts, 3.5hrs yet only 45miles as the crow flies.
The roads look like they are in really good shape and those views look likes it worth the trip!!
Well they should do, they were just inaugurated. Pre-2016 it was a singular road in most of the trajectory - i.e. hell. No doubt much of the money went into those corrupt muppets' pockets - 'mermelada' culture after all!
As for the views it's the shortest mountain pass, wait to you experience crossing the Central or Eastern Andes or going down from the Bogota Andean plateau down to the Llanos in Villavicencio! It's another level.
Just remembering the infrastructure protest song, reminds me of my granddad . Not much has changed since 1965; Bogota girls are cold, Argentinians go crazy for kissing, public transit is lacking and now Santa Marta doesn't even have a train anymore let alone a tram! Thank goodness for the waves.
I know . Any info you need on Cali let me know. My family is from the coffee region so Paisa culture, different from Cali but due to proximity (only 3 hours), I know the city pretty well.
When there don't miss the 'Loma de la Cruz' every Thursday evenings. People get together for free Andean group dances. Other nice places are San Antonio, Cristo Rey, Cerro 3 Cruces for hiking, Granada for restaurants & parque del Perro for nightlife.
Loma de la Cruz, Cali
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. Not much has changed since 1965; Bogota girls are cold, Argentinians go crazy for kissing, public transit is lacking and now Santa Marta doesn't even have a train anymore let alone a tram! Thank goodness for the waves.
. Any info you need on Cali let me know. My family is from the coffee region so Paisa culture, different from Cali but due to proximity (only 3 hours), I know the city pretty well. 
