10 reasons to visit Colombia

In the past it has sometimes been in the limelight for the wrong reasons, but these days its tourist industry is thriving, and rightly so.

Here are ten great reasons to take a Spanish course in this amazing country.

1. ‘High-quality’ Spanish and friendly people

Colombia is said to have one of the highest standards of Spanish in all the Latin-American countries. It is therefore unlikely to throw up too many problems when it comes to comprehension, as might be experienced in countries where the Spanish spoken has a very different accent, or lots of ‘local’ words and phrases. It is also home to some of the friendliest people in the Spanish-speaking world, who will do their utmost to make you feel at home.

2. Superb festivals and carnivals

Colombia has a lot of carnivals and festivals that celebrate the country’s unique culture: the Carnival of Barranquilla, declared a World Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, Black and White People Carnival in Pasto, The International Coffee Queen Festival, Wayuu Festival, and The International Festival of Colombian Plains are just a few to mention.

3. Great coffee

Colombia has the best mild coffee in the world. If you’re an especially avid coffee-drinker, you can actually visit coffee farms in the country’s coffee region to see how they make this famous export!

4. La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

In the north of the country lies the La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. It’s the highest snowcapped range close to the sea in the world, peaking at 5.575 metres above sea level, and is home to The Lost City, built by Tayronas hundreds of years ago.

5. Varied geography and climate

Speaking of mountains, Colombia is also one of the countries where the Andes Mountains begin. For this reason, the country has a very varied geography and climate. It has beautiful Andean forests and plateaus, volcanoes and snowcapped mountains, deserts, vast plains and the Amazon jungle in the south.

6. The Guajira Peninsula

The Guajira peninsula at the northern end of South America has a very unique landscape in that the desert and sea are side by side. This part of the country is inhabited by the Wayuu people, one of Colombia’s largest ethnic groups, but is also famous for the flamingos that live there. 

7. Biodiversity

Colombia is one of the most bio-diverse countries in the world. It has 1.865 bird species, 471 mammal species, 715 amphibious species, 524 reptile species, 1.357 freshwater fish species, 3.019 kinds of diurnal butterflies, 41.000 sorted plant species out of 250.000 presently known. In addition, it has some stunning natural parks like the Snowcapped Mountains Park, Purace Park, and Malpelo Island, a flora and fauna sanctuary, Tayrona Park, the Archeological Park of San Agustín, Archeological Park of Tierradentro, Cocuy Park, and El Tuparro Park in the Colombian jungle.

8. Attractive colonial towns

The country has several colonial towns with very attractive architecture, including Mompós, Popayan, Barichara and Villa de Leyva, as well as Cartagena with its International Film Festival and Hay Festival of literature.

9. Beaches and islands

Colombia has two Oceans lapping at its shores – the Atlantic and Pacific, which gives it some truly spectacular coastline and beaches. There are also some really beautiful islands that you can take a boat to, including San Andrés y Providence, Gorgona, Malpelo and Rosario islands.

10. A fantastic capital city – Bogota

Colombia’s capital, Bogota, is one of the most cosmopolitan countries in South America. It offers theatres, restaurants and bars a-plenty and has a huge range of other places to visit in your free time, including museums, parks and some amazing cathedrals and churches. Every two years, it also hosts the biggest theatre festival outside of Edinburgh…

Cactus offers a range of Spanish, and Spanish and activity courses, in Bogota, Cartagena, Leticia and Medellin