Study Abroad: Colombia with Classically Clare

Your Colombian adventure begins in the high-altitude capital of Bogotá, a city that sprawls dramatically across a green Andean plateau. Touch down, make your way to your hotel, and take time to settle in and find your feet at altitude. There’s nothing to do this afternoon but ease into the rhythm of the trip ahead.

As evening falls, the group comes together for a special welcome dinner, the first chance to meet your fellow travellers and your host Clare over a relaxed meal. It’s the perfect way to set the tone for the days to come, with introductions made and the journey officially underway. A return transfer brings you back to the hotel afterwards, so you can rest up for the morning.

🏨 Accommodation

• Hotel B3 Virrey or Similar, Bogotá

🍽️ Included Meals

• Dinner

✅ Activities

• Welcome Dinner in Bogotá
• Return Restaurant-to-Hotel Transfer

💸 Local City/Tourist Taxes

When travelling through Colombia, some hotels may charge a local tourist or accommodation tax. This fee is not included in your trip payment and must be settled directly with the hotel in local currency at check-in or check-out. Rates are typically per person, per night, and vary by season and hotel star rating. See the destination guide(s) linked in the Important Notes section for more information.

Today you’ll dive straight into the colour and clamour of the capital. Start with a sensory stop at a local market square, where a guided fruit tasting introduces you to the weird and wonderful produce of Colombia, from lulo to granadilla to fruits you’ve likely never seen before. It’s a vivid, flavour-led welcome to the country’s gastronomy.

From there, you’ll set off on a walking tour of La Candelaria, Bogotá’s historic colonial quarter, with its cobbled lanes, candy-coloured facades, and stately government buildings. An included local snack keeps you fuelled along the way. The rest of the afternoon, and lunch, is yours to spend as you like, perhaps seeking out one of the city’s literary landmarks before regrouping. Full-day transport returns you to your hotel at the close of the tour.

🏨 Accommodation

• Hotel B3 Virrey or Similar, Bogotá

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast
• Fruit Tasting
• Local Traditional Snack

✅ Activities

• Market Square Visit with Fruit Tasting Experience
• Guided Walking Tour of La Candelaria and Government Buildings
• Full-Day Transportation
• Suggestion: Visit the Gabriel García Márquez Cultural Center
• Suggestion: Visit the Luis Ángel Arango Library

An early start sees you swap the mountain capital for the lush green of the Coffee Region, with a morning flight from Bogotá to Pereira. The landscape shifts dramatically as you descend, trading high-altitude city sprawl for rolling hills stitched with coffee plants.

On arrival, you’ll be transferred straight to a working coffee farm tucked into the countryside, where an interactive farm tour walks you through the full journey of Colombian coffee, from cherry to cup. Afterwards, you’ll settle into your resort for the evening, with time set aside for the group’s first reading discussion workshop, an unhurried chance to dig into the trip’s literary theme together.

🏨 Accommodation

• Hotel Antara Resort or Similar, Coffee Region

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast

✅ Activities

• Airport Departure Transfer, Bogotá
• Included Flight from Bogotá to Pereira (Exact Flight TBC)
• Airport Arrival Transfer, Pereira
• Coffee Farm Tour Experience
• Reading Discussion Workshop

✈️ Domestic Flight

Today’s domestic flight from Bogotá to Pereira is included in your trip. It is expected to be a morning service, though the exact flight will be confirmed and booked once the trip is finalised. After booking, guests will be asked to provide a copy of their passport to facilitate the flight reservation.

Today delivers one of the most striking landscapes in all of Colombia. You’ll travel to the famous Cocora Valley for a guided hike beneath the towering wax palms, the tallest palm trees on earth, rising like green spires out of the misty hills. It’s a surreal, photogenic walk through scenery that feels almost otherworldly.

After the hike, you’ll try your hand at tejo, Colombia’s gloriously loud traditional sport that involves throwing metal discs at gunpowder targets, followed by a well-earned traditional lunch. The rest of the afternoon unfolds in Salento, a colourful colonial town where you can wander the streets and browse its local book shops before heading back to the resort. Private round-trip transport takes care of the logistics.

🏨 Accommodation

• Hotel Antara Resort or Similar, Coffee Region

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast
• Lunch

✅ Activities

• Guided Hike in the Cocora Valley
• Traditional Tejo Game Experience
• Traditional Lunch
• Free Time in Salento to Browse Local Book Shops
• Private Round-Trip Transportation

Today you trade the Coffee Region for the buzz of Medellín, travelling overland on a scenic drive through the Colombian countryside. The journey is broken up with a generous three-hour stop at the beautiful Finca La Romelia, where a guided orchid tour leads you through a riot of blooms and an included lunch is served amongst the flowers.

You’ll roll into Medellín by evening, with the rest of the night free. Spend it however suits you, whether that’s exploring the city’s celebrated culinary scene or gathering with the group to continue the trip’s book discussions over coffee.

🏨 Accommodation

• Hotel La Campana Boutique or Similar, Medellín

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast
• Lunch

✅ Activities

• Overland Transfer from Coffee Region to Medellín
• Guided Orchid Tour at Finca La Romelia
• Lunch at Finca La Romelia
• Suggestion: Group Book Discussion Over Coffee

Medellín’s story is one of the most remarkable urban turnarounds anywhere in the world, and today you’ll see it up close. The morning begins with a guided visit to Comuna 13, a neighbourhood once defined by conflict and now reborn through community spirit, street art, and creative expression. You’ll wind through its vibrant walkways, surrounded by bold murals that tell the city’s complex history and its inspiring reinvention.

The group then gathers at a traditional café and bookstore tucked into the comuna for a creative writing workshop, a quiet, reflective space to connect with Medellín’s culture over a cup of premium Colombian coffee. The rest of the day is entirely yours, with a free afternoon to lunch at a local bistro, visit a museum, or simply wander and soak up the warmth of the city at your own pace.

🏨 Accommodation

• Hotel La Campana Boutique or Similar, Medellín

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast

✅ Activities

• Guided Transformation Tour, Comuna 13 and Botero Park
• Creative Writing Workshop at a Local Café and Bookstore

Today the trip heads for the Caribbean. After a transfer to the airport, you’ll fly north to the tropical, sun-drenched coast, where a private transfer brings you into the colourful streets of Cartagena. The change in pace is immediate, with salt air, pastel facades, and the gentle hum of coastal life.

Your introduction to the city comes through the words of Gabriel García Márquez. Guided by an expert in the life and work of Gabo, you’ll follow a literary tour through the places that inspired his timeless novels, the writer who brought One Hundred Years of Solitude to life and captured the magical realism woven through everyday Colombian life. It’s a chance to see how literature and landscape blur together in every corner of the old city.

🏨 Accommodation

• Hotel Casa Villa Colonial or Similar, Getsemaní, Cartagena

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast

✅ Activities

• Airport Departure Transfer, Medellín
• Included Flight from Medellín to Cartagena (Exact Flight TBC)
• Airport Arrival Transfer, Cartagena
• Guided Cartagena Gabriel García Márquez Literary City Tour

✈️ Domestic Flight

Today’s domestic flight from Medellín to Cartagena is included in your trip. It is expected to be a morning service, though the exact flight will be confirmed and booked once the trip is finalised. After booking, guests will be asked to provide a copy of their passport to facilitate the flight reservation.

Today is a powerful and unforgettable full-day excursion to San Basilio de Palenque, the first free African town in the Americas and a UNESCO-recognised masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage. Led by a local guide, you’ll take a comprehensive historical tour of the town, learning how its community preserved its language, music, and traditions across centuries of resistance and freedom.

A traditional lunch is included before you return to Cartagena for the evening. The day, and the trip, closes with a special farewell dinner, a chance to raise a glass with your fellow travellers and your host Clare, and to reflect on everything Colombia has offered over the past nine days.

🏨 Accommodation

• Hotel Casa Villa Colonial or Similar, Getsemaní, Cartagena

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

✅ Activities

• Full-Day Excursion to San Basilio de Palenque
• Guided Town Tour
• Traditional Lunch
• Farewell Dinner
• Round-Trip Private Transportation

Your Colombian journey draws to a close with one final morning on the Caribbean coast. Enjoy a relaxed breakfast and take a last walk through Cartagena’s storybook streets if time allows, soaking up the colour and warmth one more time.

Your organised services conclude after breakfast today. From the high Andes to the Coffee Region, from Medellín’s murals to Palenque’s living history, you’ll leave with a fuller, deeper read on Colombia, and plenty of stories of your own to carry home.

🍽️ Included Meals

• Breakfast