Aracanto

From the moment we were connected with Aracanto Travel through KimKim, our Colombian adventure transformed into an extraordinary experience. Their commitment to excellence and attention to detail was amazing.

Margoth designed an awesome itinerary that blended culture, nature, and adventure from the vibrant streets of Bogota and Cartegena, to hiking in the Medellín Cloud forest and Tayrona National Park, and scuba diving in Santa Marta.

Aracanto took care of every aspect of the itinerary, from all the transport, and tours to the accommodation – even making our restaurant reservations for us! The personalized approach and thorough planning meant we did not have to worry about a thing! The Aracanto team set up a WhatsApp group a few days before we arrived in Colombia and this worked so well – someone from the team was always available to answer any of our questions or make any last-minute changes – a huge shout out to the team (Margoth, Felipe, Juanita, Marcela, Fabian and Sebastian)!

Our guides across the cities we visited were also excellent – big thank you to Joel (Bogota), Andras (Medellín), Cesar (Santa Marta), and Ana (Cartegena) for making our trip so special.

Colombia itself was spectacular in its people, culture, nature and history – the amazing street art in Bogota, the history and vibrance of Comuna 13, the lush forests and beautiful beaches, the spectacular food (yes, including all the interesting stuff too – ants, beetle larva and guinea pig), and the amazing, friendly people.

In summary, Aracanto Travel provided an exceptional service turning our dreams of visiting Colombia into a reality. They are certainly a passionate team, and we would highly recommend them to anyone planning a trip to Colombia. Thank you Margoth and Team!!!

Activity Reviews

Guatape and El Peñol

Colombia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day City Tour of Cartagena

Cartagena

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Chorro Campana Hike

Medellín

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Chicaque Natural Park

Bogotá

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The Best of Medellín City Tour (with Comuna 13)

Medellín

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half-Day Coffee Farm Tour

Medellín

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tayrona National Park Tour

Colombia

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our nine day trip to Colombia began in Bogota. We were delighted with our guide, Oscar. He provided great information, personalized service, and helped make our tours of the city and surroundings enriching and comfortable. We especially enjoyed the historical perspective he provided and his love of cooking! Our tour to Guatavita helped us to appreciate all of the history and the beauty of the gold that was displayed in the Gold Museum.
In Medellin, Sebastian, our guide helped us understand life in this beautiful city. We especially enjoyed seeing Comuna 13 and learning about how the city of Medellin has evolved into the city it is today. Going to Guatape and climbing El Penol was a highlight. Sebastian was enthusiastic and a great ambassador for Colombia.
Cartagena is a vibrant colorful city and our guide, Anna, showed us various areas of the old city on a walking tour. We enjoyed fruit, ice cream, chocolate and rum tasting and learned much about the history of the city. Anna provided great historical insight and even helped us see a sloth in a city park! We also enjoyed a mangrove tour with a local fisherman. It was good to get a view of what life is like outside of the city.
Felipe helped us to arrange a tour that was suited to our way of travel. We covered history, art, food, culture and even managed to get out into the countryside to see life outside of the cities.

Hotel Review

Patio del Mundo

Medellín

Beautiful, peaceful and comfortable. Everything about this place provided a sense of calm. The staff was delightful and attentive. Location was great and near many nice restaurants.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Guatavita Lake Tour

Bogotá

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half-Day Coffee Farm Tour

Medellín

This was a nice sample of what coffee plantations are like on a small scale and close to Medellin. Our time didn't permit going to the coffee growing region so this was a nice compromise.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The Best of Medellín City Tour (with Comuna 13)

Medellín

We really enjoyed being able to take the cable car and see Comuna 13. We also really liked the guide who was a resident of the Comuna 13 area. We enjoyed the vibrance of the community and seeing how this area is transforming.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Walking Tour of Cartagena Old City

Colombia

We loved learning about the history of the city and it's people. Our tasting tours were informative and delicious.

Quality of Experience

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Welcome to Colombia!

Colombia

On time and efficient.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Highlights of Bogotá City Tour (with Gold Museum, Local Market and Monserrate Hill)

Bogotá

We enjoyed our entire experience. It was nice to see the Gold Museum prior to going to Guatavita.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Guatape and El Peñol

Colombia

We enjoyed climbing El Penol and the city of Guatape. The community was lovely to visit.

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Rum Tasting with Chocolate Pairing

Cartagena

We learned so much on this tour. We enjoyed tasting the rum and the nibbles that they provided were very good.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Depart Colombia

Colombia

It was really great to have our guides help us with airport check ins. This really made things go much more smoothly than if we had to do the check ins on our own.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

All of our guides made sure we were checked in and good to go before they left us. A nice touch!

Transport

Exotic Fruit Tasting Workshop and Local Ice Creams

Cartagena

The young women who provided the service at this venue were delightful! Koko and Vicky were great fun and very informative.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Mangrove Tour with Local Fisherman

Cartagena

Very interesting and enjoyable. We loved seeing the birds and seeing how the fishermen do their work. We learned a lot about the mangroves and the ecosystem there.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Fabulous trip to Colombia. Margoth and her team were fantastic. The communication with Margoth during the planning stage was excellent. She worked with our rough outline for the trip and made suggestions and listened to our feedback. We chose a 12 day trip that included time in Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena. The team recommended hotels in each of the locations and even suggested restaurants that catered to our dietary needs (we are pescatarians). As we approached our departure date, the team set up a WhatsApp group to make our communication with them seamless.

We encountered travel issues on our journey to Colombia and Margoth and team were very responsive to our delayed arrival. We alerted them of our new schedule through the WhatsApp group and they got in touch with the hotel to ensure that we kept our reservation even though we would be a day later and they cancelled our dinner reservation. They modified our airport pickup and shuffled the schedule to accommodate the changes.

Our time in Bogotá included a trip to Guatavita and the Salt Cathedral one day and an extensive tour of Bogotá the next day. Our guide, Juan, was great. He was extremely knowledgeable and personable. He had a lot of enthusiasm and love of what he does. We stayed at the Artisan D.C. Hotel, which was excellent and in a great location. We had nice dinners at the hotel bar, Crepes and Waffles and at La Mar. All terrific choices.

In Medellín, we had an excellent guide, Veronica. Her love of Medellín and desire to share it with us was evident from the beginning. When we first arrived we spent the afternoon at a local, family-own coffee farm. This was a very interesting and educational experience. The next day we toured the entire city, including the cable cars and the Comuna 13 district. The transformation of Medellín is something to behold. The following day we went to Guatapé and El Peñol. This was a fun, active day which included climbing 704 steps to the top of El Peñol. In Medellín we stayed at the El Zarzo hotel which was in a fabulous location. We dined at Kaime, Mistura and Il Castillo - again all great choices.

In Cartagena, we stayed in the fascinating old city. One day, we took a day trip out to a beach resort on the Tierra Bomba island. We had some fabulous meals in Cartagena at Cande, Juan del Mar, Lobo del Mar and El Jardin - all great options. We stayed at the Bastion Luxury Hotel which was outstanding. The staff was very welcoming. The room was excellent, as was the location. The roof top deck and pool had great views of the sea and the city.

Margoth and the team were constantly available when needed and extremely helpful. We had issues with a cancelled flight on our departure date. Margoth reacted immediately, finding us a hotel for the night (even though is was the beginning of Semana Santa) and setting up a driver to get us back to the airport the next day.

The trip was terrific in large part due to all of the work and attention from Margoth and team. Their knowledge and love of Colombia were evident in every interaction. We highly recommend working with them.

Though we had a slight apprehension to visit Colombia (because of the country's history) , however after seeing different reviews from other travellers , we still wanted to visit Bogota, Cocora Valley and Medellin, in 7 days.
Margoth designed the entire trip keeping our special requests , interests , strict Vegetarian diet and budget in mind. We had a very comfortable, safe and a memorable trip. Right from the beginning she went above and beyond to accomodate everything we were looking for from this trip. We were pleasently surprised by the food options and restaurants that were chosen for us, we had great vegetarian and vegan options in almost all the restraurants that were recommended.

Margoth and her team made us feel very comfortable during the entire trip. We were connected via WhatsApp group and got the information/help immidiately. Though we don't speak spanish or understand much, it was never a hurdle due to the arrangements made by the team and special thanks to all the guides that were assigned to our trip. And the team also took care of some of the immigration paper work which made our travel very convenient.

On the first day of the trip, on landing in Bogota, I had very bad altitude sickness and a severe headache. Team took good care of me .When we checked into the hotel, they had already arranged for electrolytes (Since I threw up and was not able to eat). They were ready to arrange for a doctor too , immediately. Fortunately it was not needed, I felt better after a night's rest.

It was very thoughtful of team Aracanto to have a welcome gift for us in the hotel , we loved the goodies they had for us.

Our guide in Bogota - Oscar Diaz was very caring and made sure we had good experence in Bogota. We were having a great day on Day 2 , tasted all the exotic fruits and snacks in Paloquemao market , Oscar was sharing all the amazing facts about the local market and people. I wish I was more prepared for handling the high altitude. I started to have a headache again after reaching Monserrate Hill,and as a result we had to cut short the day tour . Oscar took us to a local pharmacy to get medicine for my headache and after taking that I felt better almost immediately. Thanks a lot to Oscar for the recommendation.

We then visited Pereira , our guide there was Claudia and she was extremely knowledgeable about coffee production and farms. She explained it all so well that we felt like we were with a professor in a classroom. We had a very authentic coffee farm experience and she made sure we learnt a few new skills! :)
Next day we visited Cocora Valley, Salento and Felandia with her, she was patient with us and went above and beyond to make sure we had a memorable time there.

And our last destination was Medellin. Sebastian was our guide for three days and he made sure we had the best experience in Medellin. Our most memorable moment was in Commune 13, Sebastian and another local guide Tatyayini showed us around , made sure we experienced best of everything there. Next day, we also visited El pinol, Guatape with Sebastian. He made sure the drive of almost 2 hrs was entertaining, he was playing the role of a DJ playing different music mostly best of Colombia, keeping our taste in mind. :)

We have been travelling for many years now and worked with many amazing tour complanies and guides, however what stood out this time was the extra care we got. The team was checking on my health regularly and made us feel very safe and comfortable.

Especially ,Sebastian is a very kind and amazing human being, he was with us all the while on the last day in the airport helping us with the bags checking and other formalities, at one point we forgot that he was our guide, he made us feel like a family.

Colombia is very different now from what many people still think is. This is the most beautiful, colorful , vibrant country and people are very warm, friendly and kind. Not even once we felt unsafe anywhere.

And we would definelty recommend Kimkim and Aracanto for a perfect trip to Colombia.

This was our first visit to Columbia. Margoth and her team made the experience easy. They are available 24 hrs a day via WhatsApp. Every detail is handled from airport pickup to tours to dinner reservations. Very Grateful for everything.

Dr Joni and Dr Maynard Luterman

Hotel Reviews

Calanoa Lodge

Leticia

It’s an ecolodge in the rainforest. We had the treehouse. Everyone is very helpful. Its beautiful. It places you in the jungle with the nighttime sounds being magical. Our room had a quiet, Bed withfly nets a small fan and a bathroom. There is No where to hang cloths. Food was excellent and consisted of fish mostly and some chicken. the food is all local. Beer wine and soft drinks can be purchased. It’s hot and very humid. It is the Amazon so be prepared. I would bring no cotton clothing as everything gets damp. There is a lot of walking, Balance and core strength are tested daily so be prepared. There are tours to local areas twice a day. Boat trips are. It was a once in a Lifetime experience.

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

It’s hot and humid and not much relief so be prepare d

The Artisan D.C. Hotel, Autograph Collection

Bogotá

Modern hotel in financial district. Rooms were on the small side, Front desk staff do not speak English. It was the small items like our room had one bathrobe for my wife and I….great Location and overall very nice

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

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Casa Pestagua Relais Châteaux

Cartagena de Indias

Perfect location service was impeccable and the place is beautiful

Authenticity & Character

Location

In the old city

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Walking Tour of Cartagena Old City

Colombia

Our tour guide Anna Maria was lovely spoke perfect English and was a joy to hang with. Tour was fun and well done

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Drums and Music Workshop

Cartagena

Pure joy and fun. I think the people doing the workshop would have done it for free just to have been able to teach and play. They use there music to support the children and to get them off the streets and get them to work together and it showed. The kids were great. The teachers were great. We had so much fun playing all the drum types. No experience necessary I have none lol….

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gréât guide in Bogota and Pereira , knowledgeable and also interesting. Margoth and her team are amazing, everything planned went exactly as expected and our experiences such as rhum tasting and a boat trip were great . I truelybreicmmwnd colombia and the agency Aracanto

We had an amazing trip to Colombia! Setting up our trip was easy. KimKim asked about our likes/dislikes, how active we wanted to be, what places we didn't want to miss seeing etc all to set up the best vacation possible for us. We went to Bogota, Pereira and Cartagena and thoroughly enjoyed all 3 locations. In Bogota we did a city tour which included the Gold Museum (a must see) as well as the local market and Monserrate Hill. We also left the city and did some hiking so it felt like a good mix of time in the city as well as enjoying the natural beauty around the city. Our guide in Bogota, Oscar, was very helpful and informative. Periera was totally different. We were out in the beauty of the coffee region visiting small towns such as Finlandia and Salento. Going to the Corcora Valley and seeing the beautiful Wax Palms, Horseback riding and a Coffee Farm Visit. The only disappointment was due to fires we were not able to do the Los Frailes Hike but it certainly wasn't the fault of KimKim. The boutique hotel in Pereira , Hotel Sazagua, was just lovely. It was by far our favorite hotel. Our room was spacious with our own private patio/jacuzzi, the food at the hotel was great and the service top notch. Our guide in Pereira, Claudia, was also great. She was so knowledgable about the area she even gave us the coffee tour herself.
Cartagena was our third stop and it didn't disappoint. It was very hot but we managed to get some pool time in at our hotel as well as a full day at Tierra Bomba Island at the Makani Beach Club to cool off. The Makani Beach Club was fabulous. It had a beautiful pool, a restaurant, bar area as well as massage. We enjoyed all three. Due to the wind the boat ride back was very bumpy so if that is bothersome it might not be a good choice. I would also highly recommend the Mangrove Tour. It s a very beautiful area and we were able even able to catch a few blue crab on our tour! Again, our guides were very informative and knowledgable about the city and it's history.
We've had a lot of people ask us if we felt safe while in Colombia. Our answer is "Yes"! As long as you're smart about where you go on your own and are aware of your surroundings it is perfectly safe. Our guides were very helpful in giving us tips and guidance in this area for sure. The one thing that was surprising to us was how few people spoke any English. Our Spanish is extremely limited so without a guide I think it would have been difficult for us to navigate around the country. But thanks to KimKim and our guides this wasn't an issue at all. We would definitely recommend travel to Colombia!

This is Joan and John Merriam’s review of their trip to Colombia from January 16-30 2024 which was planned and arranged by the KimKim team. We cannot say enough positive things about Margoth and Felipe and the rest of their team. During the planning stage and throughout our days in Colombia they were always quick to respond to any questions or concerns we had.

Our trip consisted of four days in each of Medellin, the Coffee District and Cartagena concluding with a two night stay in Bogota. Our accommodations were in beautiful boutique hotels in the first three locations and a very comfortable first class hotel in central Bogota. And each location included restaurant recommendation that were always superb. Our guides - Diego in Medellin, Felipe and Mauricio in the Coffee District, Gabo in Cartagena, and Maria in Bogota were all very knowledgeable and could not do enough to make our tours both educational and enjoyable.

Overall, our trip in Colombia was a great experience and one we look forward to recommending to our many friends. We think the country has much to offer to travellers and that the people of Colombia are among the warmest and friendliest people we have met on our travels in many countries all over the world.

The online staff was quick to respond and super helpful. Our guide Daniela was knowledgeable and fun.

Margoth was an incredible planner. The trip, transfers, hotels, restaurants were all spectacular. The guides, Andreas, Daniellia, and Alejandro were knowledgeable, game and so much more. The food in Bogota was amazing, the market had so much to see and taste. Cartagena's charm did not disappoint. The Bastion Hotel in the heart of the old city was an oasis. Do not miss the drum workshop. In Cali, the salsa was amazing. Our class set us up to go clubbing, so much fun!
Thank you for a wonderful experience!

Activity Reviews

Tejo Activity (Colombian Local Game)

Bogotá

We both agreed this was a fun way to start our trip. We went right after the airport and it got us into the local culture straight off.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Highlights of Bogotá City Tour (with Gold Museum, Local Market and Monserrate Hill)

Bogotá

The market was incredible. So much to taste and see! Flowers galore as well as fruits and vegetables we had never seen before. Tasting along the way made it all so much fun.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Sunset with Drums and Music Workshop

Cartagena

This was a lot of fun. Drumming along with the band and dancing with the young dancers was a really wonderful experience.

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Transport