-
Arrive
-
Day 1 Arrive in Cartagena
Fly to Cartagena, Colombia’s crowning jewel and one of Latin America’s most colourful cities. Spend the rest of the day getting lost in its atmospheric walled city, where cobbled alleyways weave between colonial mansions and balconies draped in bougainvillea.
Overnight: Casa San Agustin
-
Day 2 Cartagena’s historic centre
Today, become better acquainted with Cartagena’s UNESCO-listed historic centre alongside an expert guide, following in the footsteps of Gabriel García Márquez through the streets that inspired some of his most enduring writing. Pass Baroque churches and bustling plazas fringed by banana palms as your guide brings the life and legacy of ‘Gabo’ into focus, as well as the characters and settings that became hallmarks of his work. We recommend reading Love in the Time of Cholera and/or Of Love and Other Demons before your visit to make the most of the experience.
Overnight: Casa San Agustin
-
Day 3 Deep immersion in Gabriel García Márquez’s life
Enjoy exclusive access to Gabriel García Márquez’s Cartagena home, accompanied by the team from Fundación Gabo. Step inside this carefully preserved house overlooking the city walls and Caribbean Sea, where Gabo welcomed close friends and family, and gain a rare insight into the private life of one of Colombia’s foremost literary figures.
Overnight: Casa San Agustin
-
Day 4 Getsemaní and the flavours of Gabo
Spend time in the charismatic streets of Getsemaní, where the local way of life has been preserved for generations. Learn about its culture and traditions, admiring vibrant street art that reflects the community’s spirit of social resistance. Later, join a local chef on a journey through the flavours that captured Gabo’s imagination, preparing traditional Caribbean dishes featured in his novels, while exploring the Indigenous, African and Spanish influences that have left their mark on the cuisine of Colombia’s coast.
Overnight: Casa San Agustin
-
Day 5 Mompox and the Magdalena River
Travel overland to Mompox, a beautifully preserved colonial town on the banks of the Magdalena River, whose timeless character and riverside setting recall the imagery of Gabriel García Márquez’s fiction. In the late afternoon, take to the Magdalena, an evocative presence in Love in the Time of Cholera. Glide through narrow streams and wetlands by canoe, passing herons, egrets and kingfishers at the river’s edge. End the day watching the setting sun bathe Mompox in golden light – a landscape closely entwined with Gabo’s writing.
Overnight: Casa San Rafael Hotel
-
Day 6 Gabo’s Mompox and the art of filigree
See another side of Mompox, the dreamlike riverside town brought to life by Gabriel García Márquez in The General in His Labyrinth. Alongside a local guide, meander through its cobbled streets and open squares, pausing at historic churches as you uncover the rich history and deep-rooted traditions of this UNESCO World Heritage town. Seemingly suspended in time on the banks of the Magdalena River, Mompox offers a glimpse into the locations and communities that thread through Gabo’s narratives. Continue to a local artisan workshop to try your hand at filigree, the centuries-old craft for which Mompox is renowned, shaping delicate threads of gold and silver and perhaps spotting the little golden fish – a subtle nod to Colonel Aureliano Buendía and Colombia’s rich goldsmithing heritage.
Overnight: Casa San Rafael Hotel
-
Day 7 Aracataca: In search of Macondo
Travel towards the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, stopping in Aracataca, the birthplace of Gabriel García Márquez and the inspiration for the fictional town of Macondo. Walk the streets of his childhood with a local guide and discover the people and places that left a lasting impression on him. Visit Gabo’s childhood home and hear how his grandfather’s tales of war and his grandmother’s stories of ghosts and superstition helped form the creative universe that would later characterise his fiction. Vast multicoloured murals and flashes of yellow butterflies blur the boundary between Aracataca and Macondo. From here, continue to Tayrona, where the forested foothills of the Sierra Nevada meet the Caribbean Sea.
Overnight: Tewimake Hotel
-
Day 8 Tayronaka and the Don Diego River
Journey to Tayronaka, an archaeological site set amid the verdant foothills of the Sierra Nevada, its stone terraces and pathways revealing traces of earlier settlements and shedding light on Tayrona culture. After time among the ruins, follow a short jungle trail to the river and drift downstream by tube through dense tropical forest. Listen for howler monkeys and watch for colourful birdlife or shy caimans along the banks, before enjoying a relaxed picnic amid the surrounding scenery.
Overnight: Tewimake Hotel
-
Day 9 Depart
After breakfast, bid farewell to your hotel and transfer to Santa Marta Airport for your flight home.
-
Depart
