Top of the agenda for many people who visit Colombia are it's beaches, and rightly so. Colombia undisputedly has some of the best beaches in South America, the finest of which are found on the extensive Carribean coast. You could easily spend a month travelling in Colombia and just visiting it's beaches.
Colombia's best beaches, scenery-wise, are at Park Tayrona. It's hard to put into words how amazing Park Tayrona's idyllic rainforest-backed beaches are, many of which are completely empty. It's a true Carribean beach paradise, the only problem is that most of the beaches are not safe for swimming.
Both San Andres and Providencia Islands (both in the Carribean) also have stunning beaches. San Andres "Sea of seven shades" is quite spectacular, though it's beaches can get busy during Colombia's domestic tourism seasons. Always much quieter, and slightly more idyllic, are the beaches of neighbouring Providencia Island, one of the Carribean's few remaining islands that has yet to see mass tourism.
Colombia's primary beach resorts of Cartegena and Santa Marta can get a little crowded. Better beaches are nearby - the Rosario Islands are a short boat journey from Cartagena, and the beaches around Taganga are quieter and prettier than those of Santa Marta. Capurgana and the San Bernardo Islands are also on Colombia's Carribean coast and have some beautiful beaches - these are the least visited areas of this coastline. From Capurgana it's just a short boat journey to neighbouring Panama's idyllic San Blas Islands, populated by the Kuna Indians.
There are also many fine beaches on Colombia's Pacific Coast, though generally speaking the Carribean coast has the best beaches. There are the small vacation resort towns of Nuqui and Bahia Solano, in addition to old prison island of Gorgona.
Other Carribean Islands are easily accessible from Colombia's mainland if you want to fly elsewhere for a beach vacation at the end of your tour of Colombia. Aires offers flights from Barranquilla to the islands of Aruba and Curacao, plus there are regular flights from Bogota to Havana in Cuba.
