If you are planning a trip to Providencia, be sure to check the final two sections of this page "Booking a Trip to Providencia" to ensure you get a good deal.
Providencia Island (or Isla Providencia) is one of the few remaining Caribbean islands that has yet to see mass tourism (with just 13,000 visitors per year). There are only a handful of small hotels on the English speaking island, and the five beaches are beautifully unspoilt and largely devoid of people. Providencia is an empty tropical paradise, perfect for a relaxing few days beach vacation in Colombia. It's a fantastic island of beautiful beaches that are, on the whole, totally undeveloped. Mass tourism has yet to hit Providencia and the locals are determined to keep the island that way.
Providencia is also one of Colombia's best scuba diving travel destinations. All flights are from San Andres Island, with either Satena or charter flights operated by Decameron, who are now affiliated with many of the hotels on the island.
Providencia is a year round travel destination, but special times to visit include late June for the island's carnival, or early May when the mountains change colour as the local black crabs descend en masse to lay their eggs.
Providencia Hotels
There are many decent hotels in Isla Providencia, though none of them could be considered to be luxury hotels. Most of the best hotels are now affiliated with Decameron, through whom you can book them. Unfortunately, Decameron is a total rip off (see the later section) - and I wouldn't advise you to book through them if you seek value for money. Better to turn up without a reservation, and book your hotel upon arrival (it'll be about half the price compared to booking through Decameron!). However, turning up without a reservation during the peak tourism seasons of mid December to mid January, Easter Week and June and July is not recommended as many hotels will be full. The rest of the year it's fine to turn up without a reservation though. My recommended hotels in Providencia are Posada del Mar and Posada CocoBay.
Of the Decameron affiliated hotels, the best is the 30 room Posada Del Mar. I say best because the rooms are of the highest standard, and the hotel is right on the coast (no beach though). Second best of the Decameron affiliated hotels is Miss Mary, primarily due to it's great beachfront location in South West Bay. Third choice is Miss Elma - decent hotel, and right on the coast near the beach at Freshwater Bay. There are other Decameron options too: Cabanas Aguadulce, El Recreo and Cabanas Relax are all pretty non-descript, and I can see little point in booking any of them.
The Sol Caribe is the most expensive hotel in Providencia - it's also a complete rip-off at $240 for a double. It's a distinctly average hotel that has no style and is extremely overpriced. Don't even consider staying there!
There are other independently owned hotels on Isla Providencia that are not affiliated with Decameron, and provide good value for money. Hotel Pirata del Morgan is found above a tiny supermarket, and has a small swimming pool and pleasant rooms overlooking the sea. Hotel Sirius is a good, economically priced option and specializes in scuba diving packages and is located just back from the beautiful beach at South West Bay.
So what is best hotel on the island of Providencia? My choice, and where we stayed in February 2009, is the beautifully located Posada CocoBay, found on the other side of the island in Maracaibo Bay. Cocobay has a stunning setting overlooking Cayo Cangrejo (Crab Caye) and the multiple shades of turquoise waters that surround it. It's a beautiful setting, however the only drawback is that there is no restaurant nearby (it's a 15 minute walk to the rather sub standard local restaurants in the main town). So you'll almost certainly need to hire a golf buggy if you do stay (golf buggy hire can be haggled down from the usual starting price of 100,000 pesos or $40 per day). The 3 room family run hotel Posada Cocobay has simple but spacious rooms (nothing fancy) and costs about 180,000 pesos ($70) for a double room making it one of the cheapest options on the island of Providencia (to book it you'll need to call - (0057) 311 804 0373 or (0057) 85148903).
Providencia Hotels:
Miss Elma, Providencia, Colombia.
Miss Mary Hotel - beachfront location.
Sol Caribe Hotel, Providencia, Colombia.
Booking a Trip to Providencia - Decameron worth it?
A couple of years ago, the hotel chain Decameron forced themselves into the Providencia tourism market by affiliating themselves with many of the independently (locally) owned hotels. Tourism levels have increased as a result, but it's not all good news for the locals. In 2008 they have apparently doubled the prices and as such the packages are now unreasonably expensive. I very much doubt that the hotels involved see any of this doubling in prices - it's more a case of Decameron trying to monopolize the tourist industry and make money. I carried out a brief study of prices in November 2008 that demonstrated that it is totally pointless to book with Decameron.
I called Decameron and essentially got a break-down of their package prices - details follow. Prices are per person based on a double room in early December 2008 staying at Miss Elma (prices are the same for most of the Decameron hotels, and converted into dollar prices at time of writing):
3 nights room only + breakfast = $298 per person.
Package including return (charter) flights from San Andres to Providencia plus 3 nights room + breakfast = $869 per person.
Return flights from Bogota to San Andres, plus return charter flights from San Andres to Providencia, plus 3 nights including breakfast = $1267 per person.
This can be compared to booking the individual sections yourselves:
3 nights room only = $70 per person in a double (eg. staying at Posada CocoBay, or a similar price booking a Decameron affiliated hotel upon arrival on the island.)
Satena Flights from San Andres to Providencia = $160
Avianca flights from Bogota to San Andres = $411 (this price at other times will be highly variable, and very much dependent upon dates)
What do all these figures mean? Basically, you can pay Decameron $1267 per person for a 3 night package from Bogota, or you can book the 3 parts yourself independently for about half the price. It's no contest - Decameron is now a total rip-off. I just feel really sorry for those small locally owned hotels that chose to affiliate themselves with the hotel chain a couple of years ago.
How to Book a Trip to Providencia
Well the easy option is to book with Decameron, but don't expect a good deal (as explained above). It costs half the price to book the following segments for yourself, as I'll explain:
See the Avianca or Copa / Aerorepublica websites for details and prices for flights from Colombia's mainland (or Panama) to San Andres Island. Generally speaking, you can't use international credit cards on their websites, but if you call you should be able to book without problems. Both airlines have English speaking reservation staff.
Book your onward flight from San Andres to Providencia with Satena. This is simplest done in one of their many offices found throughout Colombia. If you are not in the country, you can call Satena and make a provisional reservation and pay for it upon arrival at the airport with your credit card (NB. if you've made such a provisional reservation with Satena, you can also pay for it at no additional cost in any travel agency in Colombia). I believe that Satena do not accept international credit cards unless you present it to them in person. Alternatively, you could try to book these flights only with Decameron.
Decide which hotel you want to stay in and call them - they all speak English as Providencia's first language is English. The website posadasturisticas.com.co has all the contact details for the hotels in Providencia. They normally will ask you to make a deposit into their bank account to confirm the reservation, or they might ask for credit card details.
Doing all the above is certainly easier while you are in the country, but still not complicated if you wish to book before you visit. However, you might find it simpler to get a local Colombian travel agency to do all the work for you.
