Plane Tickets To Cartagena Is A Fantastic Way To Begin Your Colombian Vacation.

Plane tickets for Cartagena are the least stressful way to get to Santa Marta, I like the convenience of traveling by Spirit Airlines which is reliable, simple and is a discount airfare compared to most other airlines. Of course there are other airlines but the majority fly to Bogota, as almost all travel destinations within Colombia fly from Bogota. an overnight in Bogota will add an additional $300.00 to the cost of your trip when overnight stays in both directions are factored in.

Plane tickets out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami are the best way that I have found to get to Colombia from Canada. Florida works because I can overnight then have a leisurely 3+ hour flight to Cartagena and arrive in the afternoon the following day, giving me the option of continuing on to Santa Marta, about 4 hours by bus or to just relax around Cartagena and travel in the early morning the following day. Either way they're all simple yes or no decisions and once I am in Colombia I'm in no rush, except maybe to enjoy a pint.

Spirit Airlines flies out Fort Lauderdale and plane tickets to Cartagena can be bought for about $130.00 US each way plus taxes. The prices can vary a little though but not that much.

The United States is a great place to fly out of but unfortunately I live in Canada and crossing that border adds many hundreds of dollars to the price of a plane ticket, they will always cost you more. My main goal is to find airfares that will take me to Fort Lauderdale, Florida at a descent price, from there it's about three and a half hours to Cartagena.

Reasons for Arriving in Cartagena

You have all your bags with you in Miami or Fort Lauderdale before you leave for Cartagena.
Your air travel is only one leg to Cartagena so the odds of lost baggage are low.
Plane tickets to Bogota takes another hour and you must double back the next day plus your hotel expenses have gone up as Bogota is more expensive than the coast.
Cartagena has a small airport on one level so it's not confusing.
Many if not all the customs agents can speak English.
You can be through customs in about 10 minutes.
There are hotels close by where you can finally relax after a days air travel.

On arrival at customs, ensure your form is filled out and have a destination written down, on one particular time my wife was meeting me in Cartagena and she had the details of where we were going to stay but I did not, so I left this part blank on my form, when the customs lady asked me where I was staying I had to explain that I didn't exactly know but that my wife was waiting for me on the other side of customs and she had all of the details. The customs lady was very kind and polite and decided to let me through but she warned me that in the future when I arrive in Colombia to have my destination on the form. Good Point!

Hotels are not far from the airport if you plan to stay overnight, 10 or 15 minutes in a taxi will put you downtown, close to the beaches and restaurants. There are some hotels just around the corner from the airport, are cheap but very basic, it depends on what you require when you travel.

The cabs are used to dealing with air travelers and can get you to your hotel without a problem, make sure you have Colombian pesos to pay for the cab. When traveling through the city keep your windows rolled up and the doors locked.

The city of Cartagena has a population of about 900,000 people and the airport is on one level and is small so it's not confusing and clearing customs is very simple, you get off the plane, walk down the tarmac and walk into the airport, customs are right there, it's only a short wait and the agents are very friendly and helpful. Hang on to the form that you filled out on the plane that gives your personal details. You are reauired to have return plane tickets so have them handy.

The hotels in Cartagena will also offer a minibus service to Santa Marta but in my opinion there is more risk, the larger buses are the way to go, bigger is safer, minibus drivers drive much too fast, the highway has two lanes, so they spend a lot of time passing, there is less of this on the big buses who will occasionally pass but nothing like the minibus drivers. This is the biggest danger to life and limb on the coast of Colombia.

If you intend to go from Cartagena airport to Santa Marta by bus it is about a half hour taxi ride to get to the bus station and the price is less than $10.00. The bus from Cartagena to Santa Marta is less than $20.00, this is what you call true discount travel, you are not talking hundreds anymore but $10's. The distance is about 115 miles, 68 to get to the city of Barranquilla and about 47 to Santa Marta, although the distances are not that great there is a fair amount of in city driving, also when you get to Barranquilla you will stop at the bus station and perhaps change buses, so give yourself at least 6 hours for your travel day. You will need money to use the washrooms in Barranquilla, not much but why panic to find an ATM then added time to break the bills down to a lower denomination. You will always need small denomination bills.

I have always found the buses clean and comfortable and if you miss a bus there will be another one leaving in less than a half hour. My biggest complaint with the buses is that the air conditioning is turned down too low and I am always freezing when I travel.

The scenery to Santa Marta is pleasant and once you arrive you will see that the area caters to the discount travel crowd, you don't have to look far to find good deals on lodging, food, groceries, all things related to basic living. Santa Marta reminds me of my past, this is why I choose to live in South America, small businesses, two lane highways, smaller developments, a more human scale.

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