San Andres and Providencia island are two Colombian islands located just off the Nicaraguan coast. English and Creole are much more spoken than Spanish and you will definitely get the Caribbean vibe as soon as you step off the plane.

San Andrés was described to us as the “Colombian’s Miami”. We found it more like a latino Disneyland. It is full of shops, people flashing their cash and a lot of loud music and flashing lights! Away from the main beach and strip you will still find paradise.

The beaches are incredible, you can snorkel around, jump of little cliffs into the turquoise water or just sit and enjoy a cocktail out of a coconut.

Providencia: Getting to Paradise isn’t easy 

I think it’s most likely a good thing. The number of incoming tourists are limited which preserves the island, and is most likely what makes it so paradisiac (I imagine).

Getting to Providencia for us proved impossible  (We didn’t make it)…. 

The boats do not run everyday there is generally only 1 a day, it leaves in the morning (9am I believe) and sometimes doesn’t run due to bad weather conditions/currents.  Check and the schedules online : https://www.directferries.es/conocemos_navegando.htm

We were partly aware of this so had planned to go straight to Providencia and then spend a couple of days in Providencia on the way back.

We had not managed to find how to book online or the boat times. We found this out on the plane, so upon arrival at the airport, headed straight through arrivals to departures and found out we’d missed the only boat that day and there were none going over the next couple of days… #Fail

From Colombia, multiple airlines fly to San Andrés from Bogota, Medellin, Barranquilla and Cartagena – we chose to fly Viva Colombia, always going with the cheap option. I believe Copa Airlines also fly in to San Andres from the neighboring countries (Panama, Costa Rica and Peru) although it is often for a hefty price and is cheaper to get yourselves to Colombia first.

We were not aware of the Tourist Entry Tax for San Andres, we paid 100$ just before boarding our flight – it should be about 25$…. It increases yearly so please double check this on an official website.

Again, I would recommend arranging your flights around the Providencia transport, rather than the other way around.

Satena flies daily to Providencia (2-4 times a day) for about 150$ return. Flights fill up very fast, you can sometimes be on a waiting list. Unless this has changed you could only book flights directly at a Satena office in Colombia.

We managed to get on the waiting list upon arrival for a flight to Providencia, but were not allowed to board as there were no spaces for any return flights that week and even if we could have booked the boat for the return upon arrival, the airline would not let us board…. </3

There are also other charter planes that make the trip.

TIPS

• If flying with Viva Colombia, remember to print out boarding pass
• Book your boat/flight there before booking anything else (accommodation is rarely refundable)
• You must have return tickets
• It is much more expensive than the mainland
• However Buy Rhum and other goodies here then are tax-free and often cheaper than on the mainland
• Check out a different beach everyday
• San Andres is BIG – hop on a bus and just hop of somewhere you like – just don’t be in a rush