You won’t find any 5 star resorts or anything luxurious in Ladrilleros, to be honest, but there are a multitude of hotels to choose from. Most of them are very simple and do the trick for a few days. Some have cabañas while others are normal hotel rooms. Many offer meal plans with two or three meals a day. If you don’t have reservations, you can find a hotel easily after arriving in Juanchaco.
Buenaventura is not a place you want to stick around in for too long. It’s a loud, dirty, ugly, dangerous port city on Colombia’s Pacific coast.
Cali has a great choice of hotels for both business and pleasure, ranging from basic hostels to top five star name brands. I’ve stayed at two different hotels in Cali on my many trips through the city.
Indiana Dunes State Park is the older sister of the Indiana Dunes National Park. Founded in 1925 after years of efforts by conservationists, the park is surrounded on three sides by the National Park and by Lake Michigan to the north. It consists of 2,182 acres of natural landscape a few miles north of the town of Chesterton.
Popayán is known as the White City (La Ciudad Blanca) for its whitewashed historic colonial city center. It was founded in 1537 by Spanish conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar and is one of the most well-preserved colonial cities in all of Latin America.
Many travelers are often confused about whether or not they should pay a hotel tax in Colombia, but it’s very clear: if you’re a foreigner in Colombia traveling on a tourist visa (PIP5), you DO NOT need to pay IVA (19% value added tax) at ANY hotel in the country.
There are many of places to stay around Calima Lake, including hotels, hostels, fincas, and camping. You can find some of them on this website. The biggest settlement around the lake is the town of Darién, where there are many hotels and restaurants.
Neiva is the hot and sweaty capital of the Huila department and sits along the Río Magdalena. The only real reason for a tourist to visit Neiva is to pass through on the way to the Tatacoa Desert.
The town of San Agustín is full of small hotels, guesthouses, hostels, and cabañas, both within the town limits and in the country. There is also a luxury option available.
Mocoa is a small city on the fringe of the Amazon jungle in the department of Putumayo. It’s an unattractive and rather unfriendly place, which is understood given its difficult history with guerrilla forces (it’s safe now). As unappealing as my description may sound, a couple days in this city on the road to Ecuador is worth the trouble – not for the city, but for the natural beauty and wildlife around it.