Dating spots

[Traveler]

I propose a new topic of conversation that I don't remember ever being discussed here.  And it should be very useful.
 
What spots would you guys recommend to newbies as good spots to bring a date in Barranquilla, Medellin, Cali, Bogota?  What are good dating ideas in those cities? 
 
What are the good restaurants - good food, good prices?  Which ones should be avoided?  Best clubs?
 
 

[AndyLee]

Well, I think the best spot to bring a date is different than what you would expect to do in the United States or other first world countries. In Latin America my favorite place to bring my date is not a disco or a restaurant or an amusement park or anything else that offers a substitute atmosphere or alternative surroundings. My idea of a good date is to walk along the beach or a stroll in the mountains with my girl and engage her in straightforward and honest conversation. Period.
If you go to a restaurant or a disco or amusement park that's all well and good I suppose, if you're bored and have nothing better to do. My perfect date is one where she and I are engaged in intimate conversation regarding our future together. I'm not impressed by fancy restaurants or discos and if that's what it takes to fire a girl up then I'm not into her, period.
MY thing is to take her to a place where we can talk and get acquainted without the flash and glare and noisy surroundings. I want to know the true girl that lives behind those eyes. Is she a disco bunny or a serious candidate for a long term love that will make us both feel that life is worth living, together?

[Alabamaboy!]

In Cali, any cool little restaurant in Barrio Granada is nice. But my favorite in Cali is to go to Barrio San Antonio for some beers, and then chill out on the big grassy hill there below the church. every night there are a lot of couples who come there to talk, listen to music, and enjoy the cool breeze.

[robert angel]

Not an option in many places outside the USA, but although married, at least once a week we try and date and one thing we like to do is to get to a book store or library that has comfy seats, where we can sit side by side and look through books and magazines that interest us--we usually find things that we share with each other. That's good for 2 or 3 hours and we might grab something from the nearby bakery or a frozen yogurt during that time or on the way home. We still enjoy typical 'dates' that not only include dinner out occasionally and less occasionally, a movie at a theater (saw two this summer).

I think a lot of people burn up a lot of money at restaurants and while we do enjoy a good meal out, including some more 'upscale' places on occasion,  we tend to not eat out a great deal and when we do, we pick our restaurants and meals carefully and we don't drop a bundle on beverages.
Sometimes you can order a very well done, somewhat complex dish, that if you had to go to the grocery store and buy all the ingredients and fix it yourself, it'd cost you more than eating out does, and perhaps even take some extra home to eat later.

[Colgando]

Something different than the last time.....at least in the courting phase of a relationship....

[robert angel]

I really did spin wayyy off topic there. When you're in some foreign, exotic place, you probably have some extra money to burn and you're not only likely to try some nice restaurants, as well as places where the 'locals' go, but you'd be more inclined to try things like scenic places, water sports like jet skis and sailing, or as AndyLee points out, other outdoor pursuits. I've taken a few dates horseback riding, which given my sorry equestrian ability, was great for laughs, especially when the saddle once came uncinched and I ended up hanging upside down, as the horse galloped along. Horses are pretty smart as to knowing when a rider is clueless, and that old steed was no exception!
 
But yea--getting out, eating well, seeing the sites and doing things a bit 'larger' than you might do back home when abroad, seems to be more the norm than the exception.

[Traveler]

Just for the record, I don't think that "dinner and a movie" date is optimal.  Not only you are spending money off the bat on someone you barely know, but it's much better to arrange for something that involves some kind of a physical activity together, or some activity that lets you touch the girl.  And if you must feed the girl, far better is to invite her over for a dinner at your place, but that's not for the first date generally.
 
However, if you are in another country you can't invite a girl for a dinner at your place.  And you have to eat out anyway, and it's generally better to eat out in company than alone  .  I disagree that the first or even second date should focus primarily on discussing "our future together".  That's way too soon for that IMHO.  It should be something fun and an opportunity for you to figure if the girl might be relationship material for you and worth investing more time into, and also to seduce the girl sexually and to make her like you.  But I am not insisting that my approach will work for everybody.  I noticed that many guys start talking marriage virtually off the bat when they land in Colombia, and if that works for them - great.
 
The reason I started this thread is because when guys go to Colombia with a purpose of dating girls, it would be great to share the collective knowledge on ideas for unusual dates or cool places to hang out and to take the girls to in major cities in Colombia.  I have never seen this topic discussed at all to my surprise.

[Chris F]

I propose a new topic of conversation that I don't remember ever being discussed here.  And it should be very useful.
 
What spots would you guys recommend to newbies as good spots to bring a date in Barranquilla, Medellin, Cali, Bogota?  What are good dating ideas in those cities? 
 
What are the good restaurants - good food, good prices?  Which ones should be avoided?  Best clubs?

I always enjoyed Crepes and Waffles in both Cali and Bogota. I never found the restaurant to be too expensive and the food and desserts were always good.
For a little more money and more romantic atmosphere, the restaurant overlooking the pool at the Intercontinental Hotel in Cali is also good.
After dinner at the Intercontinental and way too many drinks, you and your date can walk straight to the casino  also located on the property where you can blow even more money!!
Of course..I never did that!!
 

[Alabamaboy!]

Hotel El Prado in Barranquilla had a deal where you paid like $10 to hang out at their pool all day if you want. I think that they had some kind of breakfast bar deal that you could do also in combination with the pool even if you were not staying there.

I stayed at the hotel twice and did not like it. It was a journey to get to my room and the room itself was small, musty smelling, and outdated. The price was not so good either. But the pool area was awesome and if you wanted a cool date, that would be a nice one. One time I was there, they were shooting some kind of bikini model layout. The tropical feel there is amazing.

Hotel Barranquilla Plaza has something like that too with the brunch and the pool area for the day, but their pool, although nice,  is nowhere near as good as Hotel El Prado. Hotel Barranquilla Plaza does have an awesome restaurant on the top floor with great views of the city that are sure to wow your date if you are at that point of the relationship where you want to do something special and drop a little cash.

[Alabamaboy!]

During a recent trip to Medellin, we went to Guatape for the day and checked out El Penol. It was really cool, included some great physical activity, great photos, cheap, really nice. The town of Guatape is very cool with all the houses decorated with their colorful zocalos. Had a great steak at a place close to the water, drank a bunch of San Thomas beer, and had a lot of laughs and good times stumbling around the little town checking out stores, the people, etc.

Parque Bolivar in Medellin was cool for 1/2 a day. We both were very impressed with all the sculptures and we liked hanging out with the people. Buy a couple sliced mangoes with salt and lime and you got a good little date.

We took the metro up the sky tram up the side of the mountain. It was cool, did not cost anything extra. Great views and pics. It was fun.

In Barranquilla we like to go to the grocery store, buy a bunch of ingredients and then come home to have my girl cook something special. It is nice to go to the grocery store like that and fool around, take your time, then go home and have a few beers while your girl is cooking something nice. We both enjoy that. And for a new couple it is nice for you to see how your girl is with money. You can tell a lot about the girl in the way she shops at Exito.

[benjio]

Ristorante La Dolce Vita in Barranquilla. I know the owner. Very nice Italian lady that loves when gringos come into the restaurant. Her English isn't the best, but she loves to try and speak it with Americans. The ambiance is perfect for dating in the early evening. It gets a little noisier at night but there are also private areas available upstairs where they'll let you sit if they get the impression you want a quiet evening. Get ready to come out of pocket bigtime though. A shared appetizer, two entres, a bottle of wine and a shared dessert will easily add up to $350,000 COP.
 
http://www.ladolcevita.com.co/Bienvenidos.html
 
Mix in Barranquilla also had a very romantic ambiance during the week. On the weekends it's more of a club scene. Mix is hands down the best gourmet food you can buy in Barranquilla. Probably some of the best seafood I've ever eaten.
 
 
 
 

[Kiltboy1]

Cali-La Atorcha in Juanambue-Best Steak in Cali. Was always a favo of Pete E. and all who stayed at his place
 
C&W in any part of Colombia
 
Baq-Never got a real good meal there, so no comment. Baq Plaza was not too bad
 
Bogota Beer Company was nice
 
Casa De Cerveza in Cali & Bogota
 
Kilometre 18 in Cali in the mountains for wonderful Plantones with different salsas-mmmmmmmm
 
KB

[JimD]

 Plantones 
 
KB

probobly "patacónes"... made from platano
 
 

[Alabamaboy!]

Las Flores, which I guess is a barrio or maybe even a seperate pueblo outside of BAQ for fresh seafood along the river. Some of the bigger places there have live music.

[benjio]

Las Flores, which I guess is a barrio or maybe even a seperate pueblo outside of BAQ for fresh seafood along the river. Some of the bigger places there have live music.

You're right Bama...I forgot about Las Flores. The area in general looks like [snip], and the water of the Magdelena is as brown as poo, but the seafood at every restuarant there is absolutely delicious. Relatively cheap too.

[clarkkentinbc]

Ok I have to say this emphatically... DO NOT ASK HER TO YOU PLACE ON THE FIRST THRU THIRD DATES MINIMUM!!!!!!
 
Let me translate this for you in the eyes of a colombian woman...
 
guy says...
 
-How about we go to my place I want to cook dinner for you.
Woman thinks he only wants to have sex with me!
 
-Lets go to my place i will make you lunch there.
Woman thinks he only wants to have sex with me!
 
-Lets go to my place I have some pictures of my hometown I brought that I want to show you.
woman thinks he only wants to have sex with me!
 
To make things simple here basically if you ask her back to your place no matter the reason you give her she is thinking you are going to try to have sex with her. Ask any colombian woman and she is going to say thats what a man wants if he asks you back to his place.
 
Now i know some guys like this type of thing(sex on the first date) as well as i am sure there are women out there who would behave that way. However if we are talking here about finding someone to share the rest of your life with ask yourself this... Do I really respect a woman who is that easy? If the answer is no then obviously you can't really have a relationship because relationships are built on trust and respect.
 
If she says no she dosn't want to go to your place or makes excuses this is not necessarily her saying she is not interested in you. She is just being modest and appropriate and dosn't want to be treated like or look like a puta. Ask her again in a few more dates. when she is ready she will come around. Trust me guys it is worth the wait!
 
CK

[clarkkentinbc]

Ok now I have eaten in i guess over 30 restaurants in Medellin. Almost all of them were pretty good. I think any guy who is worried all the time about what a meal costs(within reason) when he is on a date is cheap bumb. If you can't afford to buy her a meal or are to cheap to do so then you shouldn't be dating. It is part of the dating culture the world over. I am not saying you have to spend a huge wad on her or take her to 5 star restaurants but I have eaten in many many restaurants from parque gringo to out in embigue and have yet to eat at one I felt ripped off at. They might be expensive by colombia standards(compared to the little place on the corner by her house) but compared to Canada they almost always were way cheaper than what you would pay here.
 
Once I was with my novia after my first trip and we became a couple then we would cook a lot at home. It was awesome... made lots of things they would not make and she and her family enjoyed this. In fact it was my novia that would give me the gears about eating out all the time. She would say it was a waste of money... This is a great sign!
 
CK

[mudd]

i know a guy in Armenia/ Pereria area who goes to  parks and goes zip lining across canyons and rivers, even parasailing on his dates. i thought  he was a little crazy but as he explained it, the girls freak out at first, but once they do it, they are completely excited and super happy they did it and its something they never forget.... and it gets rid of the " princess"  type women which he is not into
 

[whitey]

You're right Bama...I forgot about Las Flores. The area in general looks like [snip], and the water of the Magdelena is as brown as poo, but the seafood at every restuarant there is absolutely delicious. Relatively cheap too.

A fun way to spend the day in Las Flores is to go in the morning and take one of the trencitos (little trains) than run on small guage tracks along the peninsula between the river Magdelena and the ocean.  When it gets near the point when the river flows into the ocean, the tracks end and you can get out and walk along to the point.

Then come back and have a big lunch feast at one of the several seafood restaurants along the river.  My wife's aunt owns one of the restaurants there, so that's where we always go (free fish soup ... jejeje).

[benjio]

A fun way to spend the day in Las Flores is to go in the morning and take one of the trencitos (little trains) than run on small guage tracks along the peninsula between the river Magdelena and the ocean.  When it gets near the point when the river flows into the ocean, the tracks end and you can get out and walk along to the point.

Then come back and have a big lunch feast at one of the several seafood restaurants along the river.  My wife's aunt owns one of the restaurants there, so that's where we always go (free fish soup ... jejeje).

Hey Whitey, which restuarant does your wife's aunt own? I think I've been to every single one in that area multiple times.

[Traveler]

Clark,
 
I agree that girls will generally assume that if you invite them to your place, it's for sex.  But there is nothing wrong with that.  I assume that if a guy had asked a girl out he is attracted to her sexually, and if the girl has accepted, she should be as well, or at least willing to give the guy consideration.  Women in my experience are not very direct when it comes to having sex.  It's much easier for them to agree to come to your place supposedly to watch TV and end up having sex, than come purposefully to have sex.  YMMV.
 
I don't think there must be fixed rules: 3 dates before sex, 1 date before sex, 1 year before sex, etc.  I normally would not consider a woman willing to have sex on the first date as marriage material, but I doubt I would decline an offer, so how can I judge?  I think it depends not on how many dates there were, but how long you had spent with her, if you had developed intimacy and mutual attraction, things like that.  I don't invite women to my place unless I feel that it is likely that she is ready to get intimate.
 
Now, in regards to eating out.  As I have mentioned, when I am in another country I need to eat out anyway, so why not share?  The issue is not whether it's expensive or not, but that it usually doesn't help to build mutual sexual attraction.  The guy is not next to the girl, he is not touching her, he is not doing something fun and physical.  The man's goal is not to feed the girl, but to build up mutual attraction.  And a dinner date is something standard and boring, and women will assume that a guy that does boring and standard things when dating will be the same in bed.  And for the vast majority of women that is not particularly attractive and exciting.  Obviously, if the guy is spending an afternoon or an evining with a girl, and everything is going well, both of them will need to eat, so it is perfectly appropriate to invite the girl to share a dinner, but that should not be the centerpoint of the date IMHO.
 
Also, there are women who have dinners with guys they are not interested in sexually just to have a free meal.  If you are not inviting the girl to a restaurant for the first date - to have a coffee instead for example, that weeds those women out.

[Traveler]

Let me give a couple of observations re Medellin.
 
There is a place called something like Jesus Mio.  I have not been there, but everyone I talked to was raving about it, so I will check it out next time.  It appears to be something like Mangos, but nicer.  There are a lot of bars in Sabaneta area and also in Laureles along a street 34 I believe.
 
As for restaurants, there is a commercial center on top of La Carrulla in Las Palmas with a number of very nice restaurants.  They are like twice cheaper than a comparable restaurant in US, but still somewhat pricey by Colombian standards, so I would not take a girl there if you are just starting dating.  I have tried the Peruvian and the Arabic restaurants, and they were pretty good.  There are also several other ones.  It's a great place if you want something reasonably sophisticated and different from standard Colombian fare.  There is a place in Laureles called something like J.C., and it is VERY popular.  In particular, they serve fish with the cheese sauce which everyone orders.  I personally don't like mixing fish with large amounts of cheese, but paisas love doing that.  There is a somewhat pricey Thai restaurant near Parque Lleras also.  I dined a lot on steak in mall food courts - really good stuff and great value.
 
Another observation - stay away from Mexican restaurants in Colombia.  The salsa has no pico in it!  It is actually sweet!  The food has nothing to do with the real Mexican food.  I was very disappointed.
 
As for Cali, a really cool place is "Cali Viejo" next to the zoo.  It is designed to resemble an XVIII century hacienda with staff dressed in costumes of that era, and the food and service are VERY good.  It was awhile ago when I was in Cali, but I am sure it is still open.

[fathertime]

Hey Traveler!  Have you ever thought of going to the campus libraries in Colombia? 




Fathertime! 

[JimD]

... goes zip lining across canyons and rivers...and it gets rid of the " princess"  type women...

Mudd that was pretty funny. Actually there are a couple of places to go zip lining in the mountains above Cali´s north end.

[Colgando]

Hey Traveler!  Have you ever thought of going to the campus libraries in Colombia? 




Fathertime!

I have met Traveler in real life, and I am sure he will not mind me saying, that yes, he has and does consider the campus libraries as fertile hunting grounds...jejejejejeje.....