Payback time good place to stay en el Valle

[elcolombiano]

If you want to take your novia outside Cali but don't want to go all the way to Cartagena or San Andres here is my recomendation.

Los Vinedos Hotel (5 stars) http://www.losvinedos.com

It is a beautiful resort on a hilltop overlooking the town of La Union. They have vinards, the wine is quite good. Excellent romantic views, rooms, restaurante, disco and pool. Very upscale. I took a bus from the Cali bus station it took 2.5 hrs. The place is 1.5 hrs north of Buga. I only payed $105,000 per night in June. We liked it so much we stayed 4 days. They even gave me a suite for the same price. The place was not crowded durring the week. It was nice enough for a honeymoon. Durring the day you can take a tour of the winery and fruit processing plant that was very interesting. The bus (collectivo) was only 10 or 20,000 pesos per person. They will even pick you up directly from the hotel and take you nonstop to Cali.

[cancunhound]

... in response to Payback time good place to stay en el Va..., posted by elcolombiano on Sep 17, 2003

Thanks for that tip - I had never heard of it, sounds like a nice place.  That route north of Cali is generally considered safe, with exception of some reports of guerilla activity north of Buga.  On the way up or back check out Nirvana which is about 4 miles east of Palmira, it's a private nature reserve which consists of about 1000 acres of virgin forest on the side of a mountain, by the Rio Aguaclara- has natural pools for swimming, nature trails, restaraunt open on the weekends, etc..  Although only a couple hundred feet more elevation than Cali, it's amazing how much cooler that region is there than Cali - it's a nice retreat from the daily heat.  The route from Cali to Nirvana is considered "safe".  There's some very fancy "weekend" properties there - we're talking big bucks, most of the landowners have chanelled the river into natural swimming pools, there's also some resorts there with overnight options.  It's a very scenic drive past Palmira.