Colombia 8 Day Itinerary: Bogotá, Medellín, Guatapé and Cartagena

No ticket, 45 minutes, 40 minutes from the airport by taxi. The square is the country's kilometre zero and puts all three branches of power in one view: the Primada Cathedral, the National Capitol and the city government in the Liévano Palace.

Bogotá sits at 2,640 metres, and you feel it. Take Day 1 slowly, drink water and leave Monserrate for tomorrow, once you have acclimatised.

Free entry, 1 hour, closed on Tuesdays. It is five minutes on foot from the square, already inside the Candelaria.

In 2000 Fernando Botero donated 123 of his own works and 85 by artists including Picasso, Monet and Dalí to the Bank of the Republic, on the condition that entry stay free forever and the collection never be sold or lent. That is why a museum of this size charges nothing.

Around 5,000 pesos, 90 minutes, closed on Mondays. It is the most important museum in the country and deserves the full time.

It holds 34,000 pieces of pre-Hispanic goldwork, the largest such collection in the world. The centrepiece is the Muisca Raft, a 19-centimetre gold miniature found in 1969 inside a ceramic vessel, depicting the investiture ceremony of the chieftain at Lake Guatavita, the same lake that became the El Dorado legend and that you see tomorrow.

Around 27,000 pesos return on the funicular, 90 minutes. Go up at 7am: after 10am the queue runs over an hour, and cloud usually closes the view by late morning.

The Señor Caído sanctuary stands at 3,152 metres, 500 above the centre, and that is where the scale of Bogotá makes sense: the city runs out across the plateau as far as you can see, with the eastern hills behind you. There is a walking trail of 1,500 steps, but do not attempt it on your first day at altitude.

Around 105,000 pesos, 2 hours, 50 minutes by car north of Bogotá. It is the most visited attraction in the country.

The cathedral was carved inside a salt mine that is still working, 180 metres below the surface, with naves, domes and a 16-metre cross lit in blue, all cut from halite rock. The route opens with the fourteen stations of the cross, each in its own chamber, and the temperature holds at 14 degrees year round: bring a jacket.

Around 20,000 pesos, 2 hours including the walk, 1 hour 15 from Zipaquirá. Entry is by guided tour only, at fixed times, and touching the water is forbidden.

This circular crater lake is where the El Dorado legend actually started: the Muisca chieftain covered his body in gold dust and submerged himself here during his investiture, while the people threw gold pieces and emeralds into the water. The Spanish tried to drain the lake four times, and the scar of one attempt, a cut in the rim made in 1580, is still visible.

The Bogotá to Medellín flight takes an hour, with departures almost hourly. No ticket, 45 minutes in the square.

The 23 bronze sculptures were donated by Botero to the city on one condition: they would stand in the open, without fencing or heavy guarding, so that anyone could touch them. It worked. Parts of the figures are polished smooth from being rubbed by passers-by.

Around 25,000 pesos, 90 minutes, on the same square. If you only have time for one thing in Medellín on arrival day, make it this.

The museum occupies the old Municipal Palace and holds the largest Botero collection outside Bogotá, alongside work by Antioquian artists. The room that tends to stop visitors is the one showing the two versions of Pablo Escobar Muerto, painted by Botero in 1999 and 2006, on a subject the city took decades to be able to look at directly.

No ticket to walk around, 2 hours 30 with a local guide (around 60,000 pesos). Take the metro to San Javier and climb from there. Hire a guide from the community itself, not an agency downtown.

In 2002 this was the most violent neighbourhood in Medellín, the site of Operación Orión. The turn began in 2011 with six public outdoor escalators built into the hillside, which cut a 350-step climb down to six minutes and connected the barrio to the rest of the city. The graffiti covering the walls tells that story explicitly, and the guides who narrate it usually lived through it.

Around 12,000 pesos for the metrocable plus entry, 3 hours including the ride. Take line K to Santo Domingo and change to line L.

The metrocable was built in 2004 as public transport for the hillside neighbourhoods, not as a tourist attraction, and that is the point: you ride up alongside people going home. Line L continues another 4.5 kilometres over the forest to Arví Park, a 16,000-hectare reserve with trails, a producers' market and pre-Hispanic stone pathways.

Around 25,000 pesos, 90 minutes, 2 hours by car from Medellín. Leave at 7am to arrive ahead of the tour buses.

The monolith is 220 metres high and carries a natural fissure, into which a zigzag stairway of 740 steps was fitted, painted white and red. From the top you see the whole reservoir, a maze of water arms and green peninsulas formed when the valley was flooded in the 1970s. The climb takes about 20 minutes and there is no shade.

No ticket, 2 hours, 15 minutes from the rock. This is where to have lunch before heading back to Medellín.

Guatapé is known for its zócalos: painted relief panels along the lower band of each facade, which began as damp protection and became the village's identity. Each one says something about the house, the breeder's sheep, the fisherman's fish, the coffee grower's cup, and the Calle del Recuerdo is where they are densest.

The Medellín to Cartagena flight takes 1 hour 15. No ticket, 1 hour in the square, best in late afternoon.

The square takes its name from the Santo Domingo church of 1552, the oldest in the city, whose tower came out crooked, which local legend blames on the devil. In the middle of the square stands La Gorda Gertrudis, a bronze Botero donated to Cartagena, and around it are the restaurant tables that fill as the sun drops.

A 15-minute stop, no ticket, five minutes on foot from the square. It is Cartagena's emblem and the obligatory photograph.

The yellow clock tower was raised over the Boca del Puente, which for two centuries was the only way into the walled city. The Swiss clock in it now dates from 1937. Through the arch begins the Plaza de los Coches, once a slave market, today lined by the Portal de los Dulces and its stalls of coconut and tamarind sweets.

No ticket, 2 hours, across the avenue from the Clock Tower. Go late in the afternoon and stay into the evening.

Getsemaní fell outside the walls, which is why it was the barrio of artisans, fishermen and freed people, and until the 2000s it was considered dangerous. Today it is the opposite of the tourist centre: graffiti from pavement to roofline, umbrellas and bunting strung over narrow streets, and the Plaza de la Trinidad, which after dark becomes a spontaneous gathering of cooler beer, dancing and street food.

Boat from the Muelle de la Bodeguita, around 160,000 pesos with lunch, plus a 20,000 park fee. Departure at 8.30am, full day.

These are 27 islands inside the Corales del Rosario y San Bernardo National Park, created in 1977 to protect one of the most important coral reefs in the Colombian Caribbean. The water between the islands is clear and shallow, and the trips stop for snorkelling. Pick an operator that states the park fee in the price: the ones that do not tend to charge it again at boarding.

Included in most boat trips, 3 hours, on Barú island. You can also drive there, by road, in an hour.

Playa Blanca earns the name, with pale sand and turquoise water, and it is the stop most boats use for lunch. The caveat is the persistence of the vendors selling massages, oysters and beer: a firm no settles it, and agree the price before accepting anything at all, sun lounger included.

A 30-minute stop, no ticket, at the northern end of the wall. Opens at 9am.

The 23 arches were built in 1798 against the city wall, with walls up to 15 metres thick, first as an ammunition store and later as a military prison. Each vault is now a craft shop, and it is the most concentrated place to buy a wayúu bag or a vueltiao hat without walking the whole city.

Around 30,000 pesos, 90 minutes, 15 minutes on foot from Las Bóvedas. Bring water and a hat: there is no shade at all on the climb.

This is the largest fortress Spain built in the Americas, raised from 1657 on the San Lázaro hill and enlarged after Admiral Vernon's assault in 1741, when 3,000 defenders held out against a fleet carrying 27,000 men. Beneath it runs a network of tunnels designed so that any sound would carry and give away anyone approaching.

Around 14,000 pesos, 1 hour, by taxi or tour only (do not walk up). From here it is 20 minutes to the airport, which closes the itinerary neatly.

The Santa Cruz de la Popa convent was founded in 1607 on the highest point in Cartagena, 150 metres up, and its flowered courtyard with a well at the centre contrasts with the view outside: the walled city on one side, the Bocagrande towers on the other and the whole bay between them. It is the best place to understand the geography of the city you have spent three days walking.