Buenaventura, Colombia 🇨🇴 Gringo's Guide
Buenaventura is worth a visit if you're already already in Cali — and want visit a city where few gringos dare to venture...
Buenaventura is a port city of about 300,000 on the Pacific coast of Colombia in the department of the Cauca Valley.
The city is about 115 kilometers from the capital of the department and largest city — Cali.
It’s the most important commercial port in the country, receiving container traffic from Asia — it’s also the exit point of a lot of the country’s exports, including cocaine.
As such there’s A LOT of criminal activity in the city, from the streets to the container port, gangs fight each other for control of the lucrative drug market, as well as illegally mined gold and timber.
The city has a reputation for being violent, dirty, and dangerous — and overall I tend to agree with this although the security situation has improved in recent years, one still has to keep their guard up while in the city.
Below, you’ll find everything you MUST know about this dangerous city — including why I visit every time I’m in Cali.
*Guest post from esteemed Colombia scholar: Scotian
Buenaventura, Colombia 🇨🇴 The Basics
Demographics:
The locals are 90% black, which is a similar mix to other cities on the Pacific coast — Tumaco, Quibdo, etc.
My knowledge of local history is limited but from what I’ve read, the Spanish sent African slaves to the region to work in silver mines, many escaped over the years and settled in small villages near the ocean which dot the coast all the way from the Ecuador border up to Panama.
Basically the Pacific coast is the heart of Afro-Colombia, one journalist describing it as “Colombia’s Haiti”
It is a wild, undeveloped region and home to a unique culture of people who have basically survived for the past 500 years on their own, it's the poorest region of the country, a hot spot for the civil war conflict that continues to affect the region today.
Weather:
Hot, wet and humid. The Pacific coast of Colombia is literally one of the wettest regions on the planet and receives more precipitation than almost anywhere in the world, so pack a rain jacket and extra clothes.
Not lying, the rain here puts Costa Rica during rainy season to shame…
The chart above paints the picture. 271 inches of rain ever year. Over 20 feet of rain a year!
Why Visit Buenaventura?
So, why would anyone bother going to the Pacific coast and Buenaventura in particular?
Adventure mostly, it’s an off-the-beaten-path destination that few people visit with great natural surroundings: waterfalls, lagoons, rivers, beaches that are easily accessible from the city.
The city itself isn’t very nice but the boardwalk area is and that is where you should stay during any visit to Buenaventura.
One or two nights in the city is enough to have a good time, meet some locals, go out to party and eat some fresh, delicious seafood.
I recommend showing up in the city on a Friday and leaving on a Sunday, whether that is to a nearby bay to experience more of the Pacific coast and do some nature activities, or to return back to Cali.
This is NOT a city to base up in.
How to Get to Buenaventura 🇨🇴
The most common way to get there is a bus from the terminal in Cali. It costs about $7 and takes around three hours to arrive at the Buenaventura terminal.
From there you can take a quick taxi or walk about ten minutes to the boardwalk, I recommend the former if arriving at night.
No international flight options here.
However, you can fly to Buenaventura from Bogota. Airport code: BUN.
Where to Stay in Buenaventura?
You will definitely want to stay near the boardwalk for both safety and logistics, as mentioned above, this is the area where all of the action if both in the day and night.
There’s cafes, restaurants, bars and nightclubs all with a few blocks and it’s heavily patrolled by police.
I recommend the Hotel Torre Mar — as it’s right in front of the boardwalk and is modern, with a nice buffet breakfast and a great restaurant next door.
Another option is Hotel Tequendama Inn Estacion, an older colonial style hotel that is a bit aged but has a decent pool. It’s a couple of blocks away from the boardwalk but not so far that safety is a concern.
Things to Do in Buenaventura 🇨🇴
There isn’t a whole lot to do during the day in the city itself beside hangout at the boardwalk, have lunch, drink coffee, chat with locals and eat dinner in the evening.
There’s a small market at the port where locals sell a variety of handmade souvenirs and different alcoholic beverages including the local moonshine called Viche, which is made out of sugar cane.
There’s also a couple of herbal potions that locals say is a local brew that will make a man more vigorous in bed, but I haven’t tried it as it doesn’t look like it tastes very pleasant.
The main reason to stay a night or two in Buenaventura would be to party in a place where few tourists go, other than sailors who are there while their ship is docked.
You won’t see many other Gringos in the city which makes your novelty factor quite high.
My first time there I was alone and upon entering a nightclub was invited to a table by friendly locals who ensured I had a great time as they thought it was crazy that a gringo would be out drinking alone in the city, perhaps it was.
You can meet folks during the day if you’re able to speak in Spanish, the locals are pretty open and friendly, this is probably the best plan — as they are a bit more closed off at night time in the bars and clubs
P.S: More on that below.
The Food
This is my favorite part of visiting the Pacific coast, the local cuisine.
There’s a variety of fresh, local seafood to choose from, I recommend the cazuela de mariscos which is a seafood chowder served with coconut rice and fried plantains.
There’s also a lot of different fried fish to choose from which vary depending on the day, from river fish to ocean caught, you can also try shark in Buenaventura.
Nightlife in Buenaventura, Colombia 🇨🇴
Again, everything is focused on the boardwalk, so the Gringo friendly bars and clubs are all along the same strip, which goes up the hill about 500 meters.
I don’t recall the names of the bars and clubs, but there’s several along the strip, some are open air so a visitor can see what they’re like from outside and a couple are closed.
They are typically table focused, which is normal throughout the country — a group enters the bar or club and is attended to by a waiter who brings them bottles of liquor or beer and the group tends to socialize among themselves.
Given the history of violence in the country and Buenaventura in particular, people are a bit weary of strangers — although Gringos can sometimes be forgiven for talking to strangers.
But one must tread carefully, especially when it comes to talking to women who are out with a group of men, which is almost always the case.
Overall…
Nightlife in Buenaventura can be fun as hell, but you’ve gotta have some street smarts and read the situation — as you’ll almost always be talking to mixed groups.
Things to Do in the Surrounding Areas…
While the city of Buenaventura has fuck all to do in the city proper, the surrounding areas are filled with incredible nature.
Here’s a few ideas:
San Cipriano
This is a small pueblo located about a half an hour before Buenaventura on the same highway, to reach it you can just tell the bus driver that’s where you want to get off at and they’ll stop the bus along the highway.
Once you get off you cross the road and walk towards the bridge that will take you across the river where you’ll see the old railroad track that the locals use to get to San Cipriano.
This is one of the best parts of visiting the pueblo, the locals use converted motorbikes with attached wooden seats to transport people to and from San Cipriano, a trip of about ten kilometers that costs about $6 round trip.
Once there you’ll be greeted by locals who will offer you river trips on inflated inner tubes and jungle treks to water falls. This can all be done in a few hours, a good plan is to do this in the morning then continue your trip to Buenaventura in the afternoon.
Once you get back to the highway, you can wait for another bus to take you into the city.
Ladrilleros/Juanchaco
These are two beach towns located on nearby bays that are accessible by boat from Buenaventura, after about 1.5 hours.
The boat arrives in Juanchaco, which isn’t very nice so I recommend continuing onto Ladrilleros — which involves a wooden passenger trolley pulled by a tractor.
There’s a few small, resort type hotels there of various price ranges. This is a nice spot to chill for a couple of days by the wild Pacific ocean, locals offer guided tours to waterfalls and to see local, wild animals which include some venomous snakes and frogs.
Due to the boat rides, Ladrilleros isn’t a day trip destination — so it would be better to plan for a night or two there.
Guapi/Gorgona Island
From Buenaventura, there’s a boat that goes to the coastal town of Guapi, located in the department of Cauca.
There’s not much to see or do there and the town has a noticeable FARC presence, I ended up staying there for three nights — but only really recommend it as a place to catch a boat to the Island of Gorgona.
Gorgona is known as Colombia’s “Alcatraz” — which is home to a now abandoned prison which was converted into a national park and is an excellent scuba diving destination.
Because it is now a national park, the number of people who can be on the island at any given time is limited by the government - so you must organize the trip through an agency.
I did this through Destino Pacifico in Cali.
Another option to arrive in Gorgona, instead of the four-hour boat from Buenaventura, is to fly to Guapi from Cali — then take the 1.5 hour boat to Gorgona. This can all be arranged through the agency.
I went to Gorgona specifically to scuba dive and it was great, I spent two nights there and got four dives in where I saw lots of different types of fish as well as a massive turtle and a shark.
On land, the accommodations were comfortable, guests stay in former the barracks of the prison officials and are provided three meals a day which were good and all sourced locally.
The tour of the prison was interesting, from it’s beginning as a prison for communists in the 1960s to its latter use to house Colombia’s worst type of criminals. It is overrun with vegetation but maintained well enough to give visitors a good idea of how brutal it must’ve been to be an inmate there.
The island is home to eighteen different species of snakes, four of which are venomous and as such, tourists aren’t allowed to roam freely on the island.
The area that guests can access is quite limited, including the beach which isn’t very good especially during high tide when the water comes up to the land. There are many local monkeys on the island and they are friendly, but will steal your food. I lost a couple of arepas while eating breakfast on the patio.
Overall, I would only recommend a trip to Gorgona Island if you plan on scuba diving there.
Buenaventura 🇨🇴 Overall
Buenaventura is worth a visit if you’re already in Cali — and want to see the Pacific coast, go on a jungle trek, scuba dive or just visit a city where few gringos dare to venture.
I don’t recommend going to the city itself for more than a night or two — it’s still quite dangerous and the wrong people may notice you.
So keep your stay there limited, enjoy the seafood and talking to friendly locals, but plan to be back to the relative safety of Cali ASAP.
Overall…
Buenaventura is an adventure!
