San Andres is Colombia’s tropical vacation island. It is 450 miles off the Colombian coast and is actually closer to Nicaragua than Colombia. This explains the crystal clear waters. This is the place you go if you want to relax on the beach, snorkel or scuba dive. As its a tourist place (mainly for Colombian’s still not many foreigners) its a little more expensive than the mainland.
There are no direct flights from the U.S. but it is an easy 1 or 2 hour flight from Colombia’s main cities and costs about $150 to $200 (with a tourist tax at the airport of $125,000 Colombian Pesos (about $25)).
For a great stay, here are my recommendations on what to do: explore the beaches and coral reef islands, drive the island, duty free shopping, enjoy the seafood and nightlife.
The Beaches
Spratt Bight Beach Beautiful beach right in the middle of the main town. You can rent a tent with chairs and order food or cocktails. As its in the middle of town this is the most crowded of the beaches.
San Luis Beach Gorgeous beach. If you want stay in the less crowded part of the island you might want to get a place around here or visit one day for the restaurants along the beach and a take a dip.
The Cayes (pronounced Keys)
Cayes are small sandy islands on top of a coral reef. There are a number around San Andres. The best way to explore these is to take one of the boat tours so you can see a few in a day. The most popular cayes are Johnny Cay, Haynes Cay and El Acuario (also called Rose Cay) and Rocky Cay.
Note: Bolivar Cay and Piscinita are closed.
If you don’t want to take a boat tour or don’t have time you can just go to Johnny Cay You can get a direct boat to Johnny Cay from Spratt Beach (next to La Regatta Restaurant). Johnny Cay is a bit bigger than the other Cayes and has more animals and more area to walk around but as there are direct boats from the main beach it can get crowded.
For the boat tours (about $40 per person), you usually get picked up at your hotel and brought to the docks (see below). Here you get assigned to your boat (usually about 14 people to a boat).
Then you head out past the mangroves (see below- please note there are kayak tours through the mangroves if that is something you are interested in).
Usually they will stop the boat so people can jump off and swim for about 30 minutes.
You then stop at a few cayes for a little food, drink and swimming. There are normally restaurants and bars on the cayes. We had a choice of seafood, with coconut or regular rice and plantains.
Then back on the boat to head home. It rained a bit on our journey but didn’t dampen the time.
Island Drive
The island is small and there is a highway which goes right along the coast of the island which takes about 2 hours to do a full circle. Its a beautiful drive and there a few places to stop and see like the Island House Museum, the Morgan Cave, the I love SAI (San Andres Island ) sign, the blowhole, the mangroves and some beaches. You can rent a “buggy” (basically a large 2 or 4 seat golf cart), a moped or a bike. Please note the buggy needs to be returned by 6pm (about $25 to rent for the day).
Island House Museum
The museum is in an old style colonial house. It is cute and they have a tour guide to answered your questions in English or Spanish. There is a little backyard and the guide showed us how to dance island style. The whole tour should take only 15 to 20 minutes, the museum is very small but its right off the highway and only (10,000 COP (USD$2)) so if you are driving around the island it is a good place to stop off and learn a little.
I love San Andres sign.
Right off the highway is the I heart SAI sign which you can stop at and take a photo.
Morgan Cave
Legend has it that this is the cave where the the pirate Sir Henry Morgan hid his treasure. Its more of a small pirate theme park. Takes about 20 minutes. Again not essential but if you are driving around the island and have time you may want to stop by. (cost 10,000 COP (USD$2)
The blow hole (Hoyo Soplador) is small hole on the beach over a cave which when the wave comes in causes a geyser. The only problem is you don’t when it will blow so you need to get lucky, we were told around 5pm when we there, but can’t be sure and as we had to get the buggy back by 6pm it was too tight to wait.
There are, however, good places for seafood, juices and souvenirs so its ok as a stop off as you tour the island.
You can also stop at Old Point National Park, a nature reserve, which has the mangroves (see picture from the boat in the section on the Cayes). As mentioned you can take a kayak tour through the mangroves, but you can also walk through it as there is a boardwalk through the mangroves. Here are beautiful mangrove trees and a lot of birds and butterflies.
Shopping
San Andres is actually a duty free zone so no taxes on purchases. The main city has a number of shops to buy everything duty free from brand items to souvenirs to everyday items.
Restaurants
While not much high end restaurants they do have great seafood. One place the locals rave about is a place called Donde Francesca (below) on San Luis Beach which was very tasty.
On Avenida Newball No 4 Hotel Sunrise Beach L-115 street there are a number of restaurants (like Interstate 80’s with great burgers and Mexican food )where you can sit outside with good comfort food and cocktails.
For a nice atmosphere with very good food, I recommend the restaurant at the Aquamare Hotel. They also have like music on Friday and Saturday nights and good views of the city.
Nightlife
There are a number of bars across from Spratt Beach like Tropikal below.
The big disco is Coco Loco (below), small cover charge and table service. House and pop music.
Conclusion
San Andres is a beautiful island. The crystal clear waters make it a great place for scuba, snorkling, exploring the beaches and cayes and enjoying the seafood. I would recommend about 4 days to chill and explore. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
