San Andrés Vacations

Visitors to San Andrés can take a tour of their surroundings by bus, but renting a private golf buggy provides a much more intimate experience. A three-hour drive covers the whole island and allows tourists to experience the entire coastline and visit the smaller towns at their own pace.

Run by local Jaime Restrepo, the Snorkelling, Sting Rays, Sunset and Beer Tour is pretty self-explanatory. Visitors are taken out in groups for a day of fun around Haynes Cay.

At the very end of Bahia Sardinia Beach is Fisherman’s Place, an open-air restaurant with breathtaking sea views. This is a great spot to support local fishermen, who sell their fresh catch directly to the kitchen. Rundown, the island’s special coconut stew is a particular favourite.

One of the island’s best, Restaurante La Regatta offers sweeping Caribbean views and mouth-watering seafood dishes. Guests rave about the Crab Casserole with Breadfruit in particular.

A sandbank off of San Andrés, Acuario is surrounded by calm water that attracts all manner of fish and marine life. The water is so beautifully clear and shallow that snorkelling equipment is not even strictly necessary, but definitely adds to the experience. Afternoons are the best times to come, for those interested in swimming with manta rays.

El Hoyo Soplador is one of San Andrés’s natural wonders. Located at the southern tip of the island, it’s a small geyser that shoots sea water up into the air—20 metres high at a time—through a natural hole in the coral rock.