Just 150km east of Nicaragua and some 800km northwest of Colombia, the seahorse-shaped island of San Andrés counts 27 sq km of cultural tug-of-war as both its asset and its handicap. Covered in coconut palms, San Andrés, the largest island in the archipelago, is indeed paradisiacal Caribbean, but not everything here is crystal clear.

 

Take the downtown area, for instance, at the northern end of the island. Colombians call it El Centro, but the island's English-speaking Raizal people refer to it as North End. The cultural elbowing escalates from there. What's not up for debate, however, is that the commercialized area of town won't be splashed across any postcards anytime soon – it's an uninspiring collection of concrete blocks housing one duty-free shop after another, only broken up by the occasional hotel or restaurant.

 

All is not lost on San Andrés, however. A charming brick promenade lines the waterfront, and it's a lovely spot to enjoy a drink or take an evening stroll. And paradise is little more than a canoe paddle away: the endlessly idyllic Johnny Cay sits off in the distance, just 1.5km from shore. In high season it can feel as crowded as the Mediterranean, but otherwise Johnny Cay is the archipelago's finest moment.

 

San Andrés is best appreciated outside of the downtown hubbub. A 30km scenic paved road encircles the island, and several minor roads cross inland. There are two other small towns: La Loma (The Hill) in the central hilly region and San Luis on the eastern coast, both far less tourist-oriented than San Andrés Town and boasting some fine English-Caribbean wooden architecture. Excellent scuba-diving and snorkeling opportunities abound all around the island – visibility and temperature here are nearly unrivaled in the Caribbean.

 

It only takes a day or two to suss out the Raizal from the Colombians. At just one-third of the island's population, Raizals are now an ethnic minority, but their fading Creole culture – descended from English settlers, African slaves and West Indians from other islands – is what gives San Andrés its unique character, different from that of mainland Colombia.

 

You fly to San Andres from Cartagena, Calí, Medellín and Bogotá With Vivacolombia and Avianca

 

 

Providencia!

 

Providencia, 90km north of San Andrés, is a wonderfully remote and traditional Caribbean island with breathtaking scenery, gorgeous golden-sand beaches, friendly locals and superb diving. Best of all, it's a pain to get to, ensuring that you'll never have to share this slice of paradise with the package-holiday crowd: the only way to reach Providencia is by a short flight in a rickety 20-seater plane or on a three-hour catamaran ride, both from San Andrés.

 

What tourism industry does exist here can be found in the tiny hamlets of Aguadulce and Bahía Suroeste on the west coast. Here you'll find small cottages, hotels and cabañas strung along the road, and a handful of restaurants. While you can see virtually the whole island in a day, travelers end up staying longer than they expected, spending their time scuba diving, hiking or simply lying in a hammock with a Club Colombia.

 

Without a direct connection to the Colombian mainland, the island hasn't seen nearly the same levels of cultural invasion as San Andrés, leaving its traditions and customs more or less intact. You'll still hear the local English Creole spoken all over the island, and road signs direct you with the old English names for towns, rather than their Spanish equivalents. All this combined with gorgeous topography standing sentinel over swaths of turquoise-blue sea gives Providencia no small claim to being paradise.

 

This is a link to how to get to Providencia

 

And below, other helpul links for Providencia