Magdalena

The Magdalena is Colombia's greatest river, flowing northward for 1,500 kilometres from the Andean highlands through the tropical lowlands to the Caribbean coast. Long the country's principal artery of commerce and culture, the Magdalena was the route by which the conquistadors penetrated the interior, and its banks are rich with colonial history, African heritage, and indigenous traditions.

River cruises on the Magdalena explore a Colombia little seen by international tourists: the colourful colonial city of Mompox, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the best-preserved Spanish colonial towns in the Americas; the wetland biosphere reserve of the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta; and riverside towns where vallenato music drifts from open doorways and fishermen cast hand nets from dugout canoes.

This is Colombia emerging — a destination of extraordinary warmth, biodiversity, and cultural richness, experiencing a renaissance of tourism as the country opens to the world. The Magdalena offers an authentic and deeply rewarding encounter with a river central to South American history for five centuries.