Summer Vacation?

I'm looking to take off 10-14 days for vacation in late July / early August with a friend of mine. I've already traveled Western Europe and not looking to go too far like Asia. I'm considering Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and/or Colombia.

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations? Other ideas are welcome. Looking for nice weather, beaches, clubs, maybe a little site seeing, and most importantly a young crowd. Thanks in advance!

 
Edmundo Braverman:
Antigua or Barbados in the Caribbean, or possibly Jamaica where you can sneak into Cuba.

+1 for Antigua. A hidden gem most Americans don't know about... some of the best beaches in the world.

Cabo is also a good time.

 

I went to Colombia for 2 weeks at the end of March thru the beginning of April. Super safe and had an absolute blast. Went to Bogota, Cartagena, and Medellin. Happy to elaborate on anything.

 

I didn't particularly enjoy Mexico - it's like Turkey / Egypt for Europeans. So if you just want to relax with your bb off, Antigua / Barbados / St. Kitts & Nevis imho. For more fun stuff - Brazil / Jamaica, if you know what I mean. Travelling on foot - probably Peru / Chile

 

Costa Rica. Lots of things to do including the Cloud Forest (Monteverde), Volcano (Arenal) and Beaches (Tamarindo & Manuel Antonio to name a few). Activities include white water rafting, ziplining, ATVs, scuba diving, surfing, deep sea fishing, night life in Tamarindo (not the best but decent - depends on the crowd you're with I guess), etc. Decently inexpensive (flight, lodging, private shuttle around the country, flights from San Jose). Pretty safe. Fair amount of English speaking individuals (lots of tourism)

 

I did Colombia for 1.5 weeks in March. Did Bogota: Capital with great clubs, bars, restaurants and some sight seeing Medelin: Fashion capital = beautiful girls, bars, clubs Cartagena: Beach, historic town, most touristy, mud bath Santa Marta: Little worn down Minca: Small town in mountains Tyrona National Park: National park where you can hike and go to the beach. Lot of walking or horse riding, and full of young people Taganga: Party town. Good place if you need drugs Didn't make it to the Pacific side or Amazonia. If there is one country where you can get different types of experiences, Colombia is almost there. We barely knew any Spanish, we got by.

 
Disincentivy:
Ibiza, Beirut, Cairo, Fortaleza, Antigua, Reykjavik, Tel Aviv, Goa. Guaranteed satisfaction.

+1 for Reykjavik.

Not really a beachy type place, but extremely nice (english speaking) people who know how to have a good time. I vaguely remember being given a pull of moonshine by some random partygoers on the street at 3 in the morning. Also in the summer it doesn't get dark so you can go out all night.

The sightseeing is also phenomenal. It's definitely a worthwhile experience.

 

I like your style, SirBarney. I spent a few days in Split, Croatia several years back and it is the best place I have ever been....better than the Greek Isles and not being on the Euro makes it more affordable. Greece would be a no-go in my opinion until they are back on the Drachma.

However, if you really want to spice things up try Phuket, Thailand. That place is unreal and a significant amount of young people from Europe and Austrailia vacation there. It's also cheap as hell.

 

Also El Salvador has good beaches for surfing without all the tourists of Costa Rica. Panama has Kuna Yala which is an archipelago of small islands all with crystal-blue water.

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education" - Mark Twain
 
Banker88:
Colombia and Costa Rica sound pretty boss, might end up doing that. Surprised I'm not hearing more about Mexico.

Already did Ibiza, Tel Aviv, Greece. Read that it's not the season to go to Thailand or Brazil in summer, so really looking to stay in northwestern hemisphere.

have a timeshare in cancun...normally i'd say go...but its kind of off season rt now...but then again..its never off season in cancun

I eat success for breakfast...with skim milk
 
Banker88:
Surprised I'm not hearing more about Mexico.

The thing about Mexico is that its becoming more dangerous by the day to the point that save for Cabo and maybe Cancun you should not do any activities outside of the resort or resort-sanctioned. In Colombia/Peru/Costa Rica, you would be much more immersed in the culture.

 

I recently lived in Peru for 2.5 years and also travelled extensively in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay.

Peru is flat out amazing - but its a different trip than say Colombia.

Colombia was my favorite trip of all my side trips. Whoever says its dangerous is just ignorant. Its not.

I would totally recommend Colombia - skip Bogota and just do Medellin, Cartegena and Parque Tayrona.

Feel free to ask me questions

 
ke18sb:
I recently lived in Peru for 2.5 years and also travelled extensively in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay.

Peru is flat out amazing - but its a different trip than say Colombia.

Colombia was my favorite trip of all my side trips. Whoever says its dangerous is just ignorant. Its not.

I would totally recommend Colombia - skip Bogota and just do Medellin, Cartegena and Parque Tayrona.

Feel free to ask me questions

Where do you think the best place to go to in south america is for a bachelor party if these are the factors you're weighing:

Cost of flight (from NYC) Must be at a beach (since apparently Buenos Aires isn't which I cannot understand) Cheap cost of living to exploit Beautiful women, including on beach, in regular clubs and in strip clubs

Thanks

 
Best Response
adapt or die:
ke18sb:
I recently lived in Peru for 2.5 years and also travelled extensively in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay.

Peru is flat out amazing - but its a different trip than say Colombia.

Colombia was my favorite trip of all my side trips. Whoever says its dangerous is just ignorant. Its not.

I would totally recommend Colombia - skip Bogota and just do Medellin, Cartegena and Parque Tayrona.

Feel free to ask me questions

Where do you think the best place to go to in south america is for a bachelor party if these are the factors you're weighing:

Cost of flight (from NYC) Must be at a beach (since apparently Buenos Aires isn't which I cannot understand) Cheap cost of living to exploit Beautiful women, including on beach, in regular clubs and in strip clubs

Thanks

Cartagena, Buzios/Rio, and Punta del Este.

 

If you do end up in Bogota, definitely check out the clubs/bars in Zona T. Saturday night in Andres Carne De Res (45 minute drive from the city) is unreal. You get to rent a driver to get back in town cause you will be too drunk. Food/drinks are a bit expensive, but it's basically all night partying after dinner. Never saw that many hot girls at one place.

 

Mexico is safe, I have been there twice in as many years and did a significant amount of driving around at night outside of the resort areas and had no problems. its poor as shit but not dangerous, the worst thing that will happen is you get a bunch of street vendors mobbing you trying to sell you knock off soccer jerseys. cancun/cozumel are the places to be. cancun if you are more into the club scene.

the citizens and police around these areas know that they live and die on the money the tourists bring in, they do not tolerate much crime.

 
adapt or die:
Does anyone have any more color to add on Cartagena? It seems like an ideal south american bachelor party spot from what I'm reading.

I have some friends who live there, and they wouldn't describe it as such. There are a lot of ex-pats, so you'd have no trouble speaking English there, but it's kind of a sleepy town compared to almost any other in Colombia. Great history, but meh night life.

 

Cartagena is kinda trashy and was over rated in my opinion. Santa Marta / Parque Tayrona, about 4 hours away have amazing beaches but its not really a party vibe.

A good trip is partying in Medellin for a couple of days and then flying to Santa Marta to do Parque Tayrona for a couple days and then time permitting flying back to Medellin for more partying.

 

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I eat success for breakfast...with skim milk

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