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Are hotel reservations necessary prior to arriving in San Andres?

Hi,

I am planning on travelling to San Andres on Easter Break and was wondering if its necessary to have hotel accomodations prior to arriving? I would really like to only buy the plane tickets, arrive on the island, and see what type of accomodations I can find (i.e. cheap hotels or hostals etc.) Any advice? Also, if i am not a diver, is it worth it to go to San Andres over some other vacation spot such as Punta del Este in Uruguay? Is San Andres a must see place?

Thanks.

By vagabond on Jan 21, 2008, 14:17 in Travel tips.

Gator says on Jan 21, 2008, 14:29:

quite frankly, I would put Cartagena/Bogotá over San Andres and Cartagena first. San Andres can become a little tiresome after say three days. But it depends on what YOU like.

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

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Mr. Hollywood says on Jan 21, 2008, 14:45:

I think you'd be nuts to arrive at SA without hotel reservations on Easter. In fact, I'm not even sure they'll let you through the internal immigration process unless you have some kind of lodging arranged.

With regard to your other question, SA is nice but there are a lot nicer places in the Caribe. The truth is that it's overdeveloped for domestic tourism because Colombians have such a hard time getting visas so there is a lot of pressure on SA.

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guacharaca says on Jan 21, 2008, 14:52:

No, it is not necessary. I went without a reservation so I could see what kind of dive I was paying the big bucks for. Watch out on the pricing. Some of those hotels on the beach quote you per person as opposed to the whole room. When they give you a price, times it by two if you are a couple. I do not know how busy it is at Easter though. It is not a "must see". It is a place you go if your spouse or girlfriend needs a visa to go outside of Colombia.

Colombianos: Las armas os han dado independencia, las leyes os daran libertad. (Santander)

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ColombianoGringo says on Jan 21, 2008, 14:56:

Holy Week is an extremely busy tourist season in Colombia.

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Leeroy says on Jan 26, 2008, 13:35:

We have already booked our hotels in San Andres for July this year - and we got there just in time. We had to spread 8 people over 2 hotels, as there wasn't enough space left in the first one.

I think it is highly unlikely that there is any space left for Easter.

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