Where to Stay in San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina, Departamento de Archipiélago de San Andrés

What is San Andrés known for?

San Andrés lives on tourism and commercial fishing, and the free-port status it once held still leaves a busy commercial district selling gold, Colombian emeralds, and leather. The sea is the other half. The island sits inside the Seaflower marine reserve, with coral reefs and protected water around it that are the reason most visitors come at all.

What are the main landmarks in San Andrés?

Coral Palace is the seat of the departmental government and the town's set piece, with the Plaza Marina laid out beside it. Fisherman's Place is where the island's fishermen sell what they land. The Casa de la Cultura holds the cultural programme, the Avenida Francisco Newball runs the seafront, and the Path Way threads a walking route between them.

Reefs are the real attraction, though.

What is the history of San Andrés?

Europeans reached these islands in the seventeenth century and then spent two hundred years passing them back and forth. England and Spain fought over San Andrés until the Peace of Paris and the Convention of London settled it, and England recognised Spanish sovereignty in 1786. Colombia occupied the islands in 1822 and brought them under the central government in 1866, and in 1868 they became the territory of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, with this town made its capital in 1912.

The last change was constitutional. Reforms to the Constitution of Colombia created the present department in 1991, and San Andrés became its capital.

Where is San Andrés?

The town occupies the northern end of San Andrés Island in the Caribbean Sea, far out from mainland Colombia and much closer to the coast of Nicaragua. The island is low. Coastal lowlands give way to central plains with no real height anywhere, evergreen forest covers most of it, and the coral reefs of the Seaflower reserve ring the shore.

What is the climate of San Andrés?

San Andrés has a tropical monsoon climate that shades towards savanna, which in practice means heat, humidity, and heavy rain for most of the year. A short dry season breaks it. The rains return when the prevailing winds reverse, and that seasonal turn is the main thing separating one part of the year from another on an island this close to the equator.

How do you get to San Andrés?

Everything arrives by air or sea. San Andrés Island lies a long way off mainland Colombia, and far closer to Nicaragua than to the country that governs it, so flights carry both the tourists and the trade that the free-port district depends on. The town sits at the island's northern tip.

Once there, North End is walkable.