The area where most coffee is grown in Colombia is called the Coffee Triangle and the city most flights land in is Pereira, one of three main cities in the area. This is also where most of the region’s best hotels and inns are located, so it’s a good base for exploring the coffee farms and attractions.
There are plenty of hotels in all price ranges in Pereira, but here are some of the most memorable choices when you want more than just a place to lay your head.
Hacienda San Jose
Hacienda San Jose lets you step back in time a bit and feel what it was like to be part of a wealthy gentleman farming family. Saddles hang in the elegant dining room, period antiques are in the rooms, and a large swimming pool with plenty of deck space beckons in warm weather. The planes flying overhead remind you this is not the early 1900s anymore, which is a good thing when it’s time to use the complimentary Wi-Fi to check your e-mail.
See more at the Hacienda San Jose website in English or Spanish. Book there or do a search at Hotels Combined.
Sazagua Hotel
The hacienda goes upscale at this luxury boutique hotel, the first one that opened in the area really catering to those with demanding tastes. Meals here are some of the best in the region and the artistic spa gets guests into full relaxation mode. Filled with custom furniture and commissioned art, this is one of the most aesthetically pleasing hotels in the whole region and offers a nice mix of past and present in harmony.
See a full review of Sazagua here, check out their website, and book there or at Booking.com.
Visus Boutique Hotel & Spa
If your tastes run to full-blown modern instead of historic, the brand new Visus hotel is the most stylish and impressive in Pereira. It’s an unabashedly luxurious small hotel in a residential area that requires getting past two locked gates to enter. (If you’re worried about security in once-dangerous Colombia, your mind will certainly be put at ease here.) With its Buddha statues and Asian design elements, Visus would look more at home on a Thai beach than it does here, but every element of the design here is impressive and the views from the swimming pool deck are sublime. If money is no object, this is Pereira’s most expensive option.
The hotel website is still under construction, so it’s best to see all the booking options at Hotels Combined.
Hacienda Combia
If you want to get up close and personal to where the coffee beans grow, this one (pictured at the top) is your place. This historic hacienda turned hotel is on the edge of a real coffee plantation, but has an infinity pool and restaurant with terrific views over a valley. The formerly rustic rooms recently got an upgrade and the forward-looking owners just added an excellent walking tour program that visits stations inside the plantation. You get a great education in how the crop grows and becomes what you drink, then you get to taste it the way it was meant to be tasted: fresh.
See more at the Hacienda Combia website if you read Spanish (for the videos they have posted it doesn’t matter anyway).
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Movich Hotel de Pereira
The best hotel in the city of Pereira itself, this 10-story landmark is right in the center of the action, walking distance to restaurants and nightlife. An atrium soars up the height of the building and higher rooms have terrific views of the area. The restaurant here is consistently good and there are several spots to enjoy a drink. The large outdoor pool complex has plenty of deck space and there’s a full spa for treatments. Rooms are set up for business travelers, so they have the amenities you’d need to get some work done on the road.
See more at the Movich Hotels website or book online at Hotels.com.
Pereira Hotels round-up by editor and destinations expert Tim Leffel, who was hosted at Hacienda San Jose on a recent trip to Colombia and visited the others. Photos by Leffel except for the last one, courtesy of Movich Hotels.
