November – December 2026
Palaces and Gaudí in Spain, coffee and the Caribbean in Colombia, or volcanoes and the reef in Guatemala and Belize. Pick one.
Nov 17 – 29 · 11 nights
Classic Europe, pretty cities and great food
Shorter: no Barcelona · 7 nights
Lower budget: possible — plenty of good hotels for less, plus I might get hosted stays
Nov 28 – Dec 10 · 12 nights
A bit of everything, city to jungle to beach
Shorter: coast only · 7 nights
Lower budget: can go down in the cities; in remote locations, better not to
Dec 4 – 14 · 9 nights
Nature and a more understated vibe
Shorter: no Belize · 7 nights
Lower budget: can't really go lower — hotels there are kinda shit and expensive, as there's no real competition
17 – 29 November 2026
In through Málaga, out of Barcelona. The Alhambra, a town on a cliff, the Mezquita, Seville after dark, and Gaudí to finish — all of it without the summer crowds.
Four bases, moved between by car, train and one short flight, with Ronda as a day trip from Seville. Late November is cool and mostly dry, the light is low and gold, and the queues are gone.
| Dates | Base | What it's for | Nights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 18–20 | Granada | The Alhambra, the old Moorish quarter, and time to get over the flight | 2 |
| Nov 20–21 | Córdoba | The Mezquita at opening, before the groups | 1 |
| Nov 21–25 | Seville | Orange trees, flamenco, tapas — and Ronda for a day | 4 |
| Nov 25–29 | Barcelona | Gaudí, the Gothic Quarter, the best food of the trip | 4 |
The last Moorish kingdom in Spain, and it still looks the part: a red fortress-palace on the hill, a maze of white lanes facing it across the valley, and the Sierra Nevada behind with the first snow on it. Order a drink in almost any bar and a plate of tapas comes with it, free.
You land in Málaga at 08:40. A driver takes you straight up to Granada, about an hour and a half through olive country.
Check in and sleep for a couple of hours — you'll have been travelling for a day. Then a slow wander into the Albaicín, the old Moorish quarter: white walls, tiny squares, the smell of wood smoke.
Sunset at the Mirador de San Nicolás, with the Alhambra turning red across the valley. Early tapas, early night.
Sleep in, then a long breakfast. The body clock will still be somewhere over the Atlantic.
The Alhambra on an early-afternoon slot: the Nasrid Palaces first — carved plaster like lace, pools reflecting arches — then the fortress towers and the Generalife gardens as the light goes low.
Flamenco in a whitewashed cave in Sacromonte, a few metres from the guitar.
Stay · 2 nights
Central Granada · Nov 18–20
A yellow 19th-century palace in its own walled garden, right in the middle of town. Inside it's been done over clean and modern — stucco ceilings and columns left in, everything else cream, oak and marble. The garden is full of orange trees, and at night they line the water with candles. There's a spa downstairs for the jet lag, and the cathedral and the bottom of the Albaicín are a short walk away.
from CA$350per night
Once the biggest city in Western Europe, now a small, quiet one built around a single astonishing building: a great mosque with a cathedral dropped into the middle of it. Sleeping here means you have the lanes to yourselves at night and the Mezquita first thing, before the day-trip groups arrive from Seville.
The Arab baths in Granada at Hammam Al Ándalus: warm, hot and cold pools under lantern-lit vaults, and a massage. The best cure there is for the flight.
The fast train to Córdoba, about an hour and a half. Drop the bags and walk the old Jewish quarter — whitewashed lanes, flower-pot patios, the little synagogue.
Across the Roman bridge at sunset, with the Mezquita lit up behind you. Dinner in the old town.
The Mezquita at opening: a forest of 850 columns with red-and-white striped arches running off in every direction, quiet before the groups come in. Then up the bell tower for the view over the rooftops.
Salmorejo for lunch — it was invented here — then 45 minutes on the fast train to Seville.
Check in and walk to the cathedral, lit up at night, through streets that smell of orange trees.
Stay · 1 night
Old town, Córdoba · Nov 20–21
A palace put together from 16th- to 18th-century buildings on top of Roman ones, and you can see it: breakfast is served on a glass floor over the Roman remains, under walls still covered in the original frescoes. Rooms are painted too, with old portraits and carved wood, and there's a walled garden of orange trees for the evening. The Mezquita is an easy walk through the old town for opening time.
from CA$350per night
Seville is the warmest and loudest city in Andalusia — orange trees along every street, palaces around every corner, dinner never before ten — with a day out to Ronda, the white town on the edge of a gorge.
The Real Alcázar at opening: a royal palace still in use, Moorish tiles and courtyards and gardens full of peacocks. Book the first slot.
The cathedral — the largest Gothic one in the world — and the climb up the Giralda tower on ramps built wide enough for a horse. Then the lanes of Barrio Santa Cruz.
Tapas the Sevillian way: standing at the bar, one plate at a time, moving on after each.
Plaza de España, a half-circle of tiled bridges and towers built for a world's fair, and the park around it.
Across the river to Triana, the old potters' and sailors' quarter: the market, the ceramic workshops, lunch by the water.
Flamenco in a small, serious venue — the real thing, not a dinner show.
Leave by 8:00 with a driver — about 1h45 into the mountains — so you're on the bridge before the coaches arrive. Stop at Setenil de las Bodegas on the way, where the houses are built into the rock.
Across the Puente Nuevo, then down the path below it to see the bridge from the bottom of the 100-metre gorge — that's the shot. Lunch on the cliff edge.
Back in Seville by seven. Last night in Andalusia.
Stay · 4 nights
Santa Catalina, old town · Nov 21–25
A palace built in 1729 for an admiral of the Indies fleet, with the carved doors, marble columns and black-and-white floors still in place and the rooms done over in dark grey, velvet and big modern canvases. Up top, a roof terrace with the Giralda on the skyline — the place for a drink at sunset. There's a proper spa with a sauna and Turkish bath for after the Ronda day, and the old-town lanes and tapas bars start at the door.
from CA$300per night
A completely different Spain: Catalan, fast, and obsessed with design. Gaudí's buildings look like they grew rather than were built, the medieval core is a knot of lanes, and it's the best place to eat on the whole trip — from market counters to tasting menus.
A 1h35 flight from Seville.
Drop the bags and walk the Gothic Quarter and El Born — Roman walls, tiny squares, the Santa Maria del Mar church.
Vermouth, then dinner in El Born.
The Sagrada Família, first entry of the day, when the low sun comes through the stained glass and the whole nave turns orange and blue. Book the tower too.
Down Passeig de Gràcia to Casa Batlló and La Pedrera, and the rooftop chimneys that look like soldiers.
Dinner in Gràcia, the neighbourhood where locals actually go out.
Park Güell early, then coffee at Nomad — one of the roasters that made Barcelona a coffee city.
Lunch at a counter in the Boqueria or Santa Caterina market, then the Picasso Museum.
Sunset from the Bunkers del Carmel, the old anti-aircraft battery with the whole city below.
Up Montjuïc by cable car for the Miró Foundation and the view over the port.
A slow walk along the seafront at Barceloneta, a long lunch of rice and seafood.
Farewell dinner. Keep it early — tomorrow starts at seven.
The flight goes at 09:30 and the airport is about 25 minutes out, so leave by 07:00. Through Montreal, into Vancouver at 21:48.
Stay · 4 nights
Gothic Quarter · Nov 25–29
Hidden at the end of a dead-end lane in the old quarter, and adults only, so it's quiet the moment the door shuts. Inside it's a dark, clubby library — red velvet, books, a starburst chandelier — opening onto a courtyard with the biggest living wall in Barcelona. Up on the roof there's a terrace over the Gothic Quarter for a drink at the end of the day, and El Born, the cathedral and the Picasso Museum are all a few minutes' walk.
from CA$400per night
| Leg | Airline | Time | Cost for two |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver → Málaga, Nov 17 | Porter TS7372, then Air Transat TS252, via Montreal | 09:40 → 08:40 · 15h | CA$1,895 |
| Seville → Barcelona, Nov 25 | Vueling | 1h35 | CA$90 |
| Barcelona → Vancouver, Nov 29 | Air Transat TS261, then Porter TS7375, via Montreal | 09:30 → 21:48 · 20h18 | same ticket |
28 November – 10 December 2026
In through Medellín, out of Cartagena. A city, a coffee farm, a quiet end of an island, and the walled town to finish.
Short version. If time is tight, it works as seven nights on the coast alone — fly straight into Cartagena, four nights on Isla Barú, then three in the old city.
City first, three days in the coffee triangle, three nights on Barú, then Cartagena to finish. Four bases, no one-night stops.
| Dates | Base | What it's for | Nights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 28 – Dec 1 | Medellín | Big-city energy, the best food, valley views | 3 |
| Dec 1–4 | Eje Cafetero | Coffee at the source, and 60-metre wax palms | 3 |
| Dec 4–7 | Isla Barú | Caribbean reef, a plunge pool, nothing to do | 3 |
| Dec 7–10 | Cartagena | Walled city, street food, salsa till late | 3 |
The city everyone underestimates. It sits in a bowl of green mountains at 1,500 m, so it's 24°C every day of the year and cable cars run up the valley walls like buses. The food is the best you'll eat on this trip, and you're in El Poblado, walking distance to most of it.
You land at 23:15, and it's about 45 minutes into the city, so you're checking in near midnight. Eat on the plane. Nothing is planned tonight and nothing should be.
Comuna 13, starting by 8:30 to beat the crowds and the heat. Ride the outdoor escalators up the hillside and walk the murals.
Back downtown for the Museo de Antioquia and Plaza Botero, then a cupping at Pergamino in Poblado — book a day ahead.
Tasting menu at El Cielo, or something simpler and just as good at Oci.Mde. Sunday is quiet downtown, so stay around Poblado after dark.
Drive out at 7:00 (about 2h) and climb the 740 steps of El Peñol before the buses arrive.
A small private boat on the lake, then lunch in the painted town and a slow walk around the zócalos.
Back in the city by 6:00. Drinks in Laureles, or a late dinner at Alambique.
Stay · 3 nights
El Poblado, Medellín · Nov 28 – Dec 1
The roof looks straight down the valley at the mountains — go up before dinner, when the light goes. Downstairs is a dark bar with a wall of backlit bottles and live jazz Thursday to Saturday, and a deep tub in the room for after. Pergamino, the best coffee in the city, is a ten-minute walk.
from CA$270per night
Three nights in Quindío, the heart of the Eje Cafetero, where the coffee gets serious. Base out in the hills above Circasia rather than in a town. Warm days, cool nights, and the Cocora Valley within reach.
A proper last breakfast — the flight isn't until 13:40, and it goes from Olaya Herrera inside the city, so you leave the hotel around 12:15.
Forty-five minutes to Pereira, landing at 14:25, then about an hour by road up to Circasia. You're there with the afternoon still going.
Dinner at Basto, the hotel restaurant.
The whole process on a specialty farm — pick with the crew, then depulping, fermentation, the drying beds. Ask to see the parchment and the sorting, not just the walk-around.
Roast and cup what they make, three or four lots side by side. Book a proper cupping rather than a tasting — this is the afternoon he'll remember.
Back for the infinity pool at golden hour, then dinner.
Leave by 7:00 for the Cocora Valley, about 35 minutes. Wax palms 60 m tall standing in open pasture, the tallest in the world. Go early — better light, and the jeeps land around 9:30.
Lunch in Salento, then on to Filandia, the quieter and prettier of the two painted towns. Room for one more small roaster here if he's still going.
Last dinner at the hotel — book the spa first if there's time.
Stay · 3 nights
The rooms are built into the hillside, each with its own pool on the terrace. The glass one over the forest is separate, up at the spa — and they light the fire pits in the garden at dusk.
In the hills above Circasia, Quindío · Dec 1–4
The pool is glass and juts out over the forest — you swim to the edge and there's nothing underneath you but canopy. Steam room, Turkish bath, sauna. The farms are down the hill and Cocora is 35 minutes off, so you can be out among the wax palms by eight and back before lunch.
from CA$400per night
Three nights on Isla Barú, the peninsula southwest of Cartagena — white sand down one side, mangrove down the other. The Rosario Islands are half an hour offshore, so you get the reef without giving up a real hotel.
Early breakfast, then away by 07:45 — it's an hour to Pereira and the flight goes at 10:32.
You land in Cartagena at 11:53. The hotel's transfer down to the southern tip takes about 45 minutes by boat, or a little over an hour by road, so you're on the island by early afternoon with the day still ahead.
Drop the bags, swim before dark, dinner at the hotel.
A private boat from the hotel dock out to the Rosarios, 30–40 minutes across the shallows. Go private rather than on a group tour — same islands, none of the schedule.
Snorkelling on the reef, lunch at an island beach club, back before the afternoon wind picks up.
Sunset from the sand, dinner with your feet in it.
Kayaks out through the mangroves, or snorkel straight off the cove — the water here is shallow and still.
The plunge pool, a book, a long lunch at the floating restaurant. This is the day with nothing in it.
A massage, then dinner by candlelight.
One thing to know. Las Islas is at the southern tip, so there is nothing else within reach — no bar down the beach, no village. That's the point, but it does mean every meal is at the hotel. The other thing: the loud end of Barú, where the day boats unload onto Playa Blanca, is a long way up the island, so none of that reaches you here.
Stay · 3 nights
Southern tip of Isla Barú · Dec 4–7
Thatched bungalows scattered through the trees at the far end of the island — some up in the canopy, some down at the water, each with its own deck. The restaurant floats. The beach is a small, still cove rather than a long strand, and you snorkel straight off it.
from CA$350per night
Three nights to finish. About 31°C and dry, so mornings and evenings outside, afternoons in the shade or a pool.
A last swim, then leave around 10:00. About 1h15 by car, or 45 minutes by boat straight to the old city dock.
Check in, shower, siesta. The heat here is a different animal.
Velitas, when the whole country lights candles on doorsteps and balconies. Wander the old town and Getsemaní after dark with nothing booked to rush for. The best photography night of the trip.
Bazurto market — fruit you've never seen, fried fish, juice stands, the best food in the city. Go early and keep it simple: it's chaotic and very real.
Castillo San Felipe late in the day, or La Popa for the view over the bay.
A small sunset boat in the bay, then salsa at Café Havana.
The old town at 7:00 while it's cool and empty — Santo Domingo, the flower balconies, coffee at Época. Then Getsemaní street art, or the pool if the heat wins.
Shopping in Las Bóvedas, a massage, coffee somewhere cold.
Farewell dinner at Celele, a drink at Alquímico.
The flight goes at 09:25 and the airport is 20 minutes away, so it's a 07:00 start. Ask the hotel the night before for coffee and something to take with you.
Stay · 3 nights
Calle del Arzobispado, inside the walls · Dec 7–10
A restored colonial house standing directly across from the cathedral, so the tower is the view from the roof. Up there too: a bar run with El Barón, which is on the World's 50 Best list. Downstairs the courtyard is all stone arches and lantern light, with a swing seat hanging over the water.
from CA$300per night
| Leg | Airline | Time | Cost for two |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver → Medellín, Nov 28 | Porter, then Air Transat, via Toronto | 07:00 → 23:15 · 13h15 | CA$2,246 |
| Medellín → Pereira, Dec 1 | Clic Air VE9056, from Olaya Herrera | 13:40 → 14:25 · 45 min | CA$178 |
| Pereira → Cartagena, Dec 4 | JetSMART JA5540 | 10:32 → 11:53 · 1h21 | CA$204 |
| Cartagena → Vancouver, Dec 10 | Air Transat, then Porter, via Montreal | 09:25 → 21:48 · 15h20 | same ticket |
4 – 14 December 2026
In through Guatemala City, out of Belize. Volcano country, a crater lake with three volcanoes across it, and the reef to finish.
Highlands first — volcanoes, markets and the lake — then a short flight across to the Caribbean. December is dry on both sides.
| Dates | Base | What it's for | Nights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 5–8 | Antigua | Cobblestones, ruins, lava fields, Fuego at night | 3 |
| Dec 8–11 | Lake Atitlán | Three volcanoes, markets, villages by boat | 3 |
| Dec 11–14 | Ambergris Caye | The second-largest reef on earth, no shoes | 3 |
A colonial town of painted walls and cobbles, boxed in by three volcanoes — and one of them, Fuego, is erupting most nights, which you can watch from a rooftop with a drink. Everything is walkable, the ruined churches are half the charm, and the cafés are as good as anywhere in Central America.
You land at 11:51, after the overnight through Calgary and Panama City. About an hour up the hill, so you're in Antigua by early afternoon.
Drop the bags and walk it: the yellow arch of Santa Catalina with Volcán de Agua behind it, the cathedral ruins, the market, a coffee at Artista de Café on the way round.
Early dinner in town, and Fuego from a rooftop if the sky is clear.
Pacaya, an hour out of town: a two-hour hike up through the pines onto black lava fields that are still warm underfoot, with steam coming out of the cracks and Fuego smoking across the valley.
Back for a late lunch, then up to Cerro de la Cruz for the view over the whole grid of rooftops to the volcano.
Dinner in town — book somewhere good, this is the night for it.
The villages in the valley: San Antonio Aguas Calientes, where the women weave on backstrap looms and will show you how it works, then the macadamia farm at Valhalla for pancakes and a tour.
Back for the spa, or the ruined convents you haven't seen yet — Las Capuchinas is the good one.
Last night in Antigua.
Stay · 3 nights
Central Antigua · Dec 5–8
A colonial house behind a plain wall in the middle of town, and much bigger inside than it looks. Rooms have beamed ceilings four metres up, a working fireplace they light for you, and a chandelier over the bed. The courtyard is cypresses and a stone fountain, candles everywhere after dark, and there's a long green pool down the side for the afternoon. Everything is a few minutes' walk: the arch, the market, the cafés.
from CA$300per night
A crater lake at 1,560 m, with three volcanoes standing straight out of the water on the far side. There are no real roads around it — you get between the villages by boat — and the hillsides above them are covered in coffee grown by Maya co-ops.
A last coffee in Antigua, then about 2h30 by car. The road drops over the crater rim and the whole lake opens up in one go.
Check in, late lunch on the terrace, and do nothing with the view for a while.
Watch the volcanoes go pink, then dinner at the hotel.
Optional, and worth it: up at 4:00 for Indian Nose, a short steep climb to watch the sun come up over the lake and the volcanoes. Back for breakfast.
A private boat to San Juan La Laguna, where the co-ops grow and roast their own coffee — the whole process with the growers, then taste it. The murals and the weavers are in the same few streets.
Boat back at sunset, dinner at the hotel.
An hour and a half into the hills to the Thursday market, the biggest in the highlands — textiles, masks, flowers, and incense smoke on the church steps where the old Maya rites still happen.
Back down to the lake for a late lunch and a kayak on the water.
Last dinner on the lake.
Stay · 3 nights
Santa Catarina Palopó, Lake Atitlán · Dec 8–11
A cobalt-blue villa hanging off the cliff above the lake, full of Guatemalan art, with rooms in lime-washed colour and doors that open at the volcanoes. There's a lawn below the house with a deck and a fire pit right on the edge of the water, which is where you end up every evening. The restaurant is one of the best on the lake, the village that painted all its houses in Maya patterns is next door, and the boat dock is at the bottom of the hill.
from CA$450per night
Belize's biggest island, a long thin strip of sand with the barrier reef running just offshore, so close you can see the line of white where the waves break on it. Nobody wears shoes and the roads are for golf carts. You're on the quiet northern end, reached by boat.
Away from the lake by 7:30 — it's three hours down to Guatemala City airport.
The 12:50 flight lands in Belize City at 14:10, then a 15-minute island-hopper over the water to San Pedro and the hotel boat up the coast. You're on the sand by five.
Swim before dark, dinner at the hotel.
A private boat to Hol Chan, the marine reserve cut through the reef: turtles, eagle rays, huge groupers. Then Shark Ray Alley, where nurse sharks and stingrays come right up to you.
Lunch on the water in San Pedro, then back to do nothing.
Dinner at the hotel.
A small plane out over the Great Blue Hole — a perfect circle of deep navy in the middle of turquoise reef, 300 m across. It only really makes sense from the air.
Hammock, book, swim off the dock. Or half an hour by water taxi to Caye Caulker, the sleepier island next door, and a swim at the Split.
Last dinner by the water.
A last swim and a late breakfast, then the island-hopper back to Belize City for the 15:20 flight. Home through Toronto, into Vancouver at 01:50.
Stay · 3 nights
North Ambergris Caye · Dec 11–14
Thatched casitas painted in mango, lime and coral, scattered through the palms on their own stretch of sand, with a hammock on every porch. The pier is the thing: a long boardwalk out over the water with daybeds on little decks along the way, which is where you'll spend most of the day, and where the boat picks you up for the reef. Mambo, the restaurant, is the one people come up the coast for. Adults only, a boat ride north of town, so it's quiet.
from CA$400per night
| Leg | Airline | Time | Cost for two |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver → Guatemala City, Dec 4–5 | WestJet WS124 & WS2266, then Copa CM358, via Calgary and Panama City | 19:00 → 11:51 · 15h51 | CA$1,256 |
| Guatemala City → Belize City, Dec 11 | TAG 5U804 | 12:50 → 14:10 · 1h20 | CA$800 |
| Belize City → San Pedro, Dec 11 | Tropic Air or Maya Island | 15 min | CA$200 |
| Belize City → Vancouver, Dec 14 | WestJet WS2563 & WS737, via Toronto | 15:20 → 01:50 · 11h30 | CA$666 |