Hotels near El Embrujo Airport - PVA, Providencia

Santa Catalina is the smaller island north of Providence. It's quieter, walking-only, and connected to the other island via a bridge. In a way, this is the prettier island, and it's got the historic fort plus pirate hideouts to the north (accessable via swimming or boat). It's got a tiny, quiet beach which is absolutely gorgeous. Both islands combined are tiny and easy to get around, so I ate on Providencia mostly, though there are cafes on Santa Catalina and I bought drinks and snacks at the shops on Santa Catalina. I liked staying on Santa Catalina and would stay there next time.

We were lucky that the island was so empty, although we recognize how that hurts the reality of the locals. There is very little information online about the current state of the island, as they had to rebuild 98% of infrastructure after hurricane Iota dessimated everything. The good news is that recovery is well underway. There are plenty of restaurants and hotels, along with beautiful beaches. I highly recommend a trip to Providencia and I can hardly wait to get back. It is important to note that when we went there was only one airline company flying to Providencia (Satena) and they leave a lot to wish for. Our plane had no AC and we arrived sweating buckets and feeling quite unwell, so anyone with health problems should think twice about this visit. Also, they cancelled our flight last minute and we were forced to take and earlier flight so that we could make our connection. So I recommend leaving some room between the flight from Providencia and any subsequent connections. Other than that, the beaches are beautiful. When we went, we generally had most of them to ourselves. I highly recommend snorkeling, as the experience is life-changing. I've snorkled my whole life, but Providencia was on a whole other level. We ate at one of their more high-end restaurants (Caribbean Place) where the food was good, but over-priced. On the other hand, the food at El Divino Niño at South West Bay Beach was delicious, fresh, relatively cheap for the size and quality of their portions.

Be prepared that local people are not always friendly to the tourist and many times they see them like source of money. Especially if there are any problems and complains. Fortunately I haven't got any big problems, only issue was the canceled flight from the island back, but the airport company Satena took care about us, offering us extra night accomodation.

We enjoyed Providencia for being a truly authentic island experience. While we loved being among few tourists there and interacting primarily with locals, we understand that is not for everyone. Also, though we were very comfortable at both of the locations we stayed at, the island overall is still rebuilding after a catastrophic hurricane several years ago, so some people might not find all of the infrastructure to which they are accustomed.

The island is beautiful and not crowded at all. However, it has a terrible stray dog issue. Especially at Southwest beach where a few roam around in the evenings attacking tourists. One of them bit me. If you’re traveling alone, I’d keep that in mind.

Old orovidence is an amazing island and people, it is more caribbean than colombian. The food is fantastic, poeple are are guenuinely kind. The paces to visit are beautiful, some of the beaches are tucked away and off the beaten track, manchaneel beach. It is quiet, if you wat to rest, write or be creative. There are still signs of the devistation from hurricane Iota, but thats because those in charge have been slow to remove it. However this does not take away from neopolitan ice cream coloured churches and houses. It definitely has a sea of seven colours. It is an unspoilt jewel in the caribbean.