Travel and Television Highlight Colombia’s History — But Not the One You’re Thinking Of

A region lost to time in the jungles of Colombia has won one of travel’s biggest honors — but how? Earning a coveted spot on the New York Times list of 52 Places to Go in 2025, Colombia’s Magdalena River is hidden by dense tropical forests, twisting past countless colonial-era villages on its way to a white sand coastline. It’s an unexpected yet well-deserved honor for a newly emerging destination far from the country’s more well-trodden locales.

But Colombia’s moment in the spotlight crescendos beyond just its New York Times recognition, coming on the heels of a hotly-anticipated Netflix adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude, depicting scenery that feels straight off the banks of the Magdalena River. Together, they speak to a renewed interest in another chapter of Colombia’s history, one far removed from the turmoil and terror of recent decades, from which the nation has long sought to turn the page.

A New History?

Few places have had a bigger task of rebranding for foreign visitors than Colombia. After decades of crippling drug wars and armed conflict that made tourism functionally impossible, Colombia started to experience a resurgence in interest among travelers in the mid-2000s. However monumental the job, Colombia’s destination rebrand seems to have worked; the places to visit in Colombia have experienced a 480% increase in visitors compared to just two decades ago.

A report of statistics compiled by Migración Colombia found that in the first half of 2024 alone, the country experienced an incredible 11.1% increase in the number of international visitors compared to the same period just one year earlier. Cities like Medellin, once home to Pablo Escobar but now a hub for remote workers and so-called “digital nomads,” enjoyed an impressive share of that growth, with a 25.8% year-over-year increase in international visitors.

Cartagena also showed increasingly strong growth, with a 17.6% year-over increase in visitors. Complete with glimmering, modern skyscrapers that sit alongside Spanish colonial fortresses, Cartagena is a far cry from the Narcos-coded imagery outsiders will recognize of Colombia.

Instead, the city’s revitalized historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site brimming with museums, galleries, age-old monuments, and even luxurious accommodations, like Casa San Agustin and Casa Pestagua, built from painstakingly restored colonial mansions. In just over a decade, the city’s rich historical heritage has helped it become one of the Caribbean’s premier destinations for travelers.

AmaWaterways

This storied chapter of Colombia’s history shines in the glowing New York Times feature on the Magdalena River and celebrates an exciting new way to experience it. This year, luxury river cruise line AmaWaterways will unveil two brand new riverboats that will trace the Magdalena River along its course between Cartagena and Barranquilla, winding past biodiverse landscapes and cities that still feel like taking a step back in time. It will be the first-ever luxury cruise line to make the journey.

“After visiting and falling in love with this region, we are so excited to now offer our guests the opportunity to discover Colombia’s vibrant culture, unique traditions and natural beauty,” said Rudi Schreiner, co-founder and president of AmaWaterways.

The new ships, the custom-built AmaMagdalena and AmaMelodia, will join the company’s award-winning fleet for their weeklong inaugural voyages this year and chart a 450-mile course down the river between what are two of Colombia’s most important coastal cities.

Highlights of the brand-new itinerary include the UNESCO World Heritage-designated town of Mompox, long known for its stunning 16th-century architecture, rich filigree jewelry-making traditions, and musical heritage. Many consider it among the most visually striking of Colombia’s pueblos patrimonio, towns designated by the government of Colombia for their rich cultural and historical patrimony.

The Netflix Effect

The launch of the new river cruises comes at a time when it’s easier than ever to stoke interest in Colombia’s rich, regal history of generations past from behind the television screens of everyone with a Netflix account. In December, the screening giant released the first-ever adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude, the pinnacle work of Nobel Prize-winning Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez.

The story harkens back to the untouched jungles of Colombia in the 19th and early 20th centuries, following multiple generations of the Buendía family in the remote, mythical town of Macondo. It’s one that almost every Spanish-language speaker knows.

Despite the story’s universal fame, creating a series out of what is arguably the most important work of Latin American literature hasn’t been without its controversies. The author himself once said that the novel “is written against the cinema” and refused multiple offers to sell the screen rights to the story.

However, the Netflix adaptation is faithful to a fault, executive produced by the author’s sons as an additional stamp of approval to its creation. The production team spent over a year painstakingly constructing its set for the mystical Macondo, and every detail feels thoughtful.

There’s still more to do to reconstruct the image of Colombia among potentially curious visitors. After all, look at the popularity of excursions to Escobar’s abandoned mansions and the neighborhoods of Medellin’s once run by cartels. However, the power of the new witness to another side of Colombia’s history, one steeped in immense architectural beauty, cultural heritage, and historic charm, feels transformative.