Beautiful, charming, fun and insightful - Wonderful and tiring all day trip to Raquila, Villa de Leyva and the Aim Karim winery. Our guide, Cindy, and driver, Pedro, were professional, courteous and enjoyable for the duration. The sights are gorgeous, the wine great and the food excellent. Be prepared for a lot of time in the car as it takes 3-4 hours to get to these places. But after a week in Bogota it is refreshing to see some country. Raquila itself is bright and cheerful with good prices on artesenial crafts. Villa de Leyva is a nice colonial town and the winery is very pleasant. Sit back and enjoy your day.

Full day tour of Leyva - Great tour, especially the Ceramic House (Musica), and the Dominican owned school (Convent)! Very good tour guide!

Cows, countryside and villa de leyva - Cows and countryside scenery and Villa de Leyva, oh my! This is a full day tour. Expect to be gone at least thirteen hours, especially with bogota traffic. Cindy and John were so sweet. There was a miscommunication about pick up time but they kindly waited for us to stumble downstairs. Cindy, our guide was very personable and chatted with us the whole three hours out. We stopped for coffee and cheese arepas, the start of a cheesy day. The countryside is beautiful and cows and sheep are everywhere. You eventually descend to the arid dessert that surrounds villa de leyva and get a very quick intro to the city. About fifteen minutes to forty five minutes. It is a cute town but many things weren’t yet open on a weekday morning. Which also means we weren’t pushing through hoards of people. Then it was onward to the 16th century monastery without resident cats who are just looking for love. Cool,old building and stories that remind me of Spanish missions in California. Almost everything is in Spanish but the guide will give you the gist and you can ask questions. After that whisked to one of three Colombian vineyards. You get a tour in Spanish that your guide translates and then tastings. Then you are whisked to the artisan town for a Colombian lunch…..ajiasco… and maybe some quick shopping. Then about a four hour or longer drive back to bogota when if you are like my husband, you can nap! It’s a lot in one day but for people wanting to check a lot off list and not stay overnight in villa de leyva, it is a good option.

Mixed review. Aspects could have been better. - Beautiful historic building and Long Melford is a delightful town. Suite was nice, very comfortable bed which John and Yoko actually slept in, in the early 70's while they were making one of her rubbish arthouse films in nearby Lavenham. I blame her for the break up of The Beatles. I saw them twice when I was age 11 and 12. My Mum took me with her mates. Never heard a note because of all the screaming......however, I digress. There's a documentary on youtube showing them in the bed that I slept in with my own little Yoko who uttered........"me luv yu long time Stevie"..... Staff: The reception staff were lovely. But the ignorant barman with the hair bun needs to improve his communication skills, instead of remaining mostly mute and staring at the floor when you order a drink and handing back your change. Food: The prawn cocktail was absolutely tasteless and looked clumsy. The chicken caesar salad was the worst I've had. Looked like it had been dumped on the plate. Whole lettuce leaves, a couple of bits of parmesan, far too many crotons and a few bits of the the driest chicken ever and very little dressing. Bearing in mind they serve food until 9pm, we ordered at 7.30pm and the bar staff had to check if they had enough ingredients for the dish!! Really!!?? Such a shame they couldn't get some of the basics right. I didn't realise that creating a tasty prawn cocktail and caesar salad could be so challenging for a chef. Maybe he was distracted. I would stay there again but I'd eat out. Lovely Indian just down the road. Hope this helps. Steve FC.

Update offer - The truth is that we did not visit what was advertised, it seemed extremely expensive to me, the advantage is that since it was private, we were able to make a change in the route and improve the experience, in general, I feel that it did not meet my expectations