
Wake up and smell coffee in the rolling mountains of Colombia, South America. Join me on a quick journey through the heart of Colombia.
One of the many benefits of creating your own online business is that you are not restricted to work or live in one location.
Instead, you are free to travel, explore, and work from anywhere in the world.
I recently finished a short 12 day trip through the coffee region in Colombia, South America known as Eje Cafetero and wanted to share my “traveling/working online” experience with you for three simple reasons.
1). Colombia’s coffee region is amazing. To be able to wake up and smell coffee in Colombia’s country side is a slice of paradise – And should be on everyone’s bucket list of places to travel.
2). Working online and traveling is a reality with just a little discipline (see below for suggestions).
3). Working online and traveling is one of the most amazing benefits of creating your own online business.
Wake Up And Smell Coffee In Tranquility and Beauty:
Colombian coffee is considered some of the finest coffee in the world. It has been a dominant export for Colombia to United States, Germany, France, Japan, and Italy. The coffee region in Colombia is a sub-tropical climate that is filled with rolling hills and mountains.
Scattered through the hillsides are coffee plantations, charming Spanish colonial style villages, and friendly local Colombians.
The coffee region is located in the center of Colombia and is composed of 4 departments of Colombia. You can think of the departments as we think of States in United States.
They are Caldas, Quindío, Valle de Cauca and Risaralda.
For our trip, we spent the majority of our time in the department of Quindío. This area contains the major tourist attractions that we wanted to see…
- Salento, Colombia – Second largest tourist destination in Colombia behind Cartegena.
- Los Terminales de Santa Rosa – Hot springs outside the city of Pereira
- Parque Nacional del Café – or National Coffee Park (museum and amusement park) outside of Armenia, Colombia
Starting from Medellin, Colombia:
If you are going to create a trip to Colombia, you should consider starting out from Medellin. It’s international airport will provide the most economical flights into the country and the city is definitely worth exploring. It has international art museums, ecological parks, incredible night life, and an eternal springtime-like climate.
Plus it’s a great launching point to reach the coffee region by bus. If you need a place to stay in Medellin, check out our Guest Homes for Travelers called – The Art House.

Taking off out of the south station of Medellín, we were recommended by locals to use the bus company called Buses Occidental to travel from Medellín to Armenia. The bus company was great, they provide comfy seats that recline way back so that you can sleep easily or watch a movie.
The travel time is 6-8 hours covering a distance of 268.5 km or 167 miles with an average speed around 38 km/h or 23.6 mph. So quite slow, but that’s OK.
Become Awesome at Online Business: Here’s How >>
If you’re traveling in Colombia, just expect that life passes by at a slower pace and enjoy it.
Although the bus ride is slow due to the mountainous terrain of the Andes Mountains, the countryside views are brilliant. Flowing with lush rolling mountains, traditional Spanish style villages, and endless views of coffee plantations scattered with banana, bamboo, eucalyptus, and plantain trees.
Arriving in Armenia, Colombia (Colombia’s Coffee City Capital), we immediately booked another bus and arrived in Salento, Colombia.
A charming traditional Colombian village that has a small population of 3,600 people. What’s interesting about Salento, is that it’s actually the second largest tourist destination in Colombia. With such a small size, it’s incredible that it’s second in tourism just behind Cartagena, Colombia.
The region is a large river valley with towering mountains that provide spectacular hiking, horseback riding, camping and of course, the colonial Spanish town of Salento.A town now based primarily on tourism and artisan work that is loaded with wonderful restaurants, traditional Colombian bars, artisan products and an overall super laid back vibe.
You could easily spend a week getting to know the area. There’s hiking, horse back riding, or just chilling out sipping a cerveza in the town square.
From there, the next major tourist attraction was the hot springs of Santa Rosa National Park. You take a short walk through this breathtaking park along a stream that leads up to the thermal pools.
Check out this cascading waterfall that feeds a spring creek next to the hot springs park. The whole area is just a slice of heaven.
The “hot springs” provide a therapeutic benefit like contrasting hot and cold baths going from the hot thermal pools to the cool waterfall.
With Spanish music playing in the background, the park offers everyone a relaxing, yet invigorating experience.
The Next Stop:
The next trip highlight for me was to meet up with some friends in Sevilla, Colombia.
Sevilla is a town of over 60,000 people and once was considered the coffee capital of Colombia. It’s a nice, laid back town that is nestled in the coffee region. We were lucky enough to hike some of the coffee farms as well as catch the traditional Colombian Bandola Festival.
Every year the Bandola Festival provides 3 days and nights of traditional Colombian music in the styles of; Artisan, Reggae, Indigenous, Folklore, and even Rock music.
Sevilla is very close to Armenia. So this allowed us to take a nice short day trip from Sevilla to visit the Colombian National Coffee Park outside of Armenia. The park was created within the countryside to provide spectacular views of the coffee region.
Here you can enjoy a delicious cup of coffee from Juan Valedez. Kick back and enjoy the views.
The park has 22 attractions, they offer a coffee museum tour and a dance show that displays all of the traditional Colombian-style dances.

It’s very entertaining and a bit comical, a must see. Unfortunately photography was not allowed during the performance.
The parks rides, although enjoyable, can’t compare to those that I have experienced in United States (i.e. Six Flags, Elitch Gardens, Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, etc.).
But the natural beauty of the local flora and fauna were out of this world. I have never seen a more beautiful amusement park in my life.
Need to Make Money Online?
Here’s My Top Recommended Program >>
Mix Work & Play – Wake Up And Smell Coffee:
Now I know that part of a vacation or travel adventure is to relax and escape from your daily reality.
But if you work online, you can benefit from extending your travel experiences and continue to work on a daily basis. You just need to do a little planning and take advantage of your daily schedule.
For me, I try to spend a minimum of 2-5 hours working on my online business when traveling.
It’s definitely not as productive as working online from home. Where you can spend 6-8 hours a day without too many distractions.
But you can easily go site seeing for the day and come back and work in the evening. Or plan some time in the morning to answer emails, build website content, or complete new article research.
It just takes a little daily planning and you can have the best of both worlds.
Economical Traveling Adventure:
I think part of creating wealth is learning how to live a frugal lifestyle. It’s easy to spend money and it’s especially easy to waste money on fancy vacations.
Don’t get me wrong, I like a fancy all-inclusive vacation just like anyone else. But I feel that pampered vacations are really only good for a few days, maybe 5 at the most.
For me, I like to travel and get to know new cultures and places.
With a trip like I just described traveling through the coffee region of Colombia, you can really appreciate the Colombian culture, people, countryside landscape, and history of coffee.
As well as get to know locals and make new friends.
For the price of two adults for 12 days and 11 nights of travel, food, entertainment and lodging we spent just a touch over $1,000 dollars.
Pretty sweet deal, right? Just to give you an idea of some of the expenses we incurred, see below.
- Decent hotel rooms with internet access, comfy beds, hot water, TV and breakfast from $25/night for two adults
- Nice big dinners for two for $20
- Traditional Colombian breakfast for $3/person
- Cup of delicious coffee at internet cafe for 50 cents.
- Tall 40 ounce beer for $1.50
- 6-8 hour bus fare of $20/person
Become Awesome at Online Business: Here’s How >>
Benefits to Traveling and Working Online:
Working online and creating a business takes time and dedication. But the benefits of being able to travel and live out your dreams are a reality and well worth your time.
During my trip I tried to spend a minimum of 4 hours a day working online. Once I got my work out of the way, I return to enjoying my vacation and travel adventure.
It was an extremely rewarding and uplifting experience to go for a long hike through the Colombian coffee region.
To see plant life that my eyes had never seen before, and spend a few moments in nature snapping photos.
I guess you’d call that…BALANCE. Something we all need to strive for in life.
Thanks for reading about my travel adventures. I would highly recommend that you too, one day, wake up and smell coffee in the heart of the coffee region in Colombia, South America.
Take care,
Todd
Man, I love coffee and really enjoyed this post. You should work for the Colombian Bureau of Tourism or something because these photos, and the description of your journey, really make me want to go there. I like how you’ve been able to combine your online business with your passion for travel. Very inspiring!
Hey Mike,
Thanks for your feedback and it was a super fun article to do, really to experience. Everyone who goes to Colombia should wake and smell coffee in the heart of a traditional coffee farm, it’s an amazing experience and the land is rich and unique.
For me I was especially luck to go with my wife and spend time with her family. After spending a week in Sevilla talking only Spanish with my wife’s families and the locals, I started forgetting English words, you’re really isolated with Spanish in these areas so it helped my Spanish immensely.
Keep working at your online business and you’ll get there and have that freedom to travel and earn, especially if you’re taking advantage of all their educational resources offered by Wealthy Affiliate.
Salud,
Todd
Hi there Todd!
I love to wake up and smell coffee first thing in the morning. It seems Colombia is rich in culture and oh the photo with the waterfalls in it next to the hot spring looks like a peace of heaven. Such a relaxing view. 🙂 Can go down and dip yourself in it?
I totally agree with you, working online you have a flexible time and travelling wouldn’t be a hindrance in your working time. It seems that you really enjoyed your vacation-working experience 🙂
Hi Kathe,
I did really enjoy my time and the coffee region of Colombia. I found it sort of a challenge to manage work and play when we first started out on the trip, but that can be expected when you travel the first couple days.
The coffee is wonderful there, a bit on the strong side, but the price is incredible and just having the ability to live in that subtropical environment and enjoy a cup of coffee was pretty amazing.
The other adventures that we did we’re also very rewarding. The waterfalls that you mention have a swimming hole at the base of them and the water is actually a pretty nice temperature.
What’s better is that you can play in the cooler water and then go jump in the hot springs. thanks for your feedback on the post and take care.
Todd
Todd, this is right up my alley, I really like your webpage. I like how you intertwined coffee and travel all in one. I have a few friends from Colombia, and I hope to go there myself. My brother travels to Bolivia regularly, has nothing but great things to tell me about South America. Awesome page!
Thanks Gail, much appreciated. South America is a wonderful place and meant to be explored. Glad you found our Wake Up and Smell Coffee post an enjoyable read.
Best,
Todd
Wow! Looks like you have a wonderful time. Great pictures and I totally agree with you about having more experiences with different cultures than lush expensive hotels.
What a great place to visit-especially if you are into coffee – and I definitely am. Not sure how I would like running my online business without coffee! Will keep Colombia in mind for a future holiday destination.
That’s awesome Liz. Thanks for your feedback on the post. Everyday I’d wake up, smell and taste the most delicious and robust Colombian coffee right while working online – It’s a fun experience and I highly recommend it.
Traveling and working online can be an amazing and unique experience. Through my guest homes in Colombia and my online businesses, I’ve gotten to meet a ton of people who do this. They have the best stories and such fun lives.
Thanks for the feedback on the pictures as well, much appreciated.
If you get to Medellin, let me know. Here’s our guest homes if you’d like to take a peek.
Salud,
Todd