National Aviary of Colombia (Aviario Nacional de Colombia)

I had a wonderful time on this Day Tour. The tour guides were awesome, full of energy and very very helpful…. I had good conversations with them we went to a place more like a bird sanctuary & got to see a lot of different Exotic birds and the water by the beach was just a sight to see. I’m definitely glad I went on this tour.

The highlight of the trip was the Aviary! The beach was beautiful and the private club helps, but it is very crowded. Another thing to keep in mind is that the tour guides don’t speak very much English. Heidi was very good at figuring out what we needed and providing information, but speaking Spanish will make things much easier for anyone going in this trip. Overall really enjoyed it

I was most keen on going to the National Aviary, and this tour option that was combined with time spent at Playa Blanca was the best available at the time I was booking. I probably would have stayed longer at the Aviary to read more of the placards, but I did not want to hold up the other members of the group, and the guide seemed to want to keep the pace moving. The Mambo Beach Club is a decent place to spend some time, and I liked the staff there. I did not come "beach-ready" for personal reasons, but it was nice to spend time outdoors near the water. All this being said, I feel like it was good to have the aviary visit combined with something else-- it maximized the time spent that far out from Cartagena.

Great half day getaway. If you love birds and the beach, Playa Blanca and the Aviary were such great trips. It was such a nice convenience to get picked up from and to our location as it was very early in the morning and at the end we were really tired from the beach and the sun. The beach was beautiful (although rocky at parts-not the tour’s fault) and the aviary was very nice and for bird lovers a trip. There were so many bird species and parrots and flamingos! Jesus our tour guide was so great, even got a little partot to laugh and talk back. Jesus was simply such a great guide, very respectful and kind. We were traveling with a toddler and he waited for us and was very patient. Thank you!

The tour started at 0730am, 10 minutes into the hour long bus ride the bus broke down. We were told it would be 10-15min before a new bus arrived. However, since we were on "Cartagena time" it took 50min for the new bus to arrive. How it went was we went to the beach first, for like an hour then went to the aviary then back to the beach. Honestly it would've been better to do the aviary first then relax at beach because it's about a 10min walk in sand and hot heat to exit beach. There will be hagglers trying to sell you absolutely everything but it's best to not make eye contact and shake your head no and they give up easily enough. The place where we were settles on the beach, they charge 60k Colombian pesos to rent the outside canopy beds with shade, otherwise your stuck in plastic beach chairs exposed to all the sun's rays.

Our guide Aisa was lovely. She clearly explained time schedules and pick up locations when we changed locations from the beach to avairy. She even had some great food recommendations for in the city. The lunch portions and quality were good. We did opt for more than the voucher covered. All the staff members at the beach location were attentive. Since we arrived early to the beach, it wasn't crowded. However when we returned from the avairy, the vendors were in full effect. We loved the excursion and would definitely recommend as a nice beach day trip.

Pros The operators of my trip were very friendly and picked us up at our hotel within the time they said they would be there. Then we picked up the rest of the people and headed out to Blanca de playa with is a very beautiful beach and we are located in a beach club a little ways down the beach. If you go to any beach here you definitely want to be away from the main area cause you will be relentlessly harassed to by stuff and they don't take no for answer. So the beach club protects you from most but not all people trying to sale. They do have a few who work for the club who are trying to sale. Then after an hour or 2 you go to the bird sanctuary and do that which is right down the road. After the birds you go back to the beach again for lunch and you leave around 2 Cons Which are non of the operators fault its cause you are here in Colombia 1 the last road leading to the beach is a dirt road for about 2 miles and it's full of huge pot holes and will destroy cars. 2. The walk to the beach is a little scary and your thinking where the hell are we and then you see the beautiful beach and all the beach clubs. Each house is its own beach club which is very cool. 3. The Flys can be annoying while your trying to eat. So bring something to swat them awy

My tour included a welcome drink, lunch up to 25 pesos, a water, cup of fruit and the Aviary tour. The van to pick me up arrived abour 20 minutes late. No big deal. It took a us about 45 minutes to reach the beach. We only went to Playa Baru, not play Blanca. Not sure why the advertise both. I recommend you bring extra money for the cabanas 60,000 pesos and the better lunch options that cost more than 25 000 pesos. The beach was nice and so was the restaurant. The prices are high and vendors will harass you every minute yo buy their products so be aware. Especially the massage ladies, charging up to 240,000 pesos for a massage. Always ask for the price upfront. We arrived at the beach around 8am. I left around 10am to go to the Aviary. It was an amazing experience. So many birds including parrots, toucans, peacocks, ducks and emus. We left and arrived back at the beach around 1130am. They offered me a water that was included in the tour I paid for around 1pm and we were set to leave at 2pm. My suggestion is that if it's included offered it at the beginning especially on a hot beach day. The tour guide had a good command of English. Overall pleasant experience!