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Venezuela touring & wildlife holiday ideas:
West Coast Discovery
Extraordinarily varied, Venezuela's west coast is off the beaten track but has much to offer.
Caracas
Day 1 Met at the airport on arrival, stay in Macuto.
Coro
Day 2 L Morning flight to Coro in western Venezuela, where you will be met on arrival by your English speaking local guide and transferred to a 3-4* hotel for 3 nights B&B. The hotel is set in gardens, has a swimming pool, and is in walking distance of the historic quarter. Your guide takes you on a walking tour of historic Coro, a UNESCO World Heritage site, including lunch.
Day 3 BL Visit the Botanical Garden with its collection of xerophytic plants, then the artist community of Tara Tara and the nearby archaeological museum and excavation site of Taima Taima. You could take a walk with your guide in this fascinating arid landscape, perhaps to see some petroglyphs, or to a lighthouse. You could also visit local artists, potters, stone carvers, and weavers in studios in the village. Return to Coro via the Iglesia de Guadelupe and the historic town of La Vela.
Day 4 BL A completely different day, exploring the Sierra San Luis mountains. Driving with your guide into the hills, the air becomes fresher and the vegetation more lush with ferns, palms, orchids and impatiens. Oranges and organic coffee are grown here, and you may see coffee beans drying in the sun by (and sometimes on) the road. Take a walk along a part of an attractive old Spanish ‘royal road’ through forest to limestone caves. You can scramble into a large cavern where there are impressive stalactites and stalagmites.
Paraguaná Peninsula
Day 5 BLD In another complete contrast, today you take the road along the isthmus of shifting sand-dunes to explore the arid Paraguaná Peninsula. There are salt flats where flamingos and scarlet ibis are seen. Inland the landscape is scrubby and dry, aloe vera is one of the few crops. There is a scattering of small villages, such as Pueblo Nuevo with its quaint church. Artisans make rocking chairs from cactus wood, and adobe mud bricks bake dry in the sun.
In the afternoon you stop at a delightful posada which is your base for 2 nights. It is run by a group of artists who have decorated their traditional court-yarded home richly and exuberantly. The pretty garden has a deep italianate swimming pool and is home to a number of peacocks (bring your ear plugs in case they start calling at an early hour!). Dinner is eaten communally in family style.
Day 6 BLD A free day for relaxation at this beautiful location. Ideal for reading books by the pool.
Caribbean coast
Day 7 BLD Visit the impressive sand dunes on your return to the mainland, arriving at a small lodge set in a coconut plantation by the Caribbean, your base for the next 2 nights. The afternoon is free to relax by the lodge’s swimming pool, or at the beach.
Day 8 BLD Free day for relaxation, ideal for walking along the beach or birdwatching in the garden. There are opportunities to see a village co-operative project to extract coconut oil.
Morrocoy
Day 9 BLD Drive along the coast to a posada with hilltop views across the mangrove-fringed lagoons and coral islands of the Morrocoy marine national park. In the afternoon take a boat to the islands where soft white sands meet calm blue green water. Return to the posada for some wonderful home cooking.
Choroní
Days 10-13 BD Next morning drive from Morrocoy, through the beautiful coastal cloud forest of the Henri Pittier National Park, to Choroní. Here you stay for 4 nights half-board at a posada in a restored colonial house with patio in a country setting.
From your posada you can walk into the village of Puerto Colombia and its beach, or take a fishing boat to one of the nearby beaches that can only be reached from the sea. Excursions available locally at extra cost include walks in the forest and a trip by boat and on foot to a cacao farm.
Caracas
Day 14 B You are collected in the morning for the drive to Caracas airport in time for your chosen international flight home.
Guide price £1,395
Sample independent holiday itinerary.
14 days / 13 nights, starts and ends at Caracas airport.
The guide price is per person based on 2 people travelling together and sharing twin/double accommodation.
Guide price includes: all travel in Venezuela, private services of English speaking local guides (Days 2-12), accommodation (4 nights hotels, 10 nights tourist lodges), most meals (except 1 lunch - allow £7).
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