West Coast Discovery

Caracas

Met at the airport on arrival, stay in Macuto.

to Paraguaná Peninsula & Dunes

Early morning flight to El Vigia in western Venezuela, where you will be met on arrival by your English speaking local guide and explore the arid Paraguaná Peninsula. 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.There are salt flats where flamingos and scarlet ibis are seen. You then take the road along the isthmus of shifting sand-dunes to the mainland coast. Here you stay for four nights at a mid-range, beachside guesthouse on a Coconut plantation while exploring the area.

Coro

This morning you visit the photogenic streets in the historic part of Coro, a UNESCO World Heritage site, including lunch. In the afternoon 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.

Sierra de San Luis mountains

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.

Relaxing by the coast on a Coconut Plantation

A free day for relaxation by the lodge’s swimming pool, or at the beach on this coconut plantation.

Morrocoy marine national park

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.

Free day in the Morrocoy area, the hotel can arrange for you to have another boat trip out to the coral islands if you wish (at additional cost locally)

Choroní - cloudforest at the coast

Today you will be transferred from Morrocoy, through the beautiful coastal cloud forest of the Henri Pittier National Park, to Choroní. Here you stay for three nights at an attractive mid-range posada with pool in a country setting mid way between the small town of Choroni and the fishing village of Puerto Colombia.

Free day to do excursions. 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.

Second free day for relaxation by the hotel's pool or for local excursions

Caracas

You are collected in the morning for the drive to Caracas airport (4hrs) in time for your chosen onwards flight.