Colombia

Colombia's transformation over the past two decades is one of the most remarkable stories in the world. A country once synonymous with drug cartels and civil conflict has reinvented itself into one of South America's most exciting destinations. Medellín, once the world's murder capital, is now a model of urban innovation with cable cars connecting hillside barrios, public libraries as architectural statements, and a tech startup scene that draws digital nomads from around the world.

Colombia is the only South American country with coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It produces some of the world's finest coffee, grows more varieties of orchids than anywhere else, and is the second most biodiverse country on Earth after Brazil. Gabriel García Márquez wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude here, inventing magical realism from the heat and absurdity of Colombian life. Cartagena's walled old town is a UNESCO jewel of colonial architecture. Shakira and J Balvin brought Colombian music to the global stage. The salsa scene in Cali is legendary. And Colombians are consistently ranked among the happiest people in the world, despite everything they've been through.