Here is the quiet secret of South American award travel: you can fly Miami to Cartagena in economy for the same number of points as a short-haul domestic hop inside the United States. Miami (MIA) – Cartagena (CTG) one-way for 7,500 Alaska points plus taxes is not a mistake fare or a one-off deal — it is a live starting price on the Atmos Rewards distance chart, and Avianca LifeMiles opens up even more of the country from a stack of transferable currencies you probably already earn.
ElevateMiles Verdict
Colombia is the best entry-level international award trip in the Americas right now. A round-trip in economy from Miami runs about 15,000 Alaska points, business class starts at 9,000 each way, and you can cover a Marriott Category 2 stay in Medellín for around 12,000 Bonvoy points a night. If you have a stash of Amex, Citi, Capital One, or Bilt points, you already hold the currencies you need.
This is the trip I keep pointing beginners toward when they ask where to spend their first welcome bonus. The math is forgiving, the sweet spots have been stable for years, and Colombia is one of the rare places where mid-tier hotel points still buy real value at name-brand properties. Below is exactly how to build the whole trip — flights, hotels, and the transfer-partner routes that make it possible — using programs the average points hobbyist already has some exposure to.
Miami to Cartagena for 7,500 Alaska Points Each Way
The anchor deal here is Alaska Airlines’ Atmos Rewards program. Alaska and Hawaiian awards within North America start at 4,500 points, and the distance-based chart treats Miami-Cartagena as a short-haul international at the bottom of the pricing band. Miami (MIA) – Cartagena (CTG) one-way for 7,500 Alaska points + taxes and fees is the live starting price, and I’ve watched saver availability hold across most of the 2026 travel calendar with no obvious blackout patterns.
The other thing worth noticing on Alaska’s chart: Business Class starts at 9,000 points in the Americas. That is not a typo. A short-haul business seat costs roughly the same as an economy ticket to Hawaii, and if American Airlines opens up a saver-level business award between Miami and Cartagena, you can book it through Atmos for 9,000 points one-way instead of the ~25,000+ AAdvantage typically wants. The catch is availability — business saver space on this route is thinner than economy — but flexible daters find it more often than most people assume.
What makes this redemption stand out to me is the earning side, not just the pricing. Alaska is a transfer partner of Marriott Bonvoy, and Alaska Airlines became a Bilt Rewards transfer partner at a 1:1 ratio, so you don’t need to hoard Alaska-specific miles to book this. If you’re sitting on Bilt points from paying rent, you can move 7,500 straight over, and the transfer is essentially instant.
One planning note: award tickets themselves still earn status points on Alaska. Award flights booked with Atmos points earn 1 status point per mile flown, including eligible global-partner travel, so the Miami-Cartagena run puts roughly 1,400 status points on your account each way. It’s not a status run, but it’s a nice tailwind if you’re chasing Silver.
For most travelers, this is where I recommend starting the trip. Miami is the natural gateway — American runs multiple daily flights to CTG, and if you need to reposition to MIA, you can usually find reasonable last-minute cash fares into Miami that pair well with the award leg instead of burning more miles on a domestic connection.
Avianca LifeMiles: The Backup Plan (and Sometimes the Better One)
If the Alaska award doesn’t line up with your dates, or if you’re flying from a city that connects better through Bogotá than Miami, Avianca LifeMiles is the second lever to pull — and for many transferable-point holders, it’s actually the easier one. Avianca traces its roots back to 1919 and continues to operate as Colombia’s flag carrier, and its LifeMiles program has quietly become one of the most transfer-partner-rich currencies in the game.
The reason to care about LifeMiles for a Colombia trip is transferability. You can transfer points from 10 loyalty programs — including American Express, Citi, Capital One, Bilt and Marriott — to take advantage of reward sweet spots. That is an unusually wide on-ramp. Most sweet-spot programs (Air Canada Aeroplan, Turkish Miles&Smiles, Virgin Atlantic) partner with two or three transferable currencies. LifeMiles partners with essentially all of them.
Here’s the breakdown of standard transfer ratios I use when I’m figuring out where to pull from:
| Source Program | Ratio to LifeMiles | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| Amex Membership Rewards | 1:1 | Instant |
| Citi ThankYou | 1:1 | Near-instant |
| Capital One Miles | 1:1 | Instant |
| Bilt Rewards | 1:1 | Instant |
| Wells Fargo Rewards | 1:1 | Instant |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 3:1 | Up to 24 hours |
A few honest caveats before you get excited. First, LifeMiles is not a program that stays still. Avianca has quietly devalued LifeMiles awards for the third time in just over a year, with increases hitting partner bookings, so I would not accumulate a huge LifeMiles balance sitting around — transfer only when you’re ready to book. Second, the site is notoriously clunky. Searching for award flights can be frustrating, as the site and app are slow and clunky. Phantom award space is known to appear, so confirming availability before transferring points is always wise.
What LifeMiles does very well for Colombia specifically is intra-country flights and access from cities that Alaska doesn’t serve well. Avianca operates a dense domestic network out of its hubs in Bogotá and Medellín, and I’ve booked Cartagena–Medellín one-ways for 7,000 LifeMiles when cash prices were creeping toward $150. That’s the redemption that ties the two-city trip together: use Alaska to get to Cartagena, use LifeMiles to hop internally, then fly Avianca back to the U.S. out of Medellín.
Two more perks worth naming. Tons of quality redemptions, no fuel surcharges, no close-in booking fees — that “no fuel surcharges” line matters more than it sounds, because programs like British Airways will happily hit you with $400+ in fees on the same partner ticket LifeMiles books for taxes only. And LifeMiles uniquely allows mixed class bookings (for example, economy + business on the same ticket), which is rare and can provide exceptional value. On a multi-segment routing home, that’s a legitimate way to fly business on the long leg and economy on the puddle-jumper without paying the full business award rate.
Four Points by Sheraton Medellín: 12,000 Marriott Points a Night
The hotel side of a Colombia trip is where mid-tier points earners really win. Medellín has a small but meaningful stock of Marriott-branded properties, and the entry-level one — the Four Points by Sheraton Medellín — sits at Category 2 on the Bonvoy chart, which puts a standard-night award around 12,000 points and off-peak nights as low as 10,000. For a Marriott-branded hotel with a real pool, free breakfast, and a location plugged directly into the El Poblado neighborhood, that math is hard to beat.
The property itself is more resort-adjacent than the “Four Points” name implies. The Four Points Sheraton Medellin is located in the heart of the Poblado commercial and financial district, downtown Medellin. It offers spacious rooms, an outdoor pool, a hot tub, a massage room and a fitness center. The direct-connection to Oviedo Mall is the sleeper feature. A direct indoor connection links the hotel to Oviedo Mall for simple, secure access. That’s not nothing in a city where walking around with your phone out at night is not the move — being able to walk indoors from your hotel to grocery stores, restaurants, and a movie theater is genuinely useful.
The breakfast is included, and it’s not the token continental spread most Category 2 hotels get away with. Free Buffet Breakfast is available at Four Points by Sheraton Medellin during the following hours: Monday-Thursday 6:00 – 10:00 AM, and every review I’ve dug through mentions the buffet as a highlight — think tropical fruit, arepas, Colombian coffee, and made-to-order eggs. At current cash rates hovering around $130–180 per night for the Four Points, redeeming 12,000 Bonvoy points gets you well over 1.2 cents per point, which is above Marriott’s own published portal value.
If you want to step up the hotel side of the trip, the neighborhood also has the full Medellin Marriott. The Medellin Marriott Hotel is a Category 4 Marriott Bonvoy property, going for 20,000 to 30,000 points per night, depending on peak pricing. That’s still an excellent value against cash rates that regularly clear $300, and if you book five nights on points, the Bonvoy fifth-night-free benefit brings the effective rate down further. I’d pick the Four Points for a quick two-to-three-night stopover and the full Marriott for a longer stay where the extra square footage and upgraded gym actually get used.
For Cartagena, the Marriott footprint is smaller and pricier — the properties inside the walled city command peak-category rates during the November-March high season. If you’re flexible on brand, this is a route where cash rates on independent boutique hotels in Getsemaní frequently beat any point redemption on a per-value basis, especially if you can pair a Chase Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum benefit like a fourth-night-free credit through the issuer portal.
The Full Trip on Points: Real Numbers
Here is how the whole thing pencils out for a one-week trip from a U.S. gateway. This is the itinerary I’ve built for friends who are new to points but want their first meaningful international award experience:
| Segment | Program | Cost in Points | Typical Cash Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami → Cartagena (economy) | Alaska Atmos | 7,500 + ~$40 taxes | $220-380 |
| Cartagena → Medellín (economy) | Avianca LifeMiles | 7,000 + ~$20 taxes | $90-160 |
| 3 nights, Four Points Medellín | Marriott Bonvoy | ~36,000 points | $390-540 |
| Medellín → U.S. (economy) | Avianca LifeMiles | 12,500 + ~$90 taxes | $260-450 |
| Total | — | ~63,000 points + ~$150 | ~$960-1,530 |
At the bottom end of those cash prices, you’re getting roughly 1.3 cents per point — right around NerdWallet values Avianca LifeMiles at 1.3 cents each — and at the higher end you’re clearing 2.4 cents per point, which is genuinely excellent for a beginner-friendly trip. The taxes and fees ($150 total) are what surprise most first-timers. Colombia’s departure tax gets tacked onto the return leg, which is why the flight home costs more in points and taxes than the outbound.
If you want to compress the point spend further, you can skip the LifeMiles return and just book a cash return flight when you find a fare in the $150-200 range, which happens more often than you’d expect on the Medellín-to-Miami corridor. Under 20,000 total miles for both flights, plus $200 cash, gets you a lot of trip.
Timing, Weather, and the Case for Booking Now
Colombia’s peak tourist season runs from mid-December through mid-March, plus a smaller high-season pulse around Easter. If you’re trying to lock in the 7,500-point Alaska award, availability is measurably better outside those windows — April, May, September, and early November are the sweet spots I’ve had the most luck with. The weather is more consistent than most people expect: Cartagena is warm year-round (tropical Caribbean coast), and Medellín’s “eternal spring” reputation is real thanks to its altitude, hovering in the 60s-70s Fahrenheit almost every day.
On the entry side, the paperwork is minimal but not zero. U.S. citizens do not need a Colombian visa for tourism or business if staying for 90 days or less. The same applies to cumulative stays of 180 days or less per calendar year. What you do need is the Check-Mig form. Complete Colombia’s free Online Check-Mig Form between 1 and 72 hours before your flight. It’s genuinely free (any site charging you for it is a scam), takes about five minutes on the official Migración Colombia site, and airlines will ask for the confirmation at check-in. Your passport also needs to be valid for at least six months past your arrival date — the standard rule, but Colombia enforces it.
For anyone stitching this trip together with a partner or family, note that bundled flight + hotel packages sometimes undercut the à la carte cash equivalent by a meaningful margin, so it’s worth pricing that out for anyone in your group who doesn’t have the points to cover their own award. The award ticket rules for children are the same as adults — no discount — so a family of four looking at cash for two of the tickets is a common scenario.
One last timing note: if you’re planning to move Amex or Citi points to LifeMiles, watch for transfer bonuses. Capital One · United States➔ · ➔ · Avianca (LifeMiles) 100:115 · 15% transfer bonus through August 31, 2026 is a good example of the kind of promo that pops up on this pairing regularly. I’ve seen 20-25% bonuses from Amex to LifeMiles at least once a year, and stacking that on top of an already-solid redemption is how you push per-point value into premium territory. For a broader look at what’s active on any given month, our transfer bonus roundups track this month by month.
Which Points Currency Is Best for Colombia?
People new to the game always want to know the single “best” currency. For a Colombia trip specifically, I’d rank them roughly like this — but the honest answer is that flexibility beats loyalty here. Having a chunk of Amex or Bilt gives you the most options because they can hit all three of the main levers.
| Currency | Best Use for This Trip | Transfer To |
|---|---|---|
| Bilt Rewards | Alaska Atmos (Miami-Cartagena) or LifeMiles | Both, 1:1 |
| Amex Membership Rewards | LifeMiles for domestic + return | Avianca 1:1, Marriott 1:1 |
| Citi ThankYou | LifeMiles (often with transfer bonuses) | Avianca 1:1 |
| Capital One Miles | LifeMiles, especially with 15% bonus | Avianca 1:1 (or 1:1.15 with bonus) |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | Marriott hotel nights (via transfer) | Marriott 1:1 |
| Marriott Bonvoy | Four Points Medellín direct, or transfer to Alaska | Alaska 3:1 (with 5k bonus per 60k) |
The one program I’d specifically caution against for this trip is Chase Ultimate Rewards for the flights. Chase doesn’t partner with Alaska Atmos or Avianca LifeMiles, so your only path is transferring to a partner like United (which prices Cartagena higher) or spending points through the Chase Travel portal at 1.25-1.5 cents each. That’s fine, but it’s a worse value than any of the transferable-to-LifeMiles cards. Chase points are still great for the hotel side via Bonvoy transfer, or for cash rates on Colombia’s abundant supply of great independent hotels through the same portals you’d use for any other cash booking.
If you want to see how these transfer paths compare across other destinations, our writeup on booking award travel inside the last-minute booking window covers a lot of the same currency-selection logic — Colombia is one of the destinations where the same short-haul availability patterns hold up.
Which Card Is Right for You?
- Get the Bilt Mastercard if you rent your apartment and want a single card that transfers to both Alaska Atmos and Avianca LifeMiles at 1:1 — it’s the most efficient earn path for this exact trip
- Get the Amex Gold if you want fast Membership Rewards earning on dining and want to keep LifeMiles as your primary flight partner without committing to Alaska
- Get the Citi Strata Premier if you value the 3x on air travel and want ThankYou points that transfer to LifeMiles, often during a 20-25% transfer bonus window
- Get the Capital One Venture X if you want the Priority Pass for the Miami connection and a flexible currency that regularly gets 15%+ transfer bonuses to LifeMiles
- Skip Marriott’s premium co-brand if your main goal is Colombia — the Four Points at Category 2 is cheap enough that welcome-bonus Bonvoy points from any Amex/Chase transfer will cover multiple nights
Frequently Asked Questions
Do U.S. citizens need a visa to visit Colombia?
No visa is required for tourism or business stays of 90 days or less, with a cumulative maximum of 180 days per calendar year. You do need a passport valid for at least six months past your entry date, a completed Check-Mig form submitted 1-72 hours before your flight, and proof of onward travel. Colombia may deny entry without a return ticket, so book that before you fly.
How reliable is the 7,500-point Miami-Cartagena Alaska award?
Availability has been consistent throughout 2026 outside peak December-March holiday windows. The 7,500-point price is a starting rate, so it can price higher on high-demand dates, but the saver band opens frequently for shoulder-season travel. Search on flexible dates and check both American Airlines and Alaska metal — Atmos books both.
Can I transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to Avianca LifeMiles?
No. Avianca LifeMiles is not a Chase transfer partner. Your Chase-to-LifeMiles workarounds are limited: transfer Chase to Marriott Bonvoy at 1:1, then Marriott to Avianca at 3:1 — but the ratio makes this a poor value in almost every scenario. If Colombia is your goal, earn on a card that transfers directly to LifeMiles (Amex, Citi, Capital One, Bilt, or Wells Fargo) instead.
Is the Four Points Medellín better than the full Marriott?
For a points-first traveler, yes — the Four Points is Category 2 at roughly 10,000-15,000 points per night versus 20,000-30,000 for the Category 4 Medellin Marriott. The Four Points has a pool, breakfast included, and a direct indoor connection to Oviedo Mall. Book the full Marriott only if you want the more polished business-traveler experience and the higher-floor city views, and are staying five nights so you can use the fifth-night-free benefit.
What’s the best way to get from Cartagena to Medellín on points?
Avianca LifeMiles typically prices the CTG-MDE domestic segment at 7,000-8,000 points one-way. Cash fares are usually $90-150, so the point value is only okay unless you catch a peak-day cash spike. If you have Alaska points and can find American Airlines saver space through Bogotá, that’s another routing, but the direct Avianca flight is almost always the better use of your day.
Are there fuel surcharges on Avianca LifeMiles award tickets?
No. LifeMiles is one of the few Star Alliance award programs that does not pass fuel surcharges through to the passenger, so you’ll only pay government taxes and Colombia’s departure fee — usually well under $100 total on a round-trip. This is a real edge over programs like British Airways Avios, which will happily charge you $300+ on partner tickets even in economy.
How safe is Colombia for a first-time visitor using points?
Cartagena’s walled city and Medellín’s El Poblado neighborhood are both heavily touristed and generally straightforward for first-timers who take basic urban precautions — don’t flash phones or jewelry, use ride-hailing apps instead of hailing taxis at night, and stay in the main tourist zones after dark. Enrolling in the U.S. State Department’s STEP program is free and worth doing before any international trip. Check the current Colombia travel advisory before you book so you’re planning around the current guidance, not year-old assumptions.
Bottom Line
Colombia is the single best-value international award trip you can build from a beginner points balance right now. Fly Miami-Cartagena for 7,500 Alaska points, sleep at a Marriott Category 2 for 12,000 Bonvoy points a night, and use Avianca LifeMiles to fill in the gaps — with transfer partners across every major flexible currency you already earn. Book it if you have even a modest points stash and want your first international award trip to feel effortless, and lock in the Alaska award early because that specific 7,500-point rate is the anchor that makes the whole itinerary math work.
For deeper background on the programs powering this trip, see the official Colombia tourism board’s practical information page for entry rules and destination guides, and cross-check the U.S. Department of State’s Colombia travel advisory before you book. For a rundown of the flagship transatlantic redemption I’ve written up alongside this one, our American Airlines 777-200 Miami-Madrid business class review is a natural companion piece if you want to see how the same Miami gateway plays for premium-cabin awards further afield.
