ABOUT
Callejeros Tours is a tour operator situated in Santiago de Cali, Colombia. The company was founded in 2016 by Niels, a Dutch guy, and Vanessa, a Caleña/Colombiana. They are both very passionate about this city and want to share their love for Cali with its visitors. In between the two of them they have a lot of knowledge about the local culture, customs and history, and a unique perspective on how to create experiences for tourists from all over the globe. This results in the amazing tours we offer!
MISION
We create and give unique and sustainable tours that will make visitors enjoy and understand Cali better and bring them in contact with its friendly inhabitants. So that they leave with a different perspective of this amazing place and a smile on their face.
Enjoy and experience the unknown city: Cali!
VISION
Becoming Cali´s leading tour operator for international tourists, while helping locals and changing the perspective that visitors have of this city.
CORE COMPETENCES
We design our experiences keeping these competences in our mind:
Custom: everyone is different and has other needs.
Local: we work as much as possible with local companies for: accommodation, tours, food, etc. This way locals get a way to earn some money from tourism and our experiences will get a local vibe.
Sustainable: we know that flying to Colombia isn’t sustainable at all. That being said we try to make the rest of your trip as sustainably as possible. Whenever we can, we help to preserve nature and local culture, even though this is not always easy!
Honest: we show you how things really are. So you can really get to know Cali
Amazing: We do everything we can to make your trip as amazing as we possibly can.
Why we started Callejeros Tours in Cali, Colombia
We are Vanessa, from Cali, Colombia, and Niels, from the Netherlands. In 2010, Niels was traveling through South America for a year. His trip started in Argentina and he slowly made his way up to Colombia. When he arrived in Colombia he had about 3 months left to travel, before he ran out of money and needed to go back home. After a few days in the country he came to Cali, where he stayed for months.
Cali was the city where Vanessa lived. She worked an administrative job during the day and at night she studied accountancy in the university. In her free time, like a true Caleña, she loved to go out and dance Salsa and whenever her busy schedule allowed it, she explored the surroundings of Cali or other places in Colombia.
The two met in December during the Feria de Cali, the biggest event of the city, and this is where it all started. Niels moved to Cali en started working in a hostel, while Vanessa finished her study. When she got her diploma, they decided to travel through Central America for a few months and during this trip they got the idea to start Callejeros Tours. A big opportunity they thought. There were hardly any tour agencies focused on foreigners in the city and there is a lot to do and see in and around Cali. Even though the city had the image that you can only go and dance salsa there. They were going to prove all those people wrong and show people how amazing the place really is.