I did five days in Mexico City and had a great time sightseeing. Panama City is also great and Copa flies there nonstop from Dulles. Medellin and Cartagena are both interesting but 4 days is plenty in either city. For longer flights Buenos Aires is my favorite city in the world and Montivideo is also fun/interesting for 5 days. Finally, Quito would be a good 5 day trip.

Buenos Aires. We flew DCA to Miami and then changed planes to Buenos Aires on American. If you take first flight out of DCA in the morning, you can get to Miami in time to take the day flight to BA. This means you spend an entire day flying, you get into BA around 8pm (and they are 1hour ahead). Otherwise you have to take a red eye to get down there.

If you take the day flight, you land and may be tired but will still have time to reach hotel or air b n b, and get dinner out (they eat very late there). Then go to bed and hit the day running in the next morning. So for ex, we left on a Thursday morning, flew all day, landed Thursday night, ate dinner out, went to bed, no jet lag or overnight flight. spent Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday doing activities and flew back Tuesday (on a red eye, there isn’t any other option).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there direct flights to Costa Rica?

On Southwest maybe?

Yes, Southwest has non-stops from BWI to the capital, San Jose, and to Liberia near the Pacific coast. But they only run on Saturdays, so wouldn't work for a long weekend.

Panama City would be my recommendation

Anonymous wrote:Are there direct flights to Costa Rica?

On Southwest maybe?

Also not in Central America, but Oaxaca is a lovely city with museums, near-by Maya ruins, and historical sites. Good food and good shopping, too.

In terms of Central America, I would recommend Guatemala. Antigua is approximately an hour from Guatemala City and offers lots of historical/cultural sites and museums. There are outfitters who do biking and hiking trips nearby, or with more time you could get to more remote hiking spots.

I have done amazing hiking/backpacking in Peru, Chile and Argentina. But those are longer trips -- longer flights, and then further flights or overland travel to get to your jumping off point. On the bright side, you don't have a significant time zone change to contend with, though!

Are there direct flights to Costa Rica?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mexico City of course!!!!

Most other cities in central America are not for travelers.

Cartagena for a long weekend is doable and also an amazing place. you could possibly also do Bogota. most other cities in South America are really too far for a long weekend- but Lima is def on the list of cities to see, as well as Quito, La Paz, Buenos Aires and Rio.

Mexico City is not in Central America. And don't listen to this person. There are plenty of amazing destinations in Central America that appeal to travelers.

Not PP, but even though Mexico City is not in Central America, I think it otherwise meets OP's criteria!

Except for the scuba diving and paddle boarding of course!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mexico City of course!!!!

Most other cities in central America are not for travelers.

Cartagena for a long weekend is doable and also an amazing place. you could possibly also do Bogota. most other cities in South America are really too far for a long weekend- but Lima is def on the list of cities to see, as well as Quito, La Paz, Buenos Aires and Rio.

Mexico City is not in Central America. And don't listen to this person. There are plenty of amazing destinations in Central America that appeal to travelers.

Not PP, but even though Mexico City is not in Central America, I think it otherwise meets OP's criteria!

Panama City is very easy, though not cheap. I am a gringo, had no concerns at all about walking the business area and the Causeway. Historic district used to be dangerous at night, but lots of revitalization going on there and it's definitely worth a visit in the day.

Anonymous wrote:Mexico City of course!!!!

Most other cities in central America are not for travelers.

Cartagena for a long weekend is doable and also an amazing place. you could possibly also do Bogota. most other cities in South America are really too far for a long weekend- but Lima is def on the list of cities to see, as well as Quito, La Paz, Buenos Aires and Rio.

Bogota would be a better choice than Cartagena because there is a direct flight from Dulles. No direct flight to Cartagena, which is overrun with cruise ship passengers anyway.

Anonymous wrote:Mexico City of course!!!!

Most other cities in central America are not for travelers.

Cartagena for a long weekend is doable and also an amazing place. you could possibly also do Bogota. most other cities in South America are really too far for a long weekend- but Lima is def on the list of cities to see, as well as Quito, La Paz, Buenos Aires and Rio.

Mexico City is not in Central America. And don't listen to this person. There are plenty of amazing destinations in Central America that appeal to travelers.

Panama!

Mexico City of course!!!!

Most other cities in central America are not for travelers.

Cartagena for a long weekend is doable and also an amazing place. you could possibly also do Bogota. most other cities in South America are really too far for a long weekend- but Lima is def on the list of cities to see, as well as Quito, La Paz, Buenos Aires and Rio.

We've always looked towards Europe for our vacations, but recently I went to South America (Chile) and realized we've been overlooking a whole continent!
It's hard to get a lot of vacation time/child care so we were hoping to find a place we could go for a long weekend (5 days total or less.)

We like to look at historical sites, churches, and museums. We are fairly active and would especially enjoy hikes. My husband likes to SCUBA dive, but I've never been and don't have an interest. I have never been paddle boarding, but would like to try--so somewhere that I could paddle board while he does SCUBA would be awesome, but not a "must."

Since we have such little time, we'd prefer a direct flight (we are open to flying out of DCA, IAD, BWI, or possibly even PHL) or a VERY easy/low stress connection.

We are definitely not looking for a resort where you lounge on the beach and drink lots of alcohol type of trip.

Any recommendations? Thanks!