Colombia travel guides, city by city

Quick answer · where to go in Colombia

First trips pair Cartagena on the Caribbean with Medellín and the coffee towns behind it, then add Bogotá for the museums and the cooking. Repeat visitors head for Santa Marta and the Sierra Nevada, the Pacific coast at Nuquí, or the Amazon at Leticia. The dry windows are December to March and July to August.

All regions Caribbean coast Andean region Coffee region Pacific coast Amazon Llanos

Jump to City guides Fun fact Stereotypes Famous Colombians Food FAQ

4 Colombia city guides

Sorted by what travelers are saving this month.

Fun fact

One number worth knowing

Colombia is the only country in South America with coastlines on both the Caribbean and the Pacific, and the only one that borders both Panama and Brazil.

Stereotypes, sorted out

The clichés you have heard, what is actually true, and how to fit in.

"Colombia is too dangerous to visit"

The realityThe country in the headlines is the one of the 1990s. The travelled circuit is busy with visitors now, and the local rule is the one to follow: no dar papaya, do not hand anyone an opening. Keep your phone out of sight on the street and book cars through an app after dark.

"It is all Pablo Escobar and cocaine"

The realityMedellín has spent three decades rebuilding, and most people there find narco tourism tasteless. Comuna 13 is worth your time when the story is told by the people who lived it, which is what the neighbourhood guides do.

"The whole country is hot"

The realityAltitude sets the temperature here, not latitude. Bogotá at 2,640 metres needs a jacket every evening of the year, Medellín holds spring all twelve months, and Cartagena never cools down.

"The coffee is easy to find"

The realityThe best lots were exported for decades and the default cup was a thin, sweet tinto. That has changed. Specialty roasters in Bogotá, Medellín and the coffee towns now keep the good beans at home, but you have to ask for a filter rather than take what arrives.

Narco toursCoffee on every cornerSalsa in CaliVallenato at full volumeEmeralds in every windowMagical realismAguardiente at every party

Cultural notes that actually help

Greet before you ask. Buenos días comes first, then the question, and the answer is warmer for it.
Usted is the safe default with strangers and anyone older. Tú and vos come once you know people.
Restaurants ask whether to add the 10% propina before printing the bill. Yes and no are both normal answers.
The menú del día is the best-value lunch in the country: soup, a main and a juice, served from around midday.
Altitude is real in Bogotá. Give the first day a slow start and go easy on the aguardiente.
Sunday in Bogotá belongs to the ciclovía, when main roads close to cars and fill with bicycles.

Famous Colombian faces

The names behind Colombia’s literature, music, sport, art, politics, screen, science and food. Pick a field.

Gabriel García Márquez

Novelist of One Hundred Years of Solitude, Nobel laureate in Literature in 1982

Shakira

Singer and songwriter from Barranquilla, the country’s biggest musical export

Fernando Botero

Painter and sculptor whose swollen figures stand in plazas around the world

Egan Bernal

First Colombian to win the Tour de France, in 2019

Sofía Vergara

Barranquilla-born actor and producer, best known for Modern Family

Juan Manuel Santos

President who signed the 2016 peace accord and won that year’s Nobel Peace Prize

Karol G

Medellín singer and one of the biggest names in reggaetón

Mariana Pajón

Double Olympic BMX champion, London 2012 and Rio 2016

Álvaro Mutis

Poet and novelist, creator of the wandering sailor Maqroll el Gaviero

Laura Restrepo

Novelist and journalist who writes the conflict from the inside

Carlos Vives

Singer who carried vallenato off the Caribbean coast and onto world stages

Totó la Momposina

Singer who brought the Afro-Colombian rhythms of the Magdalena to the concert hall

J Balvin

Medellín artist who helped make reggaetón a global default

James Rodríguez

Playmaker who won the Golden Boot at the 2014 World Cup

Nairo Quintana

Climber who won the Giro d’Italia in 2014 and the Vuelta a España in 2016

Radamel Falcao

Striker and long-serving captain of the national team

Doris Salcedo

Sculptor who cut a 167-metre crack into the floor of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall

Débora Arango

Painter who put Colombian politics and the female body on canvas long before it was welcome

Policarpa Salavarrieta

Seamstress and spy for the independence movement, executed by the Spanish in 1817

Francisco de Paula Santander

General and president, remembered as the man of laws of the young republic

Catalina Sandino Moreno

Actor nominated for an Academy Award for Maria Full of Grace

Ciro Guerra

Director of Embrace of the Serpent, the first Colombian film nominated for an Oscar

Rodolfo Llinás

Neuroscientist whose work on the brain’s electrical rhythms shaped modern neurology

Manuel Elkin Patarroyo

Immunologist behind the first synthetic vaccine candidate against malaria

Leonor Espinosa

Bogotá chef named the World’s Best Female Chef in 2022

Must-try Colombian food

The classics, then what each region is known for. Pick a category.

Arepa

Grilled corn cake. Plain on the coast, split and buttered inland, stuffed everywhere.

Empanada

Fried corn pastry of potato and beef, dipped in ají.

Sancocho

The weekend soup: chicken, beef or fish simmered with yuca, plantain and corn.

Patacón

Green plantain smashed and fried twice, a side or a plate in its own right.

Ajiaco

Bogotá’s soup of chicken and three potatoes, finished with capers and cream.

Changua

Milk and egg broth, the highland breakfast around Boyacá.

Tamal tolimense

Rice, pork and chicken steamed in a banana leaf and opened at Sunday breakfast.

Hormigas culonas

Toasted leafcutter ants from Santander, eaten by the handful in season.

Chocolate santafereño

Hot chocolate with a wedge of fresh cheese dropped in to melt.

Bandeja paisa

The Antioquian platter: beans, rice, chicharrón, chorizo, egg, avocado and plantain.

Mondongo

Slow-cooked tripe soup, the Medellín answer to a long night.

Arepa de huevo

Corn arepa fried with a whole egg inside, sold from carts before dawn.

Arroz con coco

Rice cooked in coconut milk until it caramelises, the coast’s default side.

Mote de queso

Yam and salted cheese soup from Sucre and Córdoba.

Posta cartagenera

Beef braised dark and sweet in panela, Cartagena’s Sunday roast.

Encocado de pescado

Chocó fish stewed in coconut milk with the herbs of the Pacific coast.

Pandebono

Cheese and cassava bread, best eaten within ten minutes of the oven.

Almojábana

Soft cheese roll from the Andean bakeries, sold beside the pandebono.

Buñuelo

Fried ball of cheese dough, round and light, and everywhere at Christmas.

Obleas

Two thin wafers glued with arequipe, built to order at a street cart.

Arequipe

The local caramel, spooned onto everything from wafers to bread.

Tinto

Small black coffee, offered constantly and rarely refused.

Aguapanela con limón

Melted cane sugar and lime, drunk hot for a cold and cold for the heat.

Lulada

Crushed lulo, sharp and iced, the Cali answer to an afternoon.

Refajo

Beer cut with Colombiana soda, the standard party pour.

Aguardiente

Anise spirit, sold by the bottle and drunk in small shots.

Colombia travel FAQ

Is Colombia safe to travel in?+

The main circuit is well travelled and the usual city rules cover most of it: keep your phone away on the street, book cars through an app at night, and do not walk unfamiliar neighbourhoods after dark. Colombians call it no dar papaya, giving nobody an opening. Some border and rural areas remain off limits, so check your government’s current advice before fixing a route.

How many days do you need in Colombia?+

Ten to fourteen days covers two regions properly: the Caribbean coast around Cartagena and Santa Marta, then Medellín with the coffee towns, or Bogotá with Boyacá. A week means one region. The Amazon and the Pacific are each a trip of their own.

When is the best time to visit Colombia?+

December to March is the long dry season and the one most people book, with a shorter dry spell in July and August. December and early January are also the domestic holiday peak, so prices climb and the coast fills. February and July give you the same weather with more room.

Do you need a visa for Colombia?+

Citizens of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the EU enter without a visa for up to 90 days, extendable to a maximum of 180 days in a calendar year through Migración Colombia. Fill the free Check-Mig form online in the days before you fly, and confirm the rules for your own passport.

Is it easy to get around Colombia?+

Between regions, fly. Three Andean ranges turn most cross-country drives into a full day or more, and domestic flights are frequent and cheap. Buses are good for short hops and for the coffee region, where the distances are small and the roads are the point.

Do you need to speak Spanish in Colombia?+

Outside hotel desks, tour operators and parts of Cartagena and Medellín, English is limited. Colombian Spanish is famously clear, which makes it a good place to use what you have. A dozen words of it changes how the trip goes.

Top 10s across Colombia