Highlights
Cartagena
A Caribbean port with a walled old town of colourful balconies, plazas and churches, guarded by the huge San Felipe fortress. The Getsemaní neighbourhood has street art and nightlife, and boats leave for the beaches and coral of the Rosario Islands.
The Coffee Region and Cocora Valley
Green hills of coffee farms around Salento, Filandia and Manizales, where you can tour a finca and taste the harvest. The nearby Cocora Valley is home to the Quindío wax palm, the national tree, which can grow taller than any other palm.
Medellín
A city in a valley, linked by a metro and cable cars that climb the hillsides. Comuna 13's escalators and street art, the Botero sculptures in Plaza Botero and day trips to the giant rock of El Peñol near Guatapé are the favourites.
Bogotá
The high-altitude capital has the historic La Candelaria district, the Gold Museum with its collection of pre-Hispanic gold, the Botero Museum, and Monserrate, a mountain reached by cable car or funicular with views across the city.
Ciudad Perdida (the Lost City)
A multi-day guided trek through the jungle of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to the terraces of an ancient Tayrona city, built centuries before Machu Picchu and rediscovered in the 1970s. Expect river crossings, heat and mud.
Tayrona National Park
Beaches backed by jungle and boulders on the Caribbean coast near Santa Marta, reached by walking trails. Some beaches are too rough for swimming, so follow the signs. The park closes for some periods each year for environmental and cultural reasons.
Villa de Leyva
A colonial town of whitewashed houses and one of the largest cobbled squares in South America, a few hours from Bogotá. Fossils, wineries and desert-like landscapes surround it.
Caño Cristales
A river in the Serranía de la Macarena whose bed turns red, yellow and green when aquatic plants bloom, usually in the second half of the year. Visits are by guided tour only and depend on the season.
Interesting facts about Colombia
- Colombia is the only country in South America with coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
- The country has more recorded bird species than any other in the world.
- The Quindío wax palm, Colombia's national tree, is the tallest palm species in the world.
- Bogotá's Gold Museum holds tens of thousands of pre-Hispanic gold objects, and the legend of El Dorado grew from a ritual at Lake Guatavita near the city.
- The Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel García Márquez grew up on Colombia's Caribbean coast, which inspired the town of Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Best time to visit
Colombia is close to the equator, so temperatures depend on altitude rather than season: hot on the coasts, mild in Medellín and the Coffee Region, and cool in Bogotá. The drier months in much of the Andes are roughly December to March and July to August, which are also busy holiday periods for Colombians. The Caribbean coast is driest from December to April. Rain is possible year-round, and the wetter months make jungle treks such as Ciudad Perdida muddier.
Practical information
| Capital | Bogotá |
|---|---|
| Currency | Colombian peso (COP) |
| Languages | Spanish |
| Plugs | Type A, B |
| Voltage | 110–120 V, 60 Hz |
| Emergency | 123 for all emergencies |
| Driving | On the right |
| Tipping | Restaurants often add a voluntary service charge (propina voluntaria) to the bill; you can accept or decline it. Tipping guides on tours is customary. |
Getting around
Mountain roads make bus journeys slow, so domestic flights are the practical way to cover longer distances, for example between Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena and Santa Marta. Long-distance buses and minibuses are frequent and good value for shorter trips. Medellín has an efficient metro and cable car system, and Bogotá relies on the TransMilenio bus network. In cities, use ride-hailing apps or official taxis rather than hailing cars on the street at night.
Staying connected in Colombia
Mobile coverage is good in cities and towns and along main roads, with 4G widely available. Signal is weak or missing in the Amazon, on parts of the Pacific coast, on the Ciudad Perdida trek, in Tayrona's more remote corners and in some mountain areas. Hotels, hostels and cafés usually have Wi-Fi. Keep your phone out of sight on busy streets, download offline maps, install an eSIM before you fly and switch it on when you land.
See Colombia eSIM plans · How to install an eSIM
Useful apps for Colombia
- Uber: Widely used in Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena and other cities.
- DiDi: Another popular ride-hailing app across Colombian cities.
- Rappi: A Colombian delivery app for food, groceries and pharmacy items.
- Google Maps: Directions and public transport routes; download offline areas before treks and rural trips.
- WhatsApp: The standard way to contact hotels, guides and tour operators.