TRAVEL ESSENTIALS

Costs

Daily budget Basic US$50, occasional treat US$90 Drink Fresh fruit juice US$2 Food Pargo frito con arroz con coco (fried snapper with coconut rice) US$8 Hostel/budget hotel US$20/40 Travel Bogotá–Cartagena bus (663km; 19hr) US$75

Crime and personal safety

Colombia today is far safer and more accessible than it has been in decades. That said, pockets of guerrilla activity remain in remote parts of the country, particularly the jungle – a haven for drug-running activities – both by the rebels and particularly by the paramilitary groups who have the tacit support of the government, and who have been criticized for using techniques as dirty as those employed by the rebels. The FARC have renounced kidnappings for financial or political ends, but it remains to be seen whether they’ll remain true to their word. Although, reassuringly, tourists have not been targeted specifically in the country’s civil war, certain areas should still be avoided, including the Chocó, parts of Nariño, Putumayo, Meta, Arauca and rural parts of Cauca. Most guerrilla/paramilitary activity is confined to rural areas near the border with Panama and Venezuela. However, it’s imperative that you stay abreast of current events: for up-to-date travel advice check http://www.travel.state.gov or http://www.gov.uk/fco.

Violent crime does exist, particularly in poor neighbourhoods of the big cities, but visitors are far more likely to encounter pickpockets, so keep a sharp eye on your belongings. Beware of scams – such as criminals posing as plain-clothes policemen and asking to inspect your passport and money, allegedly in search of counterfeit notes, which they then confiscate. Counterfeit notes do exist, so ask locals how to identify them.

When out and about, take only as much cash as you need for the outing, and leave the rest (as well as your passport) in a safe in your lodgings. Always carry a photocopy of your passport with you – the main page and the page with your entry stamp. Local police have a mixed reputation for corruption.

Drugs are widely available in Colombia, cocaine and marijuana in particular. Possession of either is illegal and could result in a prison sentence, and being caught with drugs while trying to cross a border can have serious consequences. If you do decide to take drugs, be very careful: they are much stronger than in Europe and the US. Do not accept drinks, snacks or cigarettes from strangers as there have been reports of these being spiked with the tasteless and smell-free drug burundanga, or “zombie drug”, that leaves victims conscious but incapacitated and susceptible to robbery and rape.

Emergencies

Police/ambulance/fire 123

Entry requirements

A passport and onward ticket are the sole entry requirements for nationals of most of Western European countries, Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Upon arrival, all visitors receive an entry stamp in their passports, usually for sixty days. You can request up to ninety days but this is rarely granted. Double-check the stamp straightaway for errors. Make sure you get an entry stamp if coming in overland and that you get a departure stamp upon exiting to avoid trouble.

Thirty-day extensions cost COP$72,350 and can be obtained at the former DAS (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad) offices from the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (http://www.cancilleria.gov.co). You’ll need two passport photos with a white background, copies of your passport and entry stamp as well as the original, and an onward ticket.

Health

Vaccinations against hepatitis A, hepatitis B and typhoid are strongly recommended and rabies should also be considered; consult a travel health clinic weeks in advance. Vaccinations against yellow fever are necessary if visiting coastal national parks; some countries, such as Australia and Brazil, will not let you into the country without a yellow fever certificate if you’re travelling directly from Colombia. Insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever are present, particularly in the Amazonas, Chocó, Antioquia, Córdoba, Bolívar, Putomayo and Atlántico departments – bring plenty of mosquito repellent (50 percent DEET, unavailable in Colombia) and cover up with long sleeves and trousers. Altitude sickness (soroche) may affect travellers at altitudes over 2500m, including those flying directly to Bogotá – take time to acclimatize before continuing your journey, drink plenty of water and avoid alcohol.

Colombia offers some of the best healthcare in South America; all major cities have hospitals, while in rural areas healthcare is more difficult to come by. In the case of serious health issues, you may be transferred to a larger hospital with more specialized doctors and facilities.

Information

Despite the significant rise in tourism to Colombia in recent years, the practical information available at tourist offices is often rudimentary. Almost every town has a tourist office, although their staff often don’t speak English, and hostels are often much more useful for gathering information.

In Colombia, the annually updated (Spanish only) Guía de Rutas, sold at tollbooths and some tourist offices, has excellent maps, as well as potential road-trip routes and extensive local listings.
colombiareports.com Latest news, sports, culture and travel in English.
colombia.travel Colombia’s official tourism site, with plenty of photos, good background and some practical information.
hosteltrail.com/colombia Budget accommodation and local attractions.
parquesnacionales.gov.co Portal to Colombia’s national parks.

Internet

Internet cafés can be found even in small towns (from COP$3000/hr), and free wi-fi spots are becoming easier to find.

Mail

Sending a postcard or a letter abroad can be done for COP$5500–6500 from almost anywhere in the country, using the efficient 4-72 (4-72.com.co). Packages are best sent via private companies such as Avianca (aviancaexpress.com) and Deprisa (deprisa.com).

Money and banks

Colombia’s national currency is the peso (COP), divided into 100 centavos. Coins are for 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 pesos and notes for 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 pesos. At the time of writing, rates were: US$1=COP$1800; £1=COP$2700; €1=COP$2300.

Changing large notes can be problematic outside big cities.

ATMs are plentiful, with at least one even in small towns. For changing money, casas de cambio offer slightly better rates, have more flexible hours and provide quicker service than most banks. Travellers’ cheques can also be exchanged at casas de cambios and banks, but few businesses accept them. Using moneychangers on the street is not recommended.

Opening hours

Shops are open 8am until 6pm, Monday to Friday. Many businesses also often open on Saturdays until mid-afternoon. Outside Bogotá many businesses close at noon for a two- or three-hour siesta. Commercial hours in cities in warmer areas such as Cali often get started and end earlier. Government offices often follow the same pattern. Banks open around 9am and close at 4pm. Casas de cambio stay open later.

Phones

The three major mobile phone networks are Movistar, Claro and Tigo, and it’s inexpensive to purchase a local mobile phone: a basic handset will set you back around COP$50,000–60,000; if you have an unlocked phone, a SIM card will set your back around COP$12,000, with around COP$5000 worth of credit, with top-up credits sold in every corner shop. However, it’s cheapest to make domestic long-distance calls using the mobile phones in corner stores that buy minutes in bulk (look for the word “minutos”). Call centres (telecentros) allow you to make inexpensive calls both to local numbers and abroad, though Skype is by far the cheapest way to go, given the proliferation of free wi-fi.

 

CULTURE AND ETIQUETTE

In Colombia you will notice a great disparity between the wealthiest members of society – who live a lifestyle akin to that of their counterparts in Europe’s capitals – and the rest of the population: the poor city residents who live in dangerous neighbourhoods, and below them on the poverty scale the rural poor, particularly those who live in isolated areas where armed conflict still goes on.

When interacting with Colombians, Westerners will note that sincerity in expression, often expressed via good eye contact, is valued more highly than the typical steady stream of pleases and thank-yous.

Tipping ten percent at mid-range restaurants is the norm; some establishments will ask you if you’d like for the tip to be included when you ask for the bill, while some add it on automatically. For short taxi trips, round up to the nearest thousand pesos.

The machismo often ascribed to Latin American culture is present in Colombia, though a significant number (around 30 percent) of politicians and diplomats are female. The country’s Catholic roots run quite deep and are apparent in sexual attitudes among both men and women, though there is some flexibility – and contradiction – in views toward gender and sexual orientation.

 

LOCAL SLANG

Colombians take much joy in their particular style of linguistic acrobatics and slang. Colombians freely convert verbs to nouns and vice versa, so take each word as a fluid concept.

Un camello

(n), camellar (v) Work, or working. A good way to refer to a particularly trying task.

La/una chimba

(adj) Used to describe a situation or thing that is wonderful. Roughly synonymous with the youthful American usage of “awesome”. Variations include “Qué chimba!” (“Nice!”).

Chucha

(n) Body odour. A crass but still useable term.

Elegante

(adj) “Cool”, loosely. Used to describe the subset of cool things – or happenings – that’s particularly classy, well executed or elegant. Think football passes or a good outfit. Chevere and bacán are other words for “cool”.

Paila

(adj) “That really sucks”. Used in response to a comment or situation that’s aggressively bad or heavy.

Perico

(n) Cocaine. Regional translations include scrambled eggs, coffee with milk or (as here) a parakeet.

Al pelo

(adj) Common response to a question like “How was your day?” that means “Good!” or “Perfect!”

SPORTS AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Adrenaline junkies might hyperventilate when they discover Colombia. From almost every vantage point there’s a snowcapped peak to climb, an untamed river to ride or some sunken coral reef to explore.

Colombia’s waters are a good (and cheap) place to learn to scuba dive. All along its 3000km of coastline, but especially around Santa Marta and Taganga, and also on the islands of San Andres and Providencia – home to the world’s third-largest barrier reef – operators offer week-long PADI certification courses for around COP$650,000. Be sure to enquire about the reputation of dive operators before signing up, check their PADI or NAUI accreditation, the instructor-to-student ratio and ask for recommendations from other divers. Snorkelling is also particularly good on the islands.

There is a concentration of Class II–IV rapids among the many rivers in the departamento of Santander – three intersect near San Gil – that offer some spectacular challenges to white-water rafting enthusiasts, while the river near San Agustin gives you a somewhat tamer ride.

Hiking in Colombia is second to none: there are demanding week-long adventures in Parque Nacional de Cocuy, jungle treks to the spectacular ruins of Ciudad Perdida, and shorter but no less attractive rambles around Manizales and Salento in coffee country.

Football is the national sport and Colombians have a reputation for being some of South America’s most skilled players. Cycling is also a common passion – the mountainous land here is made for rugged biking – and Colombians regularly compete in the Tour de Franc

FOOD AND DRINK

Whether it’s a platter full of starch or a suckling pig stuffed with rice, Colombian food is anything but light. Breakfast usually consists of huevos pericos, scrambled eggs with onion and tomatoes, accompanied by a fried maize pancake (arepa) stuffed with chopped pork, rice, potatoes and more. The midday almuerzo or comida corriente consists of soup, a main course and dessert. Dinners, after 6pm, also tend to involve meat or fish.

In Bogotá and other major cities there is an excellent array of Western and international cuisine.

Local specialities

Each region in Colombia has its own local speciality. The national dish is the bandeja paisa – an enormous platter of ground beef, chorizo, beans (frijoles), rice, fried banana (plátano), a fried egg, avocado and fried pork – usually found at inexpensive market stalls (fondas).

In rural areas, vegetarians will be hard-pressed for options, but in medium and large cities you can find a decent spread of vegetarian dishes.

Other Colombian favourites include ajiaco (a thick chicken stew replete with vegetables, maize, three types of potato, cream, capers and sometimes avocado), and mazamorra (a similar meat and vegetable soup but with beans and corn flour). Both are often served with patacón, a mashed and heavily salted cake of fried plantain.

More unusual regional specialities include hormigas culonas – fried giant ants, found in the Santander area. In Cali and southern Colombia, grilled guinea pig, known as cuy or curí, sometimes crops up on the menu. The coast is renowned for its fish and shellfish, served with aromatic arroz con coco, slightly sweet rice with caramelized coconut, while the Amazon is known for its unusual and delicious fish. The islands of San Andrés and Providencia specialize in locally caught crab dishes and lobster.

Drinking

Though Colombia used to export its best coffee, demand from travellers has led to a proliferation of Juan Valdéz café branches; good coffee is now available in other establishments as well, though the majority of Colombians still drink heavily sugared, watered-down black coffee (tinto).

If there’s one thing you’ll pine for when you’ve returned home it’s Colombia’s exotic variety of fresh fruit juices. Some are completely foreign to Western palates and lack English translations. Worth trying are guanábana, lulo, mango, feijoa, maracuyá, mora and guayaba.

Beer is reasonably good and inexpensive (try light, fizzy lagers like Dorado, Club and Aguila). Far more popular among locals is the anise-flavoured aguardiente, pure grain alcohol, and rum (ron), both of which are drunk neat. Brave souls won’t want to pass up any offer to try chicha, a frothy drink, often prepared with maize or yucca, found in rural areas and made with the fermenting enzyme found in saliva: pieces of the peeled root are chewed, spat into a bowl and the juice is left to ferment.

ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation ranges considerably, but given the country’s relative prosperity you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the bargains available. Backpacker hostels are prolific, particularly in larger cities such as Bogotá, Medellín, Cali and Santa Marta, and prices start at around COP$19,000 for dorms and COP$43,000 for double rooms. Comfortable beds, shared kitchens, free wi-fi, book exchanges, laundry, cable TV and stacks of DVDs are common, and hostels are often the best places to find out about local attractions; some rent bicycles and even horses. Guesthouses rarely cost more than COP$70,000 for a double room with private bathroom.

Camping is an option in some rural areas and national parks, particularly Parque Nacional Tayrona on the Caribbean coast and Parque Nacional Cocuy in the highlands. Be aware that many campsites don’t rent tents (or rent substandard ones), so it’s best to bring your own if you plan to camp regularly. If you hike to the Ciudad Perdida you’ll get to sleep in hammocks with mosquito nets.

In the coffee-growing region, you can stay on one of the stately fincas, coffee-growing plantations that have barely changed over the decades. Though these farms range from tiny to sleek, modernized operations, the majority are small estates that offer comfortable accommodation for a moderate price (COP$25,000–45,000 per room). Meals prepared from locally grown food as well as numerous outdoor activities, like farm tours and horseriding, are often included or available.

GETTING AROUND

Colombia’s generally reliable and numerous buses are your best bet for intercity travel, though increased competition between domestic airlines means that air travel is frequently only slightly more expensive than travel by bus and far faster and more comfortable.

By bus, pick-up truck and jeep

With buses, the wide range of options in comfort and quality is compounded by the size and diversity of the country; it’s a good idea to shop around at different companies’ kiosks within larger stations. Generally, the larger, long-distance buses have reclining seats, toilets, loud cheesy music and videos; wear warm clothing as air conditioning is guaranteed to be arctic. Some recommended companies are: Expreso Bolívariano (bolivariano.com.co), Expreso Brasilia ( expresobrasilia.com), Expreso Palmira (w expresopalmira.com.co), Berlinas (http://www.berlinasdelfonce.com), Copetran (copetran.com.co) and Flota Magdalena (flotamagdalena.com), though different companies cover different parts of the country. Long-distance buses tend to stop at requisas (military checkpoints), sometimes at night; the soldiers sometimes search everyone’s possessions and make everyone disembark and show their ID. Each city has a terminal de buses (bus terminal) where the intercity buses arrive; Bogotá has more than one.

For shorter trips, you’re better off sacrificing comfort and price for speed by buying a ticket on a buseta, colectivo or any similarly sized minibus or minivan that departs when full. If you don’t want to be waiting around for ages, don’t hand over your luggage or pay unless you can see that a bus is nearly full and ready to depart.

In the coffee-growing areas in particular, the most common mode of transport is the hardy Willy jeeps, with two rows of seats in the covered interior and more passengers clinging to the back. These tend to be inexpensive, but the ride can be bumpy and you are squeezed in with mounds of luggage.

By plane

There are more than half a dozen domestic airlines. Avianca (avianca.com) serves the greatest number of domestic destinations. Copa (copaair.com), the second-largest airline, covers largely the same destinations and flies to San Andres. Satena (satena.com) offers flights to the Amazon, the Pacific coast and between San Andrés and Providencia.

Budget carrier EasyFly (easyfly.com.co) serves Bogotá, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Medellín and Santa Marta; Lan (lan.com) flies to all the major cities as well as smaller regional destinations, while new VivaColombia (vivacolombia.co) is the only one to connect Medellín directly to Santa Marta.

Booking in advance doesn’t necessarily guarantee a low fare (except during Semana Santa). A one-way fare between Santa Marta and Bogotá purchased a day – or a month – in advance costs about COP$120,000–155,000 (in high season).

 

GETTING THERE

Colombia’s biggest international airport is Bogatá’s Aeropuerto Internacional El Dorado (http://www.elnuevodorado.com). Direct services from Europe to Bogotá are offered by Iberia (Madrid and Barcelona), Air France/KLM (Paris), Avianca (Barcelona and Paris) and Lufthansa (Frankfurt). Avianca also operates flights from Madrid to Cali and Medellín.

In North America, Air Canada connects Toronto to Bogotá, Lan and American Airlines connect Bogotá with Miami, while Delta links Bogotá with New York, Chicago and Atlanta, and Jet Blue flies to Bogotá from Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. It’s also possible to fly from Miami directly to Santa Marta, Cartagena and Medellín.

In South and Central America, Lan links Bogotá with Lima, Santiago and Quito; Copa offers regular flights from the capital to Panama City, and Tam links the capital to São Paulo. Avianca also flies to Buenos Aires, Caracas, Guayaquil, Lima, Mexico City, Panama City, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago (Chile) and São Paulo.

Overland from Ecuador and Venezuela

Frequent bus services cross Colombia’s borders into neighbouring Venezuela and Ecuador, though there can be security issues with both borders, so check in advance. Ormeño buses cover several international routes to and from Bogotá, including Quito, Caracas and Lima.

There are three main overland border crossings with Venezuela, the most popular being Cúcuta–San Antonio/San Cristóbal. The Maicao–Maracaibo crossing at Paraguachón is useful if you are travelling directly to or from Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Expreso Brasilia (expresobrasilia.com) operates a coastal bus service between Cartagena, via Barranquilla and Santa Marta, which passes through Maicao in the remote Guajira Peninsula to Maracaibo (1 daily at 7am; 20hr; COP$220,000).

The Panamerican Highway runs south into Ecuador, with the Ipiales–Tulcán crossing being the most popular and straightforward, though slow.

There is no overland crossing between Colombia and Panama due to the presence of drug traffickers, paramilitaries and smugglers, and the threat of kidnapping in the Darién Gap.

By boat to/from Brazil, Peru and Panama

From the Amazon region it’s possible to cross to or from Colombia into Manaus, Brazil, and Iquitos, Peru, by taking a riverboat.

From Cartagena, adventurous travellers with plenty of time on their hands can take a sailboat to Puerto Lindo or Colón in Panama via the remote tropical islands of the San Blas archipelago. Trips take four to five days and cost around COP$750,000 per person. Rough seas can make travelling between November and February dangerous.

WHEN TO GO

Colombia’s proximity to the equator keeps regional temperatures stable throughout the year, around 24°C (75°F) along the coast and 7–17°C (45–63°F) as you move higher inland. However, rainfall does vary with the seasons. In the Andean region there are two dry and two wet seasons per year, the driest months being from December to March and July to August. In low-lying areas, especially southern Colombia, rainfall is more constant but showers never last very long. The Amazon climate is uniformly wet the entire year. Bear in mind that the most intense tourist seasons, with the highest prices, are from December to February and Semana Santa (Easter Week), the week before Easter.

reveer WHERE TO GO

Cosmopolitan Bogotá is, like most capitals, a busy commercial centre, with a vibrant cultural scene and festive nightlife. The two other major cities, Medellín and Cali, are also lively but less overwhelming. Better still are the small towns scattered throughout the country that could turn out to be the highlight of your visit. Popayán and Mompox, for example, are famed for raucous Semana Santa (Easter week) celebrations, and Mompox has a timeless beauty to it. Colombia’s coffee-growing region, the Zona Cafetera, offers breathtaking walks in the foothills where the bean is grown, accommodation in authentic fincas (coffee farms) and excellent trekking.

Most visitors make time – and rightfully so – to head north to the Caribbean for the sun. Just a stone’s throw from the beach, the walled city of Cartagena is the biggest Spanish colonial port in South America. A few hours east, the less scenic Santa Marta and fishing village of Taganga are near Parque Nacional Tayrona, whose picturesque sandy beaches are unrivalled. The two are also great bases for a five-day trek to the archeological ruins of La Ciudad Perdida, the Lost City.

Almost un-Colombian in their feel, the remote Caribbean islands of San Andrés and Providencia both offer great diving, crystal-clear waters and – particularly in Providencia’s case – a unique Raizal culture.

As you head north from Bogotá through the Andes to Bucaramanga, picturesque colonial villages like Villa de Leyva give way to more tropical, river-fed bastions of adventure tourism such as San Gil.

In the southeast, Colombia’s stake of the Amazon, centred on Leticia, may not be as well known as Peru’s or Brazil’s but it offers a slice of jungle adventure and a gateway into the neighbouring countries. The southwest, near Popayán, boasts some wonderful scenery as well as the monumental stone statues and burial chambers of the forgotten cultures of San Agustín and Tierradentro.

 

Introduction

Home to a traumatic but rich history, stunning scenery and some of the continent’s most welcoming and sophisticated people, Colombia is a natural draw for travellers to South America. Despite its four-decade-long civil war and reputation for violence, improved security conditions have led to a sharp increase in tourism. Foreigners and Colombians alike are now far more able to explore this thrilling paradise of cloudforested mountains, palm-fringed beaches and gorgeous colonial cities. The only country in South America to border both the Pacific and the Caribbean, Colombia offers a huge range of ecosystems, from the Amazon rainforest near Leticia to the snowcapped mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the tropical islands of San Andrés and Providencia.