Skip to content
MASA
South America

Colombia

9 guides across 2 destinations — where to go, when, what it costs and what to eat.

Where to go

Destinations in Colombia

Aerial view of Cartagena with the stone bastions of Castillo San Felipe de Barajas in the foreground and the Bocagrande high-rises on the sea behind
Cartagena
Best december to april (dry season)
The honeycombed timber canopy of the Orquideorama at Medellin's Jardin Botanico, seen from below among the trees
Medellín
Best december to march (drier months)
Before you go

Practical essentials for Colombia

Money

Colombian peso (COP)

Language

Spanish; English is not widely spoken, so a few phrases of Spanish go a long way

Power

Type A/B, 110V 60Hz

Getting around

Bogota's TransMilenio runs on the cash-loaded Tullave card and Medellin's Metro on the Civica card; contactless bank cards are not accepted on either, so carry cash.

Tipping

A 10% propina is usually added to the bill at better restaurants - add it yourself if it is not - while taxi drivers are not tipped.

Tap water

Safe from the tap in the highland cities including Medellin, but drink bottled in Cartagena and along the Caribbean coast.

Driving

Right-hand side; your national licence is generally accepted, though hire companies commonly ask for an International Driving Permit.

Emergency

123 (single national emergency number, voice calls only)

Country-level guidance, checked against official sources. Currency, fares and entry rules change — confirm anything time-critical before you travel.

Latest

Recent stories from Colombia

A rounded bronze Botero sculpture in Plaza Botero, with the checkered dome of the Palacio de la Cultura Rafael Uribe Uribe behind it
Stays

Medellín stays: the areas to book and the ones to skip

Leafy El Poblado, local-flavoured Laureles or quiet Envigado — where to base yourself in the City of Eternal Spring, and the districts to leave off your shortlist.

Medellín · 2 min
Brick houses of Medellín's Comuna 13 climbing the green hillside, Colombia
Hidden Gems

Medellín Beyond the Obvious: The Quieter Side

Skip the checklist and find the gentler Medellín — hilltop forest parks, flower farms, bohemian Laureles, and the coffee towns of Antioquia.

Medellín · 2 min
A narrow street of brightly painted colonial houses with wooden balconies in Cartagena's old town
Hidden Gems

Green Cartagena: shady plazas, sloth-spotting and easy escapes

Cartagena is a city of stone and sun, which makes its shaded plazas, mangrove tunnels and island reefs feel like small miracles — here is where the city breathes, and how to plan around the heat.

Cartagena · 13 min
A schoolgirl in uniform with a flowered backpack climbing a steep concrete staircase in Medellin's Comuna 13, between brick and pink-painted houses whose walls are covered in blue and orange spray-painted murals.
The List

Medellín for culture lovers: the best of its art and history

Botero's bronzes, a neighbourhood remade by street art, and museums that face the past head-on — seven cultural essentials in Colombia's comeback city.

Medellín · 2 min
The orange and yellow bell tower and dome of Cartagena's cathedral seen down a lane of wooden colonial balconies at golden hour
Stays

In Cartagena You Book a Courtyard, Not a Room

The walled city's hotels are colonial houses that face inward, so the patio and the roof terrace matter more than the bedroom does - here is how Centro, San Diego, Getsemani and Bocagrande compare across three budgets.

Cartagena · 10 min
A cobbled corner in Cartagena's Getsemani neighbourhood strung overhead with rows of coloured paper pennants, their shadows falling across the street, beside a lilac-blue house painted with a large mural of a woman's face, a cyclist riding past in the sun.
Destinations

Cartagena essentials: getting in, getting around, getting it right

How to arrive, how many days to give it, which neighbourhood to sleep in, what order to see it in, and which heavily sold day trip to quietly skip in Colombia's walled Caribbean capital.

Cartagena · 12 min
Medellin after dark seen from above, the downtown towers lit in the valley floor and the lights of the hillside barrios climbing the dark mountainsides on both sides, under a low bank of cloud.
Itineraries

One full day in Medellín, from first light to last call

Medellin's sights are scattered down a long valley, but the metro and its cable cars stitch them together well enough that one carefully ordered day can hold the city's essentials.

Medellín · 12 min
A row of brightly painted colonial houses with wooden balconies on a Cartagena street in warm evening light, modern towers rising in the background
Itineraries

48 Hours in Cartagena: The Perfect Itinerary

Two days in Colombia's walled Caribbean city, hour by hour — colonial plazas, fortress ramparts, island beaches, and dancing in Getsemaní.

Cartagena · 2 min
A palenquera in a red and yellow ruffled dress balancing a bowl of pineapple, papaya and bananas on her head beside Cartagena's yellow taxis
Food

Coffee, cocadas and people-watching in Cartagena

A day built around Cartagena's heat rather than against it: street tinto at first light, single-origin in the shade, cocadas under the arcade and a plaza at golden hour.

Cartagena · 10 min