Colombia Travel Costs

Colombia is one of the world’s best kept travel secrets.

We’ve traveled fairly extensively over the years and Colombia remains one of our all-time favorite countries to visit. During a one-week vacation in 2017 we traveled to Colombia’s Caribbean coast, visiting Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Tayrona National Park. It was only a week, but as soon as we got back home I already knew that I wanted to return one day. When thinking about where we wanted to go on this year-long trip, we thought of many places, but the one place that I knew for sure we needed to go back to was Colombia.

From our 2017 trip to Tayrona National Park, where the tropical rain forest meets the Caribbean Sea.

Our return trip this year did not disappoint. Colombia is a destination that commands far more tourists than currently make the trip. This is no doubt related to its recent history. Let’s be honest… who doesn’t think of drugs, guns, and violence at the first mention of Colombia? These are common thoughts that even we were guilty of having at one point, but Colombia’s tourism industry is desperately trying to shake off that image. At the end of almost every guided tour we were on, the tour guide ended with a heartfelt thank you for being ‘willing’ to visit Colombia and give it a chance.

Hiking through the snow at nearly 16,000 feet in El Cocuy National Park.

Hacienda La Esperanza, one of the many idyllic farm houses high up in the Andes.

Interestingly, Europe never seemed to develop such a negative image of Colombia. It turns out that Colombia is high on the list of places people from Europe want to travel to (as it should be). Consequently, we met numerous Europeans on our travels, but rarely did we ever meet another American. 

There is plenty of pre-Columbian history to be learned from the museums all around the country. This was one of the thousands of gold pieces on display at Bogota's famous Gold Museum.

It was rare for people to speak English. Knowing a little Spanish goes a long way. It was perfect for us to practice all the Spanish we had learned up to that point. Colombia was also where we started to finally feel some sense of accomplishment from all the work we put into our Spanish studies. We were able to organize a lot of activities that would have otherwise been a bit difficult. Our Spanish skills still leave a lot to be desired, but we did much better than we were doing only a month prior.

Bogota is a huge and oftentimes overwhelming city, but it still has a lot of charm.

Walking around one of the many plazas in Bogota.

There are so many reasons why we enjoyed our time in Colombia, but ultimately, I think it comes down to the incredible diversity of sights and experiences that we had, combined with the friendly people who were always more than willing to help, and the ease at which you can travel around the country.

Exploring the picture perfect city of Villa de Leyva. 

Our trip to Villa de Leyva felt like being sent back in time to the old wild west.

The natural beauty of Colombia is staggering. You can go from pristine tropical beaches on the Caribbean coast, to the top of 18,000 ft high snow-covered Andean mountains, to the eternal springtime weather of the coffee region, to the arid wild west-feeling hillsides around Villa de Leyva. We never even made it to the actual desert or to the Amazon rain forest, both of which were not all that far away from where we were.

Cobblestone streets and colorful houses in Mongui were reminiscent of old European towns.

The big cities like Bogotá and Medellin are each interesting in their own way, but what they share is a mix of old and new. These cities feel overwhelmingly modern compared to anything we ever experienced earlier in our trip in Guatemala or Costa Rica. These are truly international cities with all the conveniences you would expect: easy public transportation, over-the-top shopping malls, and phenomenal restaurants, bars, and nightlife. At the same time, they retain their historical charm. Old-world Colombia remains in the original city centers where narrow cobblestone streets and colorful houses remain not only intact, but still very much in use.

The sprawling city of Medellin was both eye-catching and fun to explore.

The work of Colombian artist Fernando Botero is found in every major city.

Colombia’s more traditional lifestyles still exist today. Getting outside the large cities and into the smaller towns was a whole new experience. We saw more horses than cars, watched people make their daily trek to pick up firewood for cooking, and visited small restaurants serving traditional meals that have likely remained unchanged for hundreds of years. We visited a multitude of small towns and each had a charm and character that most people might only associate with quaint European villages, but these places were all 100% Colombian.

The green mountains and tall palm trees of the Cocora Valley in Colombia's coffee growing region.

Moving about the country is a piece of cake. This may not seem like such a big deal, but it makes a huge difference when you're moving around every few days. Everyone told us about how wonderful and easy it was to travel around Costa Rica by bus. I’m sorry Costa Rica, but I don’t fit in your bus seats. I don’t care that it only cost me $4 for a 6-hour bus ride. When my legs have gone numb after the first couple of hours there is little that can be done to improve my mood for the rest of the day. Some of the Colombian bus stations feel more like airports given their size. You can simply show up at a bus station, purchase a ticket for a few dollars, and be whisked off to anywhere in the country. The seats are generously sized, they’ll tag and store your luggage under the bus, and longer trips are serviced by buses equipped with wifi and a restroom on board. Flying domestically is also a great option that is quick and inexpensive. We bought a semi-last-minute flight for only $40 a person. It would have been even cheaper had we booked it further in advance.

The view from our high rise apartment in Pereira. 

We didn’t hold back much in terms of spending while in Colombia. In the cities we got some incredible apartments through Airbnb, ate at a number of great restaurants, and discovered some of Colombia’s best coffee shops and craft beer breweries. Smaller towns outside of the cities are dramatically less expensive. Even with all the places we visited, we still only spent an average of $93 per day for the both of us. And this includes the $300 we spent on hiking boots and cold weather attire.

Accommodations: We used a combination of Airbnb and just simply showing up to hotels on the day we intended to stay there. A super nice 2-bedroom apartment in Bogota was around $40 a night while most accommodations in small towns ran us about $20 a night or less.
Restaurants: We ate out a lot, sampling the international selection of food found in the big cities while sticking to more traditional Colombian fare elsewhere.

Tourism: This is mostly from entrance fees to various attractions, but half of these expenses were directly related to the cost of our hiking trips in El Cocuy.

Transportation: Our spending was a little lower in this category than usual because we used miles to purchase the flight into Colombia from Costa Rica. This still includes a domestic flight, all our buses, taxis, and public transportation costs.

Drinks: A typical day might involve a coffee or two during the day and a beer or two at night.

Other: Most of this is from having to purchase hiking boots and socks and cold weather attire for the mountains. Other random things included a SIM card, replacing worn-out clothing, and getting a haircut.

Grocery: When we had an apartment with a decent sized kitchen we usually tried to make dinner at home a couple nights a week.

Enjoying a cup of coffee one morning in Pereira.

Overall, Colombia remains one of our favorite travel destinations. There are still so many more places we’d like to explore and I’m glad for the reason to return one day. After having spent seven weeks there, the only real reason why we moved on is because we figured that if we really wanted to get around the world, we ought to get a move on. We certainly didn’t leave because we felt ready to. We could have easily spent another seven weeks and they would have been just as much fun as the first.