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Travel and Tourism in Colombia
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Colombia.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 3: Reconsider Travel
- Time Difference
- UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- 3051.1
- Climate
- Colombia's climate varies with its different altitudes. Its three climatic zones are called: "hot country," "temperate country," and "cold country." Columbia is tropical along the coast and eastern plains; cooler in the highlands.
- Language(s) Spoken
- Spanish (official) 98.9%, indigenous 1%, Portuguese 0.1%; 65 indigenous languages exist
- Ethnic Groups
- Mestizo and White 87.6%, Afro-Colombian (includes Mulatto, Raizal, and Palenquero) 6.8%, Indigenous 4.3%, unspecified 1.4%
- National Holiday
- Independence Day, 20 July (1810)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 4 00 N, 72 00 W
- Location
- Northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Panama and Venezuela, and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Ecuador and Panama
- Airports
- 862
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
Medellin and the Coffee Region
Medellín's transformation from the world's most violent city to a globally celebrated model of urban renewal is one of the most extraordinary stories of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. In the early 1990s, when the Medellín Cartel under Pablo Escobar was at the height of its power, the city recorded more than six thousand murders in a single year. Today, that number has fallen by more than ninety percent, and the city has won international urban design awards, hosted world-class innovation festivals, and attracted a growing stream of visitors drawn by its climate, its cuisine, its vibrant nightlife, and its reputation as Colombia's most dynamic, forward-looking city.
The physical interventions that drove this change are themselves worth studying. The cable car systems that now link the hilltop comunas to the metro network below were more than infrastructure investments: they were statements of inclusion, connecting neighborhoods that had been isolated and stigmatized to the economic and cultural life of the city center.
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Medical care is adequate in major cities but varies greatly in quality and accessibility elsewhere. Emergency rooms in Colombia, even at top-quality facilities, are frequently overcrowded and ambulance service can be slow. Many private health care providers in Colombia require that patients pay for care before treatment, even in an emergency. Some providers in major cities may accept credit cards, but those that don’t may request advance payment in cash.