Colombia

Government advisories

• ☐ United States: level 3/4 — Level 3: Reconsider Travel
• ☐ United Kingdom: level 2/4
• ☐ Canada: level 2/4 — Exercise a high degree of caution (with regional advisories)

Health notices

• ☐ Global Dengue (level 1)
• ☐ Yellow Fever in Colombia (level 2)
• ☐ Global Measles (level 1)

Entry requirements

☐ Visitors to Colombia must obtain a visa from one of the Colombian diplomatic missions or online unless they come from one of the visa-exempt countries.

Practical

• ☐ Plug type A/B, 120V — bring an adapter if yours differs
• ☐ Drives on the right
• ☐ Emergency (police): 112
• ☐ Emergency (ambulance): 125
• ☐ Emergency (fire): 119
• ☐ SIM: Carriers: It's simple enough to get a SIM card and even an unlocked phone at the international airport in Bogotá, although there is, of course, a price hike. They're not hard to find in any city either, just ask your hotel or hostel staff where to go. Topping up is also easy, and can be done pretty much on any street corner.
• ☐ Money: The currency of Colombia is the Colombian peso, but the symbol you will encounter is $ (ISO code: COP). Wikivoyage uses the notation "COP$" for clarity.
• ☐ Tipping: A service charge of 10% is generally added to the bill in nice restaurants (if it's not, you should add it yourself). Tipping taxi drivers is not common. Most "tipping" is merely rounding up to the nearest thousand pesos (e.g., rounding up your cafe bill to COP$7,000 from COP$6,700). Private tour guides do not need to be tipped, but it is common to do so, if you liked the guide.

Before you go

General trip-prep, not specific to Colombia — the same short list applies anywhere.

• ☐ Register with your embassy's traveler program if one exists
• ☐ Check your passport's validity and blank-page requirements on your destination's official entry-rules page
• ☐ Photograph/screenshot your passport, visa, and travel insurance documents
• ☐ Download offline maps for your destination
• ☐ Confirm your bank/card issuer knows you're traveling
• ☐ Check whether your phone plan needs a travel add-on or a local SIM