Country Facts
Capital
Bogota
Area
440,800 sq miles
Time Zone
Bogota, Colombia (UTC-5)
Population
52,038,082
Currency
Colombian Peso
Flight time
11 Hours
Colombia: Paradise Awaiting To Be Explored
At the Earth Trip we have a team of professionals with considerable knowledge and first hand expertise in putting together tailor made arrangements for the places you are planning to visit.
Colombia is a rare beauty: from creamy beaches to high Sierra dotted with ancient pre-Colombian cities as jaw-droppingly beautiful as any built by the Incas or Maya, to steamy Amazon lowlands watched-over by boulder mountains and Spanish colonial towns hidden behind cannon-bristling walls. The scent of coffee, chocolate and night jasmine fills the air. Hummingbirds and handkerchief-sized butterflies flit and waft everywhere. There are 50 national parks, more than 100 Indigenous nations and 9 Unesco World Heritage sites.
The country’s biodiversity is world-beating: more bird species live in Colombia than anywhere else on Earth: with condors soaring over smoking volcanoes and cloud forests darting with hummingbirds and tanagers. Jaguars, pumas and ocelots pad through the forests of the Amazon and Sierra Nevada, turtles nest on the beaches and whales calf off the Pacific Coast. And with treaties signed and crime in sharp decline security is no longer a concern: Colombia is as safe as Costa Rica.
Welcome to Colombia!
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See below for just some of the reasons why Colombia should be on your holiday ‘bucket list’.
– Colonial Heritage:
- Cartagena
- Villa de Leyva
- Mompox
- Bogota
– Natural Beauty:
- Tayrona National Park
- Coffee Zone
- Amazon Rainforest
- Los Nevados National Park
– Caribbean and Pacific Beaches:
- Rosario Islands
- Providencia
- San Andres
- Isla Gorgona
– History & Archaeology:
- Ciudad Perdida (Lost City)
- San Agustin
- Tierradentro
- Cartagena
Preparing For A Trip To Colombia?
Visa Information – Colombia
UK, EU, US, Canada and Australia & New Zealand citizens do not require a visa for Colombia.
Please click the links below for up-to-date visa and entry requirements for British nationals travelling to Colombia:
www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/colombia/entry-requirements
Passport validity
Please make sure your passport is valid and up to date. In general terms, your passport should be valid for a minimum period of 6 months from your date of arrival into all South American countries.
Yellow fever
Evidence of Yellow Fever vaccination may be required for travellers who are going to or have recently been to countries where there is a risk of yellow fever transmission.
Travelling with children
Single parents or adults travelling with children under the age of 18 are required to provide notarised documentary evidence of parental responsibility, or consent to travel from those with parental responsibility. Such documentation is often required before being allowed to enter Latin American countries and, in many cases, before permitting children to leave the country.
Local airport taxes International and domestic airport taxes may be payable locally if it is not included with your airline tickets. This is usually payable in US dollars and it may not always be possible to pay by credit/debit card.
Read More On Visas
Tourism Health Information – Colombia
Hepatitis A; Tetanus are usually advised. Diphtheria, Hepatitis B, Typhoid and Yellow Fever are often recommended. A yellow fever vaccination certificate is mandatory for travellers aged 1 year arriving from Angola, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda and for travellers having transited for more than 12 hours in an airport in those countries.
If you have a health condition, or you are pregnant, you may need specialist healthcare abroad. Check whether your destination country can provide the healthcare you may need and ensure you have appropriate travel insurance for unexpected medical evacuation or local treatment.
See the Coronavirus travel health and Healthcare sections in the Coronavirus page for COVID-19 health information.
At least 8 weeks before your trip, check the latest country-specific health advice from the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) on the TravelHealthPro website. Each country-specific page has information on vaccine recommendations, any current health risks or outbreaks, and factsheets with information on staying healthy abroad. Guidance is also available from NHS (Scotland) on the FitForTravel website.
General information on travel vaccinations and a travel health checklist is available on the NHS website. You may then wish to contact your health adviser or pharmacy for advice on other preventive measures and managing any pre-existing medical conditions while you’re abroad.
The legal status and regulation of some medicines prescribed or purchased in the UK can be different in other countries. If you’re travelling with prescription or over-the-counter medicine, read this guidance from NaTHNaC on best practice when travelling with medicines. For further information on the legal status of a specific medicine, you’ll need to contact the embassy, high commission or consulate of the country or territory you’re travelling to.
Read More On Health
Airlines flying direct
Avianca fly direct between London Heathrow and Bogotá. Other airlines require a change of plane in a European or North American destination.
Weather & When To Go To Colombia
Weather/when to go
We recommend March and mid-November – for the perfect combination of weather and low visitor numbers, with June-July a close second.
The Caribbean and Andes – the two most visited areas are driest December-March with heavy (usually afternoon) rainfall August-October in the Caribbean, and in April and October in the Andes. On the Pacific Coast in rains all year round but is driest January-March. The Amazon lowlands are driest in July and August.
Lowland temperatures are in the mid-20s to low 30s Centigrade all year round, temperatures in Bogotá and the Andes never get above much 20C and can drop close to or below freezing at night. Temperatures in Medellín, which is known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’, peak in the mid-20s all year round and never drop below 15C.
Christmas, New Year and Easter are very busy with domestic and international tourists – especially in the tourist hotspots of Cartagena and the Caribbean Coast.
Read More On Weather
Tailor-Made Holidays
At Earth Trip we will design and plan your personalised itinerary according to the exact requirements of your trip. Whether you prefer to be on a mountaintop or under a waterfall; wake up in the middle of a jungle or have a picnic with locals in the tea plantations – we select the accommodation and activities in order to suit not only your preferences, but also your budget.
Discover Tailor-Made Holidays