Getting Around Colombia

Three ranges of the Andes run up the middle of Colombia, and they decide how you travel. Two cities a short distance apart on the map can be a full day apart by road because there is a cordillera between them. Domestic flights are frequent and often cheap, and using them is normal rather than extravagant.

⚠ The habit to break on day one

Do not hail a taxi in the street. The cited advisory records that express kidnappings are common and that the criminals are often posing as taxi drivers, frequently selecting a target from around ATMs and often at night.

Use a hotel taxi, an official airport rank, a taxi ordered by phone or reception, or a ride hailing app. Apps are widely used in the cities and give you a record of the vehicle and the driver, which is most of the point. This one change removes the most specific transport risk in the country and costs nothing.

Medellin

The Metro is the only urban rail system in the country and it is the city's pride: clean, cheap, and treated with visible civic care. The Metrocable lines run cable cars up the steep hillsides as ordinary public transport rather than as an attraction, and riding one is both the cheapest way to see the valley and a piece of the city's own story about itself. Buy a Civica card and use it on the whole network.

Bogota

TransMilenio is the bus rapid transit system: dedicated lanes, raised stations, and a network that goes almost everywhere. It is efficient and it is extremely crowded at peak, which makes it the obvious place for pickpocketing. Bag in front, phone away, and avoid it with luggage. There are also ordinary buses and a growing bike network, and the city closes major roads to traffic on Sundays for the ciclovia, which is worth arranging a morning around.

Between cities: flying

Bogota to Cartagena is under two hours by air and a very long day by road. The domestic network is dense and competitive, several carriers serve the main routes, and booking early gets fares that make the bus look pointless. Watch baggage allowances, which are tighter than on international tickets, and allow for the fact that Bogota's airport is busy.

Between cities: buses

Intercity buses are comprehensive and comfortable on the main routes, with reclining seats and air conditioning that is usually set too cold. They are also slow, because of the mountains, and overnight journeys on winding roads are tiring rather than restful.

• Book with an established company from the terminal rather than from a tout.
• Keep your bag with you rather than at your feet in the aisle, and keep valuables on your person overnight. The cited advisory names bus stations among the places where theft is common.
• Bring a layer. The air conditioning is not a rumor.

On shorter regional routes, shared cars and minibuses fill the gaps, and in the coffee region the Willys jeeps are the actual transport between towns and villages.

Driving

Driving is rewarding in the coffee region and around Villa de Leyva and unnecessary in the big cities.

• Bring your home license and an International Driving Permit.
• Mountain roads are winding, often single carriageway, and frequently shared with heavy trucks. Journeys take longer than any estimate.
• Avoid driving at night outside cities. Surfaces, lighting, animals and visibility all deteriorate, and the advisory's general caution applies most after dark.
• Bogota and Medellin operate pico y placa, restricting circulation by number plate on given days. Ask the rental company which days apply to your vehicle.
• Do not leave anything visible in a parked car.

Planning a route through the regions

Look at the map by region rather than by department. The cited advisory advises against all but essential travel to a list that includes the Catatumbo region of Norte de Santander, the Uraba and Bajo Cauca regions of Antioquia, the southern part of Bolivar, western Cauca, and much of Choco outside its named exceptions. An overland route can cross one of those without the itinerary ever naming it.

Check the regions your road actually passes through, take local advice on the day, and read the safety guide before fixing a long overland leg. Roadblocks during strikes are a separate and more ordinary disruption, and a buffer day before an international flight is worth having for that reason alone.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Colombia safety and security: scopolamine and other drugs used to subdue victims through food, drinks, cigarettes, aerosols and paper flyers, the use of dating applications to select foreign nationals traveling alone, express kidnappings by criminals often posing as taxi drivers and often working from around ATMs at night, and the advice to avoid protests, strikes and demonstrations. Accessed 17 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Colombia regional risks: the list of regions the FCDO advises against all but essential travel to, including Choco outside Quibdo, Nuqui, Bahia Solano and Capurgana, western Valle del Cauca including Buenaventura, the municipality of Jamundi, western Cauca, the South Pacific, Sanquianga and Telembi regions of Narino, southern Cordoba, the Uraba and Bajo Cauca regions of Antioquia, southern Bolivar, the Catatumbo region of Norte de Santander, Arauca outside its capital, and within five kilometers of the Venezuelan border outside Cucuta. Accessed 17 September 2026.