03 May How much did our trip to Colombia cost?

Thinking of travelling in Colombia? From our experience, South America can be an expensive beast to tackle, especially when it comes to activities and getting around. We budgeted £50 for two people per day, but did we manage to stick to that? Here’s a breakdown of how much our seven-week trip to Colombia cost, from food and accommodation prices to activities and transport.

Want to see more of our detailed cost breakdowns for countries around the world? Check out our travel cost page or some of these popular posts:

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Colombia accommodation costs

We spent 53 nights, nearly two months, in Colombia in a mix of apartments and guest houses. Our average cost per night for Colombia accommodation came to £28.82. There are a range of cheap guest houses and hostels with dorm rooms available in Colombia, the cheapest we stayed in was Coco Bomgo in Minca which cost £22.95 per night. Our most expensive stay was also in Minca, at an eco-retreat called Mundo Nuevo, where we spent £36.34 per night.

Our accommodation in Medellin

When we travel these days, we prefer to rent apartments with kitchens and space to work, which is how we spent the bulk of our time in Colombia. We usually rent through Airbnb (get £25 off your first stay with this discount link) but for our accommodation in Medellin and Bogota accommodation, we rented chic apartments from Latin Hosts. If you’re wondering where to stay in Medellin, El Poblado is popular but we stayed in nearby Sabaneta for £27.02 per night.

Colombian food costs

Meat-heavy Colombian food wasn’t a pleasant experience for us for vegans, so we spent a lot of time cooking in our apartments. We bought a lot of local produce, especially avocados and had access to usual staples like beans, rice, pasta, chickpeas and plant milk from larger supermarkets. You can read more about how we’re managing to stay vegan in South America here. Eating mainly at home worked out pretty cheap for us, at just £11.53 per day.

Vegan Colombian casserole in Medellin

Although we had to avoid traditional Colombian food, we did find some vegan-friendly restaurants in Colombia, particularly in Medellin and Cartargena and ate out a few times. As a cost example, a vegan pizza, papas bravas, tea and beer came to £13.77 at Café Zorba, in El Poblado. We had two vegan menus del dia (red bean casserole with plantain, salad, rice, a juice and a small cookie dessert) for £8.92 in Verdeo, El Poblado. You’d pay less than this at a local Colombian restaurant.

Homemade vegan pancakes

Cost of transportation in Colombia

To save time and avoid hellish overnight bus journeys while travelling around Colombia, we took two internal flights in Colombia. The cheapest airline we found was Viva Colombia, who we flew from Medellin to Bogota with for £38 each, although they do ask for an extra fee to seat you together. We haven’t included our initial flight costs from the UK in the below breakdown, but we paid £302 per person. As a tip, if you’re looking for cheap flights to Colombia, check out connecting flights via Florida, USA, but be warned that Fort Lauderdale Airport is a complete shit-storm.

Local bus travel in Colombia is relatively cheap and easy to use, we travelled two-hours from Medellin to Guatapé for just £3.57 each. From our experience, Colombia bus companies are comfortable and safe to use. Taxis are inexpensive but our favourite type of Colombia transportation was Uber, which was even cheaper. Uber isn’t popular with authorities though, so drivers may ask you to sit up front and pretend you’re their friends. We loved the Metro in Medellin, which was clean, cheap and safe, costing just £0.65 per journey.

The metro in Medellin, Colombia

Cost of activities in Colombia

Considering we spent nearly two months in Colombia, we didn’t do all that much in terms of paid-for activities. We took a few walking tours in Medellin. For those wondering ‘is Colombia safe to travel?’ we learnt a lot about this issue on the excellent Real City Tour. One of the best Colombia tourist attractions we visited was the Salt Cathedral near Bogota, which was also the most expensive at £12.75 per person. It was worth it for the informative guide, we spent at least three hours there. Another top pick is the Cacao tour we took in Minca.

Miscellaneous Colombia travel costs

As usual, we had a few miscellaneous travel costs, such as a haircut, toiletries and new trousers.

How much does a seven-week trip to Colombia cost?

So, South America has proved a lot more expensive than we anticipated, especially after we’re used to getting so much for our money in Asia (check out all our travel cost breakdowns for details). However, we set a rough budget of £50 per day, which we almost managed to stick to in Colombia. That was mostly down to spending a lot of time stationary and working remotely to pay for the trip though. If you travel more extensively and do more activities, costs will quickly spiral. Here’s a total breakdown of how much our trip to Colombia cost.

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What do you think of our Colombia travel costs? Have you managed it for less?