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🇨🇴Things to Do in Colombia
From Cartagena's colorful colonial streets to the Coffee Triangle's hills - the essential sights, and how to keep your own record of them.
Travel guide - last updated September 2026
Colombia has rebuilt its reputation as a travel destination fast over the past two decades, and the range now on offer reflects that - a walled Caribbean city, Andean coffee country, Amazon rainforest, and a multi-day jungle trek to a lost indigenous city. Most first trips connect two or three of these regions by short domestic flight. Here are 8 places worth building a trip around.
Top attractions
The sights most first-time visitors build an itinerary around.
Cartagena Old Town
A walled Caribbean colonial city of colorful balconied buildings, plazas and horse-drawn carriages, with the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas fortress overlooking it from a nearby hill.
📍 Cartagena
🚉 Cartagena has no rail: the walled city is entered on foot through the Puerta del Reloj, and TransCaribe buses run from the airport and Bocagrande to the Centro stop just outside the walls.
Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) Trek
A 4-5 day trek through jungle to a pre-Columbian city predating Machu Picchu, built by the Tayrona people and rediscovered by looters in the 1970s. Only accessible with a licensed guide.
📍 Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
🚉 The trek can only be walked, and only with a licensed guide - operators drive you from Santa Marta to El Mamey, the trailhead, for the four-day walk in and out.
Coffee Triangle (Eje Cafetero)
The Andean hills around Salento and Manizales where much of Colombia's coffee is grown, with farm tours (fincas) offering tastings and a look at the harvest process.
📍 Salento & Manizales, Eje Cafetero
🚉 Armenia, Pereira and Manizales all have airports and bus terminals but no passenger trains; from Armenia, buses run to Salento in an hour, then Willys jeeps to the Cocora trailhead.
Bogotá
Colombia's high-altitude capital, with La Candelaria's colonial old town, the Gold Museum's pre-Columbian collection, and a cable car up Monserrate for a view over the whole city.
📍 Bogotá
🚉 The TransMilenio busway is the city's backbone: Museo del Oro and Las Aguas stations serve La Candelaria, and the Monserrate funicular starts a short walk uphill from the latter.
Tayrona National Park
Caribbean beaches backed by jungle-covered mountains near Santa Marta, with hiking trails connecting several beaches - some accessible only on foot or by boat.
📍 near Santa Marta
🚉 Buses from Santa Marta's market take about an hour to El Zaino, the main gate, and from there it is a two-hour walk or a horse ride to Cabo San Juan - no vehicles go inside.
Cocora Valley
Home to the wax palm, Colombia's national tree and the tallest palm species in the world, growing up to 60 meters in a valley near Salento popular for day hikes.
📍 Salento
🚉 Willys jeeps leave Salento's main square through the day for the 30-minute climb to the valley trailhead, and are the only public transport there.
Medellín
Once defined by its 1990s reputation, now known for its cable-car public transit connecting hillside neighborhoods, the Comuna 13 street art district, and a noticeably mild year-round climate.
📍 Medellín
🚉 Nearest station: Parque Berrio or San Antonio on the Medellin Metro, the only metro in Colombia, with the Metrocable gondolas continuing up to Santo Domingo and Parque Arvi.
Colombian Amazon (Leticia)
Colombia's gateway to the Amazon, at the tripoint border with Brazil and Peru, offering jungle lodges, river tours and wildlife spotting without needing to fly to Brazil or Peru's more famous Amazon access points.
📍 Leticia
🚉 Leticia has no road connection to the rest of Colombia: flights from Bogota are the only way in, and river boats then serve the Amazon communities and the tri-border towns.
Mark Colombia, get the stamp
In MyPassportStory, every country you mark - visited, lived in, or still on the list - becomes a stamp like these in your own travel passport. Add the cities you stopped in, draw the route between them, and turn the whole trip into a shareable passport-style image.
Open MyPassportStoryPlanning questions
How many days do you need in Colombia?
10-14 days lets you combine Cartagena or Tayrona on the coast with Bogotá or the Coffee Triangle inland, using a domestic flight between them.
What's the best time to visit Colombia?
December-March and July-August are the driest windows in most regions, though Colombia's varied altitude means weather differs significantly between the Caribbean coast, the Andean cities and the Amazon at any given time.
Is Colombia good for a first-time visit?
Yes, and considerably safer than its reputation from decades past, though as with any destination it's worth checking current regional safety advice and sticking to well-established tourist routes and licensed guides for treks.
Do I need a visa to visit Colombia?
Many nationalities, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and most of the EU, can visit visa-free for short tourist stays (typically up to 90 days); other nationalities need a visa arranged in advance. Check the official visa information for your nationality: cancilleria.gov.co.
What are some things to do in Colombia on a tight budget?
Walking Cartagena's old town walls and Bogotá's La Candelaria district costs nothing, local menu del dia lunch sets are cheap and filling, and Colombia's long-distance buses are considerably cheaper than domestic flights if you have the time.
Can I rent a car in Colombia, and what licence do I need?
You can, though most visitors use domestic flights and coaches instead, and the mountain roads are slower than the map suggests. A foreign licence is accepted for visits, and an International Driving Permit alongside it is strongly recommended - some rental companies insist on one. Minimum age is 21 to 25 with a credit card for the deposit. Cities including Bogota and Medellin operate pico y placa restrictions that bar cars from the roads on certain days by number plate, which applies to hire cars too. Official rules sit with the Ministry of Transport, reachable through the national government portal at gov.co; cars come from Hertz, Avis and Localiza.