- Immigration Control & Exit Flight Required
- ATMs in Colombia
- Bogota
- Travel Between Bogota and Medellin
- Medellin
An exit flight is required before airlines will let you check-in (Copa airlines enforced this), similar with many other latin american countries.
Immigration control took 1.5 hours of queuing at Medellin airport.
They required:
- passport
- flight ticket in
- accommodation including address
- your telephone number
The immigration officer did not ask for an exit flight, possibly because they know the airlines check-in enforce it already.
ATMs are notoriously expensive in Colombia.
I just used my cards for everything because I couldn't find an ATM that wasn't a rip off.
Bancolombia, Banco de Bogota, Banco de Occidente all tried to charge me 29,000 COP ($8) for a withdrawal, while Servibanca and Davivienda tried to charge me 26,000 ($7).
If you really need cash, you might be better off exchanging dollars at a Bureau de Change, depending on the % loss and how much you need.
I managed to get by without any cash in Colombia, although I did take taxis via Uber which was slightly more expensive than if I'd use my preferred InDrive with cash. However, to put this into perspective, the difference was only a few thousand COP, not 26,000 - 30,000. To put this into perspective, a taxi to/from the airport in Bogota was only around 40,000 in total.
The capital.
The best areas to stay in Bogota are the touristy areas:
Bogota Airport seems smaller than Medellin airport.
It was raining and there was a gap between the plane stairs and the building canopy, my luggage also came on the conveyor belt soaked.
Apparently it rains here a lot.
Wifi at Bogota airport only gives 30 minutes free and it requires lots of personal captcha details.
There are a good selection of cafes and shops before security and a good selection past security too.
There were water coolers apparently but I forgot to refill as I had to run for the plane (the flight to Quito, Ecuador, wasn't busy and the gate was marked as closed and I was the last one when I got there 3 minutes late, I nearly got left behind).
While you can get TransMilenio / SITP buses from outside the airport (routes like 16-14 / K86), you need a Tullave card to pay, so it's easier to just take a taxi, and affordable.
The official yellow taxi from the airport was only 40,000 COP ($10.60), which is only 1/3 of the price for the same Uber airport taxi I paid in Medellin.
The taxi is a Kia though, so if you have two suitcases, order a bigger taxi, as I had to put my suitcase on the back seat as these cars have almost no trunk.
As a foreigner you'll probably spend most of your time in Zona T, which is where these restaurants are:
- Chef Burger - Medellin-based chain that has a few branches in Bogota and one in Cali too. The Sailor burger is their best seller for good reason - it was the best burger I'd had in a long time. The tropical burger with a pineapple ring in it was good too, with a sweet fruity side sauce as well as a tasty mayo-type sauce for dipping fries. The 'rustic fries' are basically wedges but good quality crispy hot ones
- Ovejo Burgers & Fries - good burger & fries at reasonable price, but their steak is also very reasonably priced and comes with lots of fries (so many that I actually left quite a lot of them). Open late, so good option for 11-12pm eating since it's open until 1-2am. Wifi captcha portal didn't load for me though
- Wok - Colombia's answer to Wagamama, but with a bigger excellent menu - asian fusion from various noodle & rice dishes to sushi. Mid-tier priced similar prices to Wagamama in the UK, which is relatively expensive tourist priced for Colombia, but this place is consistently busy as it's better than most of the surrounding restaurants, especially for its price bracket. The stir fried jumbo prawns and chicken was good, although the chicken was ground chicken. Wifi 15/9 Mbit/s
- Blue Asher Trattoria - known for its pizza, but that is fattening so I went with the lomo steak with 3 pepper sauce and mashed potatoes, which was very good. They served a few small cubes of warm bread with olive oil and balsamic, which was a nice touch, but it didn’t have enough olive oil and balsamic to dip all the bread in. WiFi 196/169 Mbit/s wifi
- Purple Flame Indian - a bit pricey by Colombian standards, the food was decent but nothing special. The Punjabi Ghosht with lamb had good quality lamb chunks in it, not fatty ones like some places, but the sauce was greenish rather than red and it lacked something, some kick or something. The mango lassi was good but small, 1/3 - 1/2 of the size of back home, a sign of a restaurant that is optimizing for profits rather than experience. This might be rated a 4.9 in Bogota but in London it'd be a 4.4 - 4.5. Wifi 52/0.5 Mbit/s
- Andrino Mall - very upmarket mall with Dubai style lighting throughout and many expensive international brands. Even the food court on the top level looks fancy, but it's still low brow food. There are several good dessert places on the top floor though ranging from Oakberry acai to independent places serving different desserts including ice creams, strawberries in chocolate etc.
- Atlantis Mall - mid-tier compared to Andrino
- El Retiro Mall - small by comparison to Andrino but has some expensive shops
TODO:
- [Je Veux Cafe] - was closed, not clear if it's closed down or was just temporarily closed early
- [Astoria] - apparently the best rooftop in Colombia
Direct flights for 1 hour are so cheap that it's not worth taking a bus for 9-10 hours for only a few dollars less.
The airport wifi network has a simple captcha without needing personal details other than your country and accepting the basic terms and personal data handling.
The speed is very good at 227/224 Mbit/s download/upload.
However, it only offers your 1 hour of free wifi and after that they try to get you to pay $4 (as of Jan 2026) so make well timed use of your internet if you are at the airport for 2-3 hours - especially considering you will do check-in, then security scanning and then waiting by the gate - so you might want to wait until you settle in the departure lounge, as I ran out of wifi time by the time I got to the departure lounge.
This is 35 minutes outside Medellin.
It can take an hour in traffic or if you take public transport so leave more time when heading back to the airport.
Upon arrival it's quick and easy to take the Combuses mini coaches from immediately outside arrivals, the first exit on the right.
Tickets are sold at a booth just past the immigration control, before customs control scans your luggage upon arrival. but you could probably also buy one on-board if you've missed that before customs as they have a sign that tickets are $17 and it seems you can pay in dollars or local currency. It appears some people paid in cash upon arrival to Medellin, while others like me gave their prepaid ticket to the driver.
I then used an Uber for the last 2km for a mere £3, which was an official small yellow taxi hatchback that worked out cheaper than the other options on Uber, but beware the boot was non-existent so I had to put my large suitcase on the back-seat and sit in the front - this may be a problem if there are are two of you travelling, in which case you'll need to take one of the more expensive Uber car variants with more space.
On the way back to the airport I took an official taxi via Uber for 120,000 COP ($32.50), due to more reliable timing to catch my flight to Bogota, which wasn't that much more than the $21 ($17 + $4) I paid for the Combus + short taxi coming from the airport.
- El Poblado - touristy area with high police presence, safer, stay here
- Laureles - leafy gentrified suburb with many restaurants & cafes
- Poblado Hills / San Lucas / Los Balsos II - quiet luxury suburbs
The distance between El Poblado and and Laureles is about 3km across no man's land, so you're recommended to take a taxi while going from one area to another.
If you're on a budget, try the Uber bikes, they are cheaper than the metro.
Not Recommended:
- Centro - historic centre, don't stay here, downtown is a bit ghetto
I was 15,400 COP ($4) for a single journey ticket 5 stops between Centro and Poblado, which seems a bit high for Colombia.
To make matters worse, they only accept cash payments at the metro station booth.
And the cashpoints like Servibanca wanted to charge 26,000 COP ($7) withdrawal fee.
It was actually cheaper to just take an Uber bike for 8,000 COP ($2) with a card payment in the app.
- El Poblado - upscale neighbourhood known for cafes, restaurants, bars,
clubs, boutiques and hotels
- Zona Rosa - touristy street with lots of shops & restaurants in the area
- Provenza - cafes, bars, restaurants
- Parque Lleras - nightlife hub with of bars & restaurants
- Opened Gym - free open air gym with weights bench and various bars for dips and pull ups
- Zona Rosa - touristy street with lots of shops & restaurants in the area
- Street Workout Park
- Laureles - local-favourite district with relaxed nightlife & restaurants
- Belén Park - small park with street food and crafts
- Plaza Botero - open-air square with large sculptures
- Cerro de Nutibara Sculpture Park - hilltop park with view and outdoor sculptures
- El Castillo Museo y Jardines - castle with fancy gardens
- Museo de Antioquia - museum of Colombian art and history
- Jardín Botánico - botanical garden with butterfly house
- Parque Explora - science museum with big aquarium
- Comuna 13 - famous hillside neighbourhood known for street art, outdoor escalators, and social transformation. This one is a bit further out
- Pueblito Paisa - replica traditional village with city views from Cerro Nutibara
- Metrocable - cable car offering panoramic views and access to hillside communities
- Parque Arví - large ecological park with hiking trails, nature activities and cable car system. This one is a bit further out
- Envigado - authentic area south of Medellín known for traditional eateries & bars
- Zona Rosa - lots of bars & restaurants to eat around here, too many for
me to have tried
- Provenza - restaurants strip
- Parque Lleras - nightlife hub with of bars & restaurants
- Laureles - local-favourite district with relaxed nightlife & restaurants
- The Altar - affordable excellent Mexican tacos, open late until midnight. I particularly liked the asada, birria, chicken, and shrimp tacos and tuna tostada. I'd skip the Watermelon juice next time though as it's watery and sometimes leaves one feeling bloated (not the 7 tacos and tostada I had! All that food came to £17 in Dec 2025)
- Restaurante Milagros Manila - the tacos were good, especially the chicken and pork ones with pineapple in them, and the burrito was decent, the nachos with it were very crispy home made style ones. A little bit more expensive than The Altar above but good too. Wifi 97/75 Mbit/s
- [Chef Burger] - excellent Medellin-based burger chain, see the food description in the Bogoto restaurants section above
- Pigasus pig & Burgers - good burger chain and reasonably priced for a burger and fries. The fries were a relatively small portion though. I tried the aphrodite burger, that fried cheese block thing on top was dipped in some thick sticky sweet sauce that was awesome - totally fattening but worth it. The 'green mango' drink they brought me was awful though, I had to sent it back, it was salty and artificial like a slushie - so I don't recommend those drinks. Also avoid those little Heladas sweeties they give you with the bill because you'll get the munchies from it and then go buy buy junk food at Exito. I deny this happened to me. The laureles branch was a bit quiet, and I struggled to find the entrance as it's just a stairway up to the 1st floor. You might want to try one of the other branches. Has wifi but it's a simple name + email captcha portal
- Final Feliz - co-joined with the reception of the popular Viajero hostel. The burgers are decent but the bacon is more like super fatty pork rib, avoid next time. The wedges are few in number but very good due to the sweet dusting, although they put too little of it on my wedges the second time around. The cheeseburger was pretty basic but ok for the price. Smoothies weren't available the first time, but I managed to try the coconut kiss smoothie the second time and it was worth it. WiFi 74/68 Mbit/s
- Santafé Mall - large 5 story mall with a mix of the usual international brands and local stores, and a food court. Dog friendly, many people bring their dogs here. Has wifi but it requires a capture portal which didn't render for me
- Oviedo - large mall
- El Tesoro Parque Comercial - mall a bit further east
- Éxito Wow - Poblado - good selection but expensive for foreign items like shaving cream, go to below D1 for that instead
- D1 poblado 43D - budget supermarket, cheap shaving cream compared to
Exito (6,000 vs 46,000 Colombia Pesos - $1.70 vs $12)
- Tiendas D1 - same D1 chain, small budget supermarket near many hostels for convenience
TODO:
- Mamasita Medallo sede Poblado - 4.7 Colombia, recommended by another tourist as the best place he'd eaten in Medellin, with the slow cooked beef cheek, probably in mole or a stew. Soups were apparently incredible too