Can You Get Around Colombia Without a Car?

Should You Rent a Car When You Visit Colombia?

One of the decisions you’ll make when planning your international trip is how you’ll get around after you arrive. You’ll usually choose public transportation, a rental car, regional fights, or some combination of the three. If you’re particularly adventurous, you might choose alternative transportation like a bicycle or even your own two feet.

When I visited Iceland, we routinely saw people riding their bicycles on long, desolate stretches of road. They were hundreds of miles from the nearest significantly sized town and were riding around the entire circumference of the island. I’ve also commonly seen backpackers in very rural areas in countries like Colombia, walking around with their over-stuffed packs from hostel to hostel, enjoying a budget-friendly trip to Colombia.

I think adventuring through a foreign country with your bicycle or your feet as your only transportation is a cool idea, but it’s more of a lifestyle choice than a realistic travel option for the average traveler. You really have to commit to being outside for most of the day to pursue foot-based travel in countries that feature wide swaths of uninhabited areas.

For the purposes of this post, I’m going to share information about getting around Colombia by more traditional means. Hopefully, the information you read here will help you figure out the best way to travel around Colombia when you visit. Colombia is a fully modern country with roads that lead just about everywhere except some of the rural areas. Does that mean renting a car is the best idea? Let’s find out.

(note: some of the links here are to websites with which I am an affiliate, and your purchases help fund my website!)

Visiting the Classic Cities of Colombia Without a Car

If you’ve never visited Colombia before, there’s a good chance you’ll focus on the major cities of Bogota, Medellin, and Cartagena. If you’re at all familiar with Colombia, you’ve probably already heard of these cities, which all have rather significant populations. Bogota has more than seven million inhabitants and is quite amazingly large when you see it from the air.

Medellin and Cartagena both have fewer citizens, but they’re also filled with loads of historic sites you can visit, as well as activities you can enjoy, which range from boating on the Caribbean to paragliding through the hills outside Medellin. If you have about a week to spare, there’s a good chance you’ll try to fit these three cities into your itinerary.

If you have some additional time to enjoy Colombia, you might investigate Cali, Santa Marta, or Barranquilla, all of which are significantly sized. All of these cities have airports, which means you can take small regional planes between each of them during your trip. This is how I got around Colombia when I visited, and I booked taxis for most of my other transportation needs.

I rode public transportation in Medellin, which I highly recommend since their rapid transit system is quite fast and easy for getting you around the city, but I didn’t arrange any dates with the public transit systems in Bogota or Cartagena because those cities haven’t built systems as modern and easy-to-use as the one in Medellin.

I was in Colombia for a little more than a week, and when I wasn’t being transported by taxi, plane, or public transport, I was using my feet. It was pretty easy to walk around the neighborhoods near the hotels I booked, so we didn’t need to book a taxi or find a bus for absolutely every outing. We were picked up for some of our guided tours in Colombia, but we walked to pre-arranged meeting locations for the rest.

Going Off the Beaten Path in Colombia

You may end up renting a car in Colombia if you plan on visiting some of the country’s smaller towns and communities, but you may also choose to set up some guided tours and pre-arranged transportation for those adventures. For example, I booked a hike to a waterfall outside Bogota, and we were driven in a van with some other participants to a rural area where there was hiking, a beautiful waterfall, and a meal at the end of our journey.

Now, I’d rate Colombia as a relatively safe country overall. I didn’t have any qualms about visiting the once-infamous cities and neighborhoods that were made famous because of certain criminals who operated in the country many years ago. However, I did heed warnings about taking off into the middle of nowhere without a guide or group.

Unfortunately, there remains some quite nefarious groups living in the rural areas of Colombia, especially outside the major cities, where lonely travelers could get into some trouble or risk kidnapping. To avoid this potential problem while still getting to see the countryside, I booked guided tours in Colombia where we were driven around by a local, so we didn’t accidentally wander into some potentially dangerous place.

Honestly, I’d suggest that if you were to rent a car in Colombia, you would want to stick to the major cities, as well as the highways connecting those cities, rather than renting a car with the sole purpose of getting out of town and exploring. Colombia has come amazingly far in creating a safe and beautiful country for its citizens.

Taking Short Flights Around Colombia

It was super easy to get around Colombia using the major and regional airports throughout the country. The tickets were pretty inexpensive, and the flights seemed pretty reliable as far as take-offs and landings were concerned. In some countries, you almost have to expect that you’re going to encounter a flight delay here and there, but that wasn’t my experience in Colombia.

All of the airports and small regional flights were operated professionally and on time. Plus, getting from city to city really only takes between 60 and 90 minutes in an airplane. The most time you’ll spend when you travel by airplane in Colombia is at the airport after you check in for your flight and before you board.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend taking some “puddle jumpers” around Colombia to get to your major destinations. You don’t usually need to arrive at the airport super duper early, either like you might with an international flight. If you don’t plan on checking your luggage and just have a carry-on, your experience will be even swifter from departure to arrival.

Even though the airports might not be located within walking distance of your hotel, motel, B&B, or wherever you’re staying, the taxis in places like Cartagena are really cheap, so just go ahead and book your taxis ahead of time. It’s quite easy to stroll out of the airport, hop in your taxi, and enjoy a ride that’s anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to reach your lodgings.

What’s the Driving Like in Colombia?

From my experience, I think you can get around Colombia and see everything you want without renting a car. You may actually find that your itinerary is less expensive when you leave the driving to someone else, or when you book local taxis and use public transportation. However, if you’re absolutely certain you want to drive, I do have good news about the way the Colombians take to the roads.

The drivers in Colombia aren’t completely sedate behind the wheel, but they’re not crazy either. You won’t find yourself getting honked at repeatedly and being surrounded by legions of commuters on bicycles, mopeds, and motorcycles. I’d compare the driving in Colombia’s main cities as comparable to any large American city.

If you can drive in Los Angeles or New York City, you can drive in Colombia without a second thought. And the drivers outside the main cities are pretty run-of-the-mill, too. There are a lot of cars in Colombia, but virtually nobody drives rip-roaringly fast because that’s just not how Colombian society works. There isn’t a huge emphasis on timelines and getting somewhere quickly.

I think the only issue you might run into while driving in Colombia is finding a place to park. When I was in Bogota, it felt like parking was in very short supply. You might want to scan the roads and your planned routes of travel on Google maps before your vacation begins. You can often scope out parking spots before you arrive so you aren’t caught circling the block 20 times to find a place to park.

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