Since the peace contract between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla group has been established in 2016, safety in Colombia has improved a lot.
Colombia has become much safer to travel, both for locals and for foreigners. In fact, many parts of the country are just starting to open their doors to tourists for the first time, which is one of the reasons why it is so exciting to travel in Colombia. You can still find a lot of pristine nature, untapped territories, and hidden gems. Plus, Colombian people are amazing with their openness, kindness and hospitality!
It’s important to recognize that there exists a significant economic disparity within society, and a considerable portion of the population lives in poverty. Like elsewhere in Latin America, it’s advisable to take some extra travel safety precautions compared to popular Asian or European countries. Below you will find more information and recommendations for staying safe while traveling alone in Colombia, based on my personal experience.
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Here are my to Colombia safety tips for solo travelers, based on my experiences after having traveled and lived in the country for about 5 years. These tips apply to all people traveling alone in Colombia, including solo female travelers, solo LGBT travelers and all other solo travelers.
“No dar papaya” (“don’t give papaya”): That’s a common advice by Colombian people, meaning don’t give anyone the opportunity to take advantage of you by being inattentive, looking insecure or showing off. This includes not using your mobile phone openly in the streets of big cities like Bogotá and Medellin or in public transport (especially not if you sit close to a window or door). When you walk around, put your most confident look on and act as if you know exactly where you are going.
Trust your gut feeling! If you walk around a city and suddenly get a weird, uncomfortable feeling, it’s most likely a good idea to turn around and take another route. In big cities the safety situation sometimes changes from one street to another. If you talk to someone and this person makes you feel uncomfortable, forget your education to be a “good girl” (or boy) and respectfully walk away or get involved in a conversation with other people.
Ask local people which areas are safe to stay and visit. Safety in big cities like Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, Cali, Santa Marta, Barranquilla or Bucaramanga may vary quite a lot depending on the exact area. Drug addiction and resulting mental health issues is a problem in big cities and addicts gather around certain areas. Do research beforehand and ask the locals which areas are safe to stay and visit, and which ones to avoid. If you are a women traveling alone, it’s best if you ask local women for this advice. And again: Trust your gut feeling!
Avoid walking around alone after dark. Call up a legal taxi, book an Uber or a similar service via an app. When in Colombia, do as the Colombians do!
Use trustable transportation: Uber, Didi, Cabify, InDriver and similar services are a good way to move around Colombian cities. They are officially illegal in Colombia, but in reality they provide a safe, cheap and reliable transport option. Many of them also offer the option to book traditional taxis (or moto-taxis). Hailing a taxi in the street may not always be safe. While public transportation (metro, bus) is fine during the day (as long as you watch out for your belongings), I don’t recommend to use it after dark.
Avoid empty streets and low-lit areas. That’s another strategy to “not give papaya”.
Don’t let your drink unobserved. Since there are some powerful plants and drugs in Colombia being able to paralyze your body and your free will, you don’t want to risk that they end up in your beverage while you are not paying attention.
Stay sober. It’s better to stay sober when you are traveling alone in order not to dull your perception and attention. Avoid alcohol and drugs.
Team up with other people. Go in a group, if you feel uncomfortable going somewhere alone. Our Colombia Solo Travelers Facebook Group allows you to team up with other solo travelers for activities like dancing, hiking in nature, etc. Going in a group often enhances safety in Colombia! Please also read our safety tips for online platforms further below.
Make copies of your important documents, like your passport, and keep them in a safe place.
Pay attention to current safety advisory for Colombia: You may research the safety advice published by your Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Take it with a grain of salt, though, since sometimes these advices feel like you can’t travel anywhere in the world. In my experience they are good for safety advice related to the current political and health situation in a country.
Research common scams in Colombia: See more information below.
Prepare your trip: Have a look at my Colombia Solo Tavel Guide where you can find additional tips for planning your solo trip to Colombia to stay safe.
Photo by Helena Lopes, Safety in a group
What are top safety tips for female solo travelers in Colombia? My safety advice for women traveling alone in Colombia is basically the same as for other solo travelers, since in my experience as a female solo traveler, how a woman “behaves” does not really make a difference anywhere in the world.
As the female founder of Travelhapp, I live in Colombia and have traveled alone around the country quite a bit. I encountered issues twice during my total time in the country, which would be more than 5 years including my travels before moving here. The first time was a bus scam during a 3-weeks solo trip in 2011 which I think wouldn’t work on me anymore now (see “scams” further below).
The second time was in 2023, when I “gave papaya” during a time when I had a lot on my mind and wasn’t fully attentive: I was typing a message sitting directly next to the door inside a Transmilenio bus in Bogotá. When the bus stopped at the station a hand quickly reached inside and snatched my phone away from me. The phone fortunately had reached the end of its life expectancy anyway with the screen changing funnily between red and green…
The fact is that I have kind of internalized the safety tips above over years of traveling solo. My first overseas solo trip led me to the North of Brazil in 2002, at the age of 24. It hadn’t been fully clear to me that the safety situation there at that time was quite challenging. Towards the end of that trip, when someone asked me if a certain place was safe, I answered, without batting an eye, “Yes totally. At worst they might steal your money, but no arms or anything like that.” So, you can imagine…
Since then, I have become much more cautious both when planning my trips and while traveling. And it has worked fine for me ever since 2002. Still, my subjective sense of safety was affected for quite a long time (which never stopped me from traveling and exploring the world, though).
The Colombia Solo Travelers Facebook Group was born primarily with the idea of improving the sense of safety for women when traveling alone by making it easier to team up with other people for certain activities, like hikes in nature. Finding people may be a challenge for introverted solo travelers who are not particularly fond of hostels. However, going in a group is one of the best safety strategies for exploring also more remote places.
Photo: Me in Los Nevados National Park close to Manizales
As in almost any country, you need to be observant while traveling and watch out for your belongings.
Colombia’s nature offers some very powerful plants. Unfortunately extracts of some of them can be used to temporarily paralyze your hands or willpower. Pay attention, especially in big cities like Bogota or Medellin, and do not accept any cigarettes, flyers, drinks or food from someone you don’t know. Don’t leave your food and drinks unattended.
Forms of theft include scams that aim to distract you or mislead you. For example, someone may throw liquid on you and – while you check what happened – another person may steal your mobile phone. I experienced this in La Candelaria the first time I visited Bogotá in 2011, but since then the safety situation in the center has improved immensely. (At the time my tendency to deeply immerse myself into my inner world protected me from falling victim to the scam – I reacted about 5 minutes after the liquid hit me…)
Here’s the bus scam I mentioned in the previous section: Back in 2011, I had boarded a bus at the Pereira bus station when a man wearing what looked like a bus company uniform told me to place my backpack in the overhead compartment above my seat. At first, I refused, but he was insistent, so I eventually complied. Just three minutes later, when I checked, my backpack was gone – along with my passport and camera filled with beautiful photos of the Amazon and Valle del Cocora. Losing the photos still hurts!
The passport, however, turned out to be less of an issue. I learned that I could travel using the police report as an identification document and, two weeks later, I received a brand-new “Colombian” passport from the German embassy. Anyway, I think nowadays I would be more self-confident in my reaction to the guy.
I recommend to do some research on common scams in the area that you plan to visit in order to be prepared.
If someone tries to rob you, it’s better not to put resistance since those people may have drug problems and act impulsively.
Since the peace contract in 2016 the situation has generally calmed down a lot and many formerly inaccessible areas con now finally be visited by local and international travelers. However, there have been attacks against social and community leaders, above all in remote areas where state and police control is limited.
Some departments are more affected by ongoing guerrilla and paramilitary activity than others, especially in their rural areas. For example, there are rather frequent travel alerts for parts of Norte de Santander, rural Caquetá, Vichada and Arauca, or Chocó outside of its main tourism hubs.
It’s important to check the current safety situation in the areas you plan to visit. Talk to locals, read local news, and yes – checking the website of your country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a good idea in this case. However, it’s always worth doing extra research, as even in departments with travel alerts, there are often specific areas that are completely safe to visit.
Photo by Greg Montani, Jungle (mod.)
Here are some helpful phrases in Spanish for emergency situations:
Help! – ¡Ayuda!
Call an ambulance. – Llama una ambulancia.
Call the police. – Llama la policía.
It hurts. – Me duele.
I need a doctor. – Necesito un médico.
There has been and accident. – Hubo un accidente.
My phone was stolen. – Me robaron el celular.
Thief – Ladrón
Here are some useful numbers in case of emergencies. You may want to save them in your phone before traveling to Colombia.
All emergencies (24h): 123
Police: 112
Traffic and accidents (24h): 127
Health emergencies (24h): 125
Ambulance (24h): 132
When calling the tourist police (or any other fix line number in Colombia) from a foreign mobile phone number, you need to put two prefixes, the country code and the area code.
Tourist Police Bogotá: (+57 1) 337-4413 or (+57 1) 243-1175
Tourist Police Medellín: (+57 4) 265-5907
1 – for Cundinamarca and Bogotá
2 – for Valle del Cauca and Nariño: for example, Cali, Buenaventura, Popayán
4 – for Antioquia, Córdoba and Chocó: for example, Medellín
5 – for Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, La Guajira, Magdalena and Sucre: for example, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa Marta, Palomino, Riohacha
6 – for Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío: for example, Salento, Manizales, Armenia, Pereira, La Dorada
7 – for Norte de Santander, Santander and Arauca: for example, San Gil, Bucaramanga
8 – for Boyacá, Tolima, Huila, San Andrés, Meta, Caquetá, Casanare, Guaviare, Putumayo, Amazon and Orinoco regions: for example: for example, Leticia, Villa de Leyva, Ibagué, Neiva, Yopal
No matter if you plan to use Tinder, Bumble or just join our Colombia Solo Travelers Facebook Group to find people for tours and other activities, it’s important to always take safety precautions when meeting people in real life.
Here are a few safety tips for online platforms and IRL meetings:
Be a bit vague in your Facebook group posts: If you make a post about a specific activity you would like to engage in, don’t be too specific regarding the meeting point and time and your planned itinerary. Discuss the details of your plans in private messages and with the people you trust only.
Don’t share personal information: Don’t put any personal information, like your phone number, in your posts. Also in private messages be careful about what you share. Don’t share the address of the place you are staying with people you don’t really know.
Go in 3 more: If you are looking to team up for activities, try to go with 2 or more people that don’t mutually know each other. If you join an activity, ask the organizer to send you the names of the other people that plan to join.
Let your family or friends know whom you will meet: Let your a friend or family member know whom you will meet and where you will go.
Carefully select whom to meet in person: Let both your brain and your gut feeling guide you.
Meet in a public place: Meet in a well-lit, populated, public place. Guys, please be especially cautious with Tinder dates in large cities – some criminal gangs have made a business of drugging and robbing male travelers seeking to meet beautiful women.
Meet for a get to know before you engage in longer activities (e.g. a hike) to get a better impression of the other person. For example, you could meet in a cafe, take a picture of yourself and your acquaintance, and send it to a friend or post it on Instagram.
Report anyone that behaves suspiciously or offends you in the Facebook group to us: If you feel uncomfortable with anyone, please let us know.
Never share financial information that could be used to access your financial accounts (for example, PayPal login and password, bank account info)
Don’t leave drinks unattended: Keep an eye on your drink all the time, so that no one can insert any substances.
Save the number of the police: Save the number of the police and tourist police in your phone and make sure that your phone battery is charged.
Regarding our Facebook group: Please be aware that the group only enables you to communicate and interact with others and cannot take any responsibility for its users or their behavior. Trust your gut feeling and use your good judgement when deciding with whom you interact, and especially whom to meet in person.
Regarding Tinder, Bumble, etc.: To women, I would recommend Bumble rather than Tinder in Colombia, at least in big cities.
Last Update: November 30, 2024
Image Credit: Title image on top by ECproduction: Cartagena Lighthouse (mod.)
