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Bookmark & shareColombia is not an expensive country. Budget travelers can get by on around US$15.00 - US$25.00 per day; while those staying in more comfortable hotels, eating at restaurants and taking a flight from time to time will spend around US$25.00 - US$45.00 per day. Splurgers should budget on US$50.00 - US$70.00 a day.
You can save money by going to free days at museums (often the last Sunday of the month), or using a student card when buying plane and museum tickets. Also, remember that long-distance bus fares are negotiable.
Money Preferred Form
You can use credit cards (Visa is the most widely accepted) for car rental, air tickets and in most top-end hotels and restaurants. Plastic money is also becoming popular for purchasing goods and payment for services in many other commercial establishments. There are an increasing number of cajeros automáticos (automatic teller machines); these accept Visa and MasterCard and pay out in pesos.
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Currency
- Name
- Colombian Peso
- Symbol
- Col$
The Colombian peso comes in paper notes of 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000. Forged peso notes do exist, so watch exactly what you get. In contrast to perfect dollar fakes, peso forgeries are usually of poor quality and easy to recognize.
Peso coins come in denominations of 50, 100, 200 and 500. You may come across the occasional 1000-peso coin: be aware that businesses don't accept them and neither should you. In fact, because of the ease with which they could be counterfeited, 1000-peso coins were withdrawn from circulation years ago.
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Changing Your Money
You can change cash (and sometimes travelers cheques) at casas de cambio (authorized money-exchange offices) found in almost all major cities and border towns. Avoid street dealers except where there's no alternative. In Cartagena, they're particularly notorious for ripping off tourists - avoid them like the plague.
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Money Tips
Few Colombian banks deal in foreign exchange but you can usually count on Bancolombia to change US dollars and travelers checks. Changing travelers checks can take ages as photocopies need to be made, finger prints given and passports inspected. Ask for cash in large quantities to avoid going back frequently. Banco Unión Colombiano also provides these services, but there are fewer branches. Half a dozen other banks, with branches across the country, have ATMs that accept Visa, Mastercard and Cirrus.
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Sample Price Guide
- litre of petrol
- US$ 0.60
- small bottle of water
- US$ 0.60
- minimum taxi charge
- US$ 1.25
- souvenir t-shirt
- US$ 10.00
- bottle of Àguila
- US$ 0.35
- M & Ms
- US$ 1.00
- Internet cafe per hour
- US$ 0.80-2.00
- Laundry per kg
- US$ 1.60
Average Room Prices
Low Mid High Deluxe US$7-15 US$15-25 US$25-45 US$45+ Average Meal Prices
Low Mid High Deluxe US$1-4 US$4-8 US$8-10 US$10+ -
Tipping
Tipping is essentially limited to upscale restaurants (leave about 10% of the bill) and posh hotels. Most restaurants will incorporate a 10% service charge into the bill anyway, as well as the 16% IVA sales tax - but it is not mandatory to pay the service charge. As in most neighboring countries, bargaining is limited to informal trade and services, such as markets, street stalls, taxis, and sometimes long-distance buses.
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Disclaimer: We've tried to make the information on this web site as accurate as possible, but it is provided 'as is' and we accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by anyone resulting from this information. You should verify critical information (like visas, health and safety, customs and transportation) with the relevant authorities before you travel.
