Would you go to Colombia right now?

As stated on the post above (mine and others) the current situation in Ecuador and Colombia will not affect you. Enjoy your trip.

Jorge Daniel Barchi.
Buenos Aires.

I agree with Jorge, the current (or has it passed) situation does no affect foreign travellers. That being said, Colombia still is not a very safe place. Statistics do no lie. We (five of us, a couple and three grown children) were in Colombia for two weeks in January. We met only the nicest, most friendly people in the country everywhere. We spent four days in Leticia. Came back to Bogota. Then we rented a car and drove from Bogota to Medellin and to Cartagena. The day we came back home to the US five tourists were kidnapped by FARC. So we don't know what to make of it except to say we were lucky.

Would I go again now? No question, in a heart beat.

Yes, I would go to Colombia right now and already booked my ticket to go in May for over a month. I am 20 years old and spent a month there last summer. I have been following the situation closely and my conclusion is this would not affect travelers at all. Its more of a diplomatic situation rather than real danger that could affect travelers.

Of course you won't want to go to the Darien Gap. Narino, Choco, and Buenaventura are all a bit risky. But still, even those places are not that bad for travelers from what I understand.

The big cities (Bogota, Cali, Medellin, Cartagena, etc,) are all perfectly safe. Smaller cities in the coffee region should be fine. Popoyan too. I hear Tieradentro and closer to the Ecuadorian border are a bit risky. But still, in all likelihood you would be fine visiting any of these places. If you are interested in the jungle, Leticia is also safe.

I used day buses and night buses last summer and had no problems. Night buses are supposed to pose more dangers though. I still plan on using day buses and night buses to get from place to place in may.

I did meet many solo backpackers both male and female. Of course I would worry for my sister if she traveled alone anywhere, even in Europe. But I am sure she would be fine and have the time of her life.

Go, and have a great time! You will fall in love with Colombia and the people!

Jorge was drawing an analogy, not comparing Argentina with Colombia. In Arg right now the strikes are the big news and if you just watch TV that is all you will hear about and think the whole country is in peril. Obviously it is not. It is the same with Colombia in that the current situation while eating up all the headlines is not really an issue in the tourist places.

I was in Colombia for a week in Jan, in the southern portion right during the volcano eruption (sadly missed it by 2 days), the FARC kidnappings and Chavez accusing Colombia of trying to assasinate him. Aside from the military presence, which is normal, none of these issues affected me or other travelers.

Similarly when i was back in Colombia in Feb I had no problems although I missed the most recent conflict by a few days. A good friend of mine was traveling through Venezuela and Colombia during the conflict and she had no problems. But of course her parents and me included were worried about her because we were only watching CNN. I also have a friend who is currently living in Bogota and has had no problems either.

Colombia has its risks but I don't think the current state of affairs increases them by much.

Nosag & Mananath & Yaofang: Thanks for the update! I appreciate hearing from real travelers who have been through the area recently. I always take with a grain of salt what the news stations say (BBC, CNN, Fox especially!). They do tend to focus on the worst possible situations, versus the typical situations. In all my travels so far, I've never been worried about safety or muggings or kidnappings.

The areas I'm thinking of going to are: Cartagena/Santa Marta and surroundings; San Gil; Villa de Lleva; and finally Bogota. During a 2 week period.

From what I've read, these areas tend to be low on the radar for Guerrilla activity, problems, etc. Right?

Any concerns with taking a bus (night or day) to and from each destination?

Thanks again for your real-time information!

Hi NYC girl, I have just finished a month in Colombia and I was in Taganga near Santa Marta when the troubles started. It didn't seem to have any effect on travellers and the locals didn't seem to be too worried either. The border crossing from Venezuela was interesting with many Military stops on the way and we crossed into Ecuador 3 days ago and the wasn't any trouble.
As for travelling, we (my boyfriend and I) have travelled during the night from Medellin to Bogota and had no trouble. We tried to travel during the day but with the long distance it wasn't always possible but even when we arrived somewhere in the dark, it was ok. Just hop into a taxi, that's what we did most of the time.
Cartagena: We stayed in Getsemani and it felt alright walking around there after dark. If there are many people around, I wouldn't worry too much.
Santa Marta/Taganga: Definitely worth a visit. Taganga is super relaxed and very safe after dark. Great hostel is Casa Felipe and don't miss Maria's Baguettes, yummy!

I would recommend Medellin as well. Haven't seen that much but Zona Rosa there is perfectly safe if expensive. Great clubs and restaurants. Casa Kiwi or Pit Stop are great hostels to stay at.

My boyfriend loved San Gil and said it was very safe too.

Bogota, my favourite! I stayed in Aragon in Candelaria. Very clean and safe hotel.
Candelaria is not really the best place to walk around at night on your own but on the weekends it gets busy and it is a lot safer, I think. If in doubt, always get a taxi!
There is a Zona Rosa in Bogota too which is really busy during weekends. Quite expensive but you can find clubs where you pay an entry fee and get free drinks all night. Loads of restaurants too but a little pricy for my liking.

Anyhow, we had a great time in Colombia and no trouble whatsoever. Just use common sense really and if you don't feel safe, get a taxi. I hope you'll enjoy Colombia, it is fabulous and the people are so friendly. Don't forget to sample all the different fruit juices and smoothies on offer!

I hope this helps a little, Yvonne

Previous reports:

I have been in Colombia for a little over two months and have fallen in love with the country. Safety has not been an issue, just the same common sense precautions you would take elsewhere. Ask people at your hotel before setting off to areas that may have security problems. Main areas are fine. I do not think not knowing much Spanish is a problem, as many Colombians in larger cities speak at least some English. Also as the Colombians are so friendly you will be anxious to improve your Spanish and talk with everyone.

Last month (April 2007) I posted several times on this forum asking if it is safe to travel to Colombia with my wife and three small children. Because of all the encouraging responses on this forum we decided to go. We had a wonderful two weeks and always felt safe. One of you told me that after we went we would be posting to say how ridiculous our questions about kidnapping and gorillas sounded, well you were right. To anyone considering going to Colombia, I highly recommend going. Do not miss Cartagena, amazing city, also the Parque Tayrona was a highlight of the trip. Hiked through the rainforest, saw lots of wildlife including parrots, a capybara, tons of huge insects, snakes and two different kinds of monkeys including the almost extinct Ti Ti. To everyone who posted, THANK YOU from the Cacy family

There are lots of posts on this site asking about the dangers in Colombia... The most dangerous one for me is not wanting to leave.. I was supposed to be crossing the border to Ecuador today, and here I am, back in Bogota.. I just do not want to go. My advice to anyone travelling round South America is leave Colombia till last. That way you will not be trashing all the rest of your travel plans. I really think I am gonna cry when I cross that border... Maybe I should go by plane....

Jorge Daniel Barchi.
Buenos Aires.

"... The areas I'm thinking of going to are: Cartagena/Santa Marta and surroundings; San Gil; Villa de Lleva; and finally Bogota..."

You're traveling on the most popular, well beaten gringo tourist trail in the entire country. The political unrest you're worried about has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with you.

Jorge's analogy makes perfect sense - the crap that's on the TV has zero impact on you as a tourist.

Cheers,
Terry

There is nothing regarding the current situation that would cause me to tell someone not to come here. You sound pretty well traveled in Central America so you should be fine here, especially in the places you've mentioned. The conflict with Ecuador and Venezuela hasn't really effected anything and it certainly won't affect your travels. Despite how safe you will l read traveling in Colombia is on this board, there is still a war going on and it is important to confer with locals, hotel owners, etc regarding your safety. I'm headed down towards the border with Ecuador (from Medellin) next week and I don't anticipate any problems.

You will love Colombia, its people and you will love Villa de Leyva. Villa de Leyva alone you can spend a full day or two. We actually drove to Villa de Leyva in our rental car from Bogota. I can tell you renting a car in Colombia does not make sense. The fact there are five of us makes it less so but I digressed. We headed toward Villa de Leyva after getting the car at 3:30 PM in El Dorado airport. By the time we arrived at the village it was near dusk, around 6 PM I think. That tells you driving does not have any significant advantage over public transportation except a little more convenience.

I am sure there are plenty more posts on the village so I won't bore you with our experience spending only a few hours there which we wished could have been more. We left the village at 10:30 PM to go back to Bogota, against everything the guide book says to not drive at night. But it was a blessing in disguise as we later learned. It was Sunday, January 6, the last day of the Colombian New Year holiday so there are plenty many people on the road between Villa de Leyva and Bogota coming back for the first work week of the year. There is another reason which we would never have known why so many people are on the road being in the country for the very first time. We just bumped into it. In the battle field near Boyaca where Simon Bolivar (I hope I spell his name right) won the last battle against the Spaniards to win the independence about an hour away from Bogota where it has been made a park and national monument, there is an annual light show which lasted from Christmas to the end of the New Year Holiday. There are figurines. models of structures like the Eiffel Tower and the Colisium in Rome for example made of Christmas lights. The park is full of these and they were to be seen at night as you can imagine. Colombian take their light shows seriously if you have been to Parque 93 in Bogota during Christmas.

I have never posted pictures here I hope they show up.

The light show at the national monument in Boyaca

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