(This post contains affiliate links, for more information read this privacy policy)
As for every big trip I try to document my expenses throughout my travels in order to provide you with a good overview of what costs you might encounter. And this time we will cover beautiful Colombia. So if you are planning on traveling to Colombia here is a short overview trying to answer the following question: How expensive is Colombia?
But first of all a little bit about my style of travel so you can get an idea to what extent your travel style and expenses will be similar to mine. I always stay in Hostel dorms but I do not always opt for the cheapest hostel around.
As a social atmosphere is my priority when traveling I sometimes spend a little more just because a hostel has a better review. I like to eat street food but occasionally also go out to eat if I know the trip is only lasting a limited amount of time.
This trip was only about five weeks and two days (about 37 full days/37 nights) and so it was a lot easier for me to plan ahead and I would go out for food at times. Within Medellín I mostly travelled by metro and Uber. Throughout Colombia by bus or for longer distances by plane.
But first of all, some general things you might need to know about before travelling to Colombia:
Skyscanner: Find the cheapest flight to and from Colombia
Hostelworld: All the very best hostel deals
Italki: Brush up on some Spanish and speak with some native speakers. Sign up now and get $10 of italki credit if you ever spend $20 on lessons
The following list includes all my expenses that I had in my five and a half weeks in Colombia. The only thing that I did not include are the flight tickets to get to Colombia because that will massively differ depending on where you are coming from.
Furthermore, I also did not include ATM fees and international credit card fees as it will also differ depending on your bank etc. Lastly, I excluded my two weeks of Spanish school as it is an expense that not everybody will have.
If you have read my previous post about how much money I spent in Panama, then you might know that I had spent quite a bit more money than I was planning on. Therefore, I expected the same to happen to me in Colombia.
1. Food and Drinks
In total I spent 1,457,170 Pesos over a period of around 37 days. This includes all of my meals and most drinks. That is a total of around €391.4 ($433) or around €10.6 ($11.6) a day.
2. Accommodation
All my accommodation in Colombia included hostel dorms. For 37 nights I spent 1,131,150 Pesos and an additional €46.4 in Hostel world deposits. That sums up to around €350 ($387) or €9.50 ($10.5) a day.
But then again this is just an estimate. Keep in mind that for example once I did a four day tour whereas accommodation for example was includes and instead I will classify it as tours.
3. Tours and Activities
The most expensive tour that I did was the Lost City Hike which contributed to the highest amount of money with 1,100,000 Colombian Pesos. Other than that I went tubing twice, did walking tours in Medellín or graffiti tours and visited Tayrona National Park.
In total I spent around 1,737,200 Colombian Pesos. That is a total of around €468.4 ($516.5) which sums up to about €12.7 ($14) a day.
4. Night Out
In this category I usually include liquor or alcoholic drinks including beer that I bought on a night out. Other than that also entry fees to clubs. But honestly, I didn’t really go out too often.
In total I spent 249,000 Colombian Pesos, which is around €64.4 ($71). That is equal to €1.7 ($1.9) a day.
5. Transportation
Apart from the flight to Colombia, this category includes all types of transportation I had taken within the country such as metro, busses, flights and Ubers.
Overall, I have spent 937,886 Colombian Pesos. That is around €253.51 ($278) or €6.85 ($7.5) a day.
6. Shopping and Extra expenses
This category includes souvenirs, clothes or any type of shopping as well as additional expenses such as medicine, laundry or sim cards.
I spent around 185,500 Colombian Pesos on Shopping and 152,000 on other expenses such as sim cards and laundry. That sums up to a total of €91.2 ($100.3) or €2.46 ($2.71) a day.
Daily Budget and Conclusion
To summarise, without the costs that I had mentioned above, my daily budget in Colombia summed up to around €43.81 ($48.2) a day. That’s a lot more than most websites had suggested for backpacker budgets but I believe I could have traveled cheaper if I would have been traveling for longer and paid more attention to my expenses.
Because my trip was only for a limited amount of time, the budget for Colombia that I set for myself was about €50 a day. I therefore, stayed within budget.
And here you have it! My short little overview of the costs of travelling to Colombia. Have you been to Colombia? Did you spent more or less money than you were planning on?
Talk to you soon x
pin this post for later
