Colombia Solo Female Travel Safety Tips and Advice

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Welcome to the Solo Female Travel Safety Tips and Advice page for Colombia!

This page is brought to you by Solo Female Travelers Tours, our curated small group trips for women, by women.

On this page you will find first-hand, unbiased, and real safety tips, advice and reviews from women traveling solo, submitted directly from their personal experiences in the country.

Their opinions are unfiltered and submitted independently as part of the Solo Female Travel Safety Index, a ranking of 210 countries and regions based on how safe they are for women traveling solo.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers.

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Colombia Country data

We have compiled a few data points below that can help you better understand Colombia and have more context when thinking about travel safety.

Official country name: Republic of Colombia.

Etymology: The country is named after explorer Christopher Columbus.

Country map

Locator map

Flag

Capital: Bogota.

Independence / foundation: Colombia achieved independence from Spain in 1810 along with Ecuador and Venezuela that made up Gran Colombia.

Population: 49 million.

Currency: Colombian Peso (COP)
1 USD = 3,770 - 4,948 COP
1 EUR = 4,086 - 4,293 COP

Time zone: UTC-5

Languages spoken: Spanish (official) and 65 Amerindian languages.

Religions: Christian 92% (predominantly Roman Catholic), other 1%, unspecified 6%.

Climate: Tropical along coast and eastern plains and cooler in the highlands.

Real GDP (ppp – purchasing power parity): $810 billion.

Real GDP per capita (ppp): $15,600.

Main airports: El Dorado International Airport, José María Córdova International Airport, Rafael Núñez International Airport.

World heritage sites in Colombia

Coffee cultural landscapes of Colombia
Historic Center of Santa Cruz de Mompoc
San Agustin Archeological Park

There are over 1,100 world heritage sites spread across more than 165 countries. New ones are added every year, and some may be removed from the list for various reasons.

Number of UNESCO listed sites: 9.

Top world heritage sites:

- Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia.
- Historic Centre of Santa Cruz de Mompox.
- San Agustín Archaeological Park.
- Los Katíos National Park.
- National Archeological Park of Tierradentro.
- Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments, Cartagena.
- Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary.
- Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System.
- Chiribiquete National Park.

Interesting facts about Colombia

- Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world after Brazil which is 10 times its size.

- Colombia is the only country in South America that has coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

- The coffee landscapes of Colombia are not just beautiful and UNESCO listed but also produce the third largest amount of exports of coffee after Brazil and Vietnam.

- Cumbia music genre originated in Colombia as a courtship dance among West African slaves.

Further reading: N/A.


Colombia Travel tips

Socket type: A / B. Guide to socket types.

Weekend days: Saturday and Sunday.

Driving: Cars drive on the Right.

Local taxi apps: Didi-Rider, Uber, Cabify.

Travel Guides: Lonely Planet, Bradt Guide.

Languages spoken: Spanish (official) and 65 Amerindian languages.

Basic words and phrases in the main language:

Hello: Hola
Please: Por favor
Thank you: Gracias
Help: Necesito ayuda


Learn more with our favorite learning app Mondly.

Find a hotel in Colombia

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More about Colombia on Solo Female Travelers

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Did you spot any errors? We do our best to keep this information updated and accurate, but things change. If you saw anything that is not right, let us know so we can fix it: [email protected].


About the Solo Female Travel Safety Index

Safety matters to solo female travelers, you told us so in our annual Solo Female Travel Survey, where year after year, women prove that this is their most important concern when traveling solo.

We wanted to do something about it, so we built these country-specific pages where you can find reviews and scores for 7 key variables affecting the safety of women traveling solo.

Variables

  • Risk of scam
  • Risk of theft
  • Risk of harassment
  • Attitudes towards women
  • UK Travel Advisory
  • US Travel advisory
  • Global Peace Index (GPI)

Informing OSAC

The Solo Female Travel Safety Score is used by the Overseas Security Advisory Council for including safety concerns for women travelers in their country security reports; OSAC is a partnership between the U.S. Department of State and private-sector security community.

How to use the Safety Index

On this page, you will find the country score and the personal opinions on safety of other women traveling solo.

You can sort the comments by:

  • The level of experience traveling solo of the reviewer (beginner = <5 trips solo, Intermediate = 5 to 10 trips solo, Experienced = >10 trips solo).
  • The age of the traveler.
  • Whether they are a visitor or local.
  • The date they were posted.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers. 

Thus, the lower the score, the safer the country.


Looking for more safety resources?

This entire website is devoted to helping women travel solo. Check out the links below to learn more:

Solo Female Travel Stats: Results from the the largest, most comprehensive and only global research study on solo female travel trends, preferences and behaviors published.

Thanks to Jacobo Vilella for creating the Solo Female Travelers Safety Index ❤️