🇨🇴Cost of Travel in Colombia (2026): Daily Budgets for 3 Cities
A spring-weather valley city of cable cars, a walled Caribbean port, and a high, cold capital with a gold museum and a serious food scene. Far easier to travel than its old reputation, as long as you learn the local rule: don't make yourself an easy target.
Daily budgets in Colombia
The cheapest city in Colombia is Medellín, at $50–90 a day mid-range per person; the priciest is Cartagena, at $70–140 — about 50% more for the same style of trip.
| City | Budget / day | Mid-range / day | Comfort / day | Cheap meal | Mid-range hotel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medellín | $30–55 | $50–90 | $90–160 | $5–8 | $75–150 |
| Bogotá | $30–60 | $50–100 | $90–180 | $4.50–7.50 | $75–135 |
| Cartagena | $40–85 | $70–140 | $130–250 | $6–9 | $120–240 |
Per person in US dollars, flights not included. Mid-range is each guide's researched figure and includes a mid-range room; budget and comfort scale it by 0.6 and 1.8, so treat those as rough. How we work these out.
Plan a trip across Colombia
Set the nights you'd spend in each city. Per person, before flights; each night counts one day of that city's daily budget.
Cities
🇨🇴Bogotá
ColombiaA big, grey, cold-mornings capital on a plateau 2,640 m up, with a colonial core, a gold museum and a food scene most visitors fly straight past. It asks for more street sense than Medellín and gives back more than its reputation suggests.
🇨🇴Cartagena
ColombiaA walled Spanish port on the Caribbean, all bougainvillea balconies and fortress stone, and the most photogenic old town in South America. Also the hottest, priciest and most hustle-heavy stop in Colombia — worth it, in smaller doses than you'd think.
🇨🇴Medellín
ColombiaA valley city of brick hillsides, cable cars and permanent spring weather, with a metro its residents are openly proud of. Easy to love and easy to get complacent in — the risks here are quiet ones.
Head to head
Two cities side by side — costs, best months and what you'd do in each.