Medellín vs Bogotá
Which would you pick?
The short answer
They cost about the same day to day — Medellín $50–90, Bogotá $50–100 mid-range per person. Both are at their best in Jul–Aug, Dec–Mar, so one trip can take in both.
Side by side
Mid-range, per person, in US dollars. Both guides were costed the same way — see how we work these out.
| 🇨🇴 Medellín | 🇨🇴 Bogotá | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily budgetmid-range, per person | $50–90 | $50–100 |
| Cheap meallocal staple | $5–8 | $4.50–7.50 |
| Mid-range hotelper night | $75–150 | $75–135 |
| Transit ridesingle trip | $1.15–1.35 | $1.10 |
| Avg. monthly salarylocal, for context | ≈ $650 | ≈ $750 |
When to go
Filled months are the ones each guide recommends; hollow ones it warns off.
What you'd actually do
A few of each guide's picks, one per category before seconds — the full lists are on the guides themselves.
🇨🇴 Medellín
A valley city of brick hillsides, cable cars and permanent spring weather, with a metro its residents are openly proud of. Easy to love and easy to get complacent in — the risks here are quiet ones.
- Comuna 13$The city
- Hacienda$Restaurants
- Provenza & Parque Lleras$$Nightlife
- Guatapé & El Peñol$$Day trips
- Metrocable to Santo Domingo$The city
🇨🇴 Bogotá
A big, grey, cold-mornings capital on a plateau 2,640 m up, with a colonial core, a gold museum and a food scene most visitors fly straight past. It asks for more street sense than Medellín and gives back more than its reputation suggests.
- Museo del Oro$Museums & old town
- Monserrate$$Views & day trips
- La Puerta Falsa$Restaurants
- Zona T & Zona Rosa$$Nightlife
- Museo Botero$Museums & old town
Practicalities
| Medellín | Bogotá | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Spanish, with a distinct paisa accent. English is common in El Poblado's hotels and cafés and thin almost everywhere else — a translation app earns its keep. | Spanish, spoken slowly and clearly by Colombian standards. English in upmarket hotels and restaurants in the north; very little elsewhere. |
| Currency | Colombian peso (COP). US$1 ≈ COP 3,300 in September 2026. Menus write pesos with a $ sign and a dot for thousands: $20.000 is COP 20,000, about $6. | Colombian peso (COP). US$1 ≈ COP 3,300 in September 2026. Prices use a $ sign and a dot for thousands: $20.000 is COP 20,000, about $6. |
| Climate | Around 1,500 m up, so days sit in the mid-20s °C (high 70s °F) all year. Nobody needs a coat, and few homes have air conditioning. | Around 18–20 °C (mid-60s °F) by day and 7–9 °C (mid-40s °F) at night, all year. Few buildings have heating. |
| Tap water | Drinkable in the city — locals drink it and so can you. Stick to bottled on day trips into the countryside. | Drinkable — Bogotá's water is treated and locals drink it |
The same in both:
- Time zone
- COT (UTC−5), no daylight saving
- Power
- Type A/B plugs, 110V (US plugs fit)
- Emergency
- 123 for police, ambulance and fire