Money in Colombia

The Colombian Peso and Its Large Numbers

Colombia uses the Colombian peso (COP), which trades in the thousands to the US dollar and the euro. The effect is that every price has three or four more digits than visitors expect, and the main adjustment is simply calibrating once on arrival — work out what a coffee, a taxi across town and a decent dinner cost, and the rest falls into place quickly. Check a live rate before you travel, because the peso moves. Change money at banks or at authorised casas de cambio, or simply withdraw from a bank ATM once you land. Avoid the exchange desks at airports and in hotels: their margin is the worst you will be offered anywhere in the country, and it is worth changing only what you need to reach the city. US dollars are the easiest foreign cash to exchange; euros are straightforward in the larger cities and harder outside them.

ATMs: Where They Are and How the Limits Work

Bank ATMs are easy to find in Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Cartagena and Santa Marta — Bancolombia, Davivienda, Banco de Bogotá and BBVA are the networks you will see most. Two things are worth knowing before you rely on them. First, per-withdrawal ceilings are low relative to what the same card would give you in Europe or North America, so covering a week's cash can mean several withdrawals rather than one; where a machine charges a flat fee per transaction, taking the maximum each time costs less overall. Second, coverage thins fast outside the cities — in small towns, on the islands and in the coffee and Amazon regions, assume you are carrying in what you will need. For security, use machines inside bank branches, shopping centres or other busy indoor locations rather than standalone ones on the street, cover the keypad, and avoid withdrawing at night.

Cards, and the Two Apps Everyone Local Uses

Card acceptance is good and improving. Visa and Mastercard work at most hotels, restaurants and shops in the cities and in anywhere that sees visitors, and contactless terminals taking Apple Pay and Google Pay are now common in Bogotá, Medellín and Cartagena — though not universal, so never rely on the phone alone. The local layer worth understanding is Nequi and Daviplata, the mobile payment apps that a very large share of Colombians use for everyday transfers; they are not aimed at short-term visitors and generally need a local account, but they explain why a small vendor may prefer a phone transfer to cash. In smaller towns, at markets, on buses and with street food, cash is still the assumption rather than the fallback. If a terminal or ATM offers to charge you in your home currency instead of pesos, decline: that conversion is made at a rate set by the machine and costs several percent more than letting your own bank convert.

What Things Cost, Relative to Each Other

Colombia is one of the better-value destinations in South America, and the useful thing is not a set of figures — the peso moves too much for those to survive — but the shape of the tiers. The cheapest good meal in the country is the corrientazo, the set lunch served at neighbourhood restaurants: soup, a main with rice and protein, a small salad and a drink, for a fraction of what the same plate costs à la carte in the evening. Eating where the set lunch is advertised on a board outside is the single biggest saving available to a visitor. Above that, mid-range restaurants in the big cities are comfortably cheaper than their European or North American equivalents, and fresh fruit juice costs very little anywhere. The clear exception is Cartagena's walled city, where hotels and restaurants are priced for international tourism and can cost several times what an equivalent night or meal costs in Bogotá or Medellín — budget for it as a different country, or sleep just outside the walls. Hostel dorms, domestic flights and coffee-farm tours are all inexpensive by international standards; a private room in a well-located boutique hotel in the old town is not.