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How to Decide Whether You’ll Feel Comfortable Traveling There

An update to this article as of August 24, 2026. Due to the earthquake on August 10, 2026 we would not recommend traveling to the Coffee Region which includes Pereira, Armenia, Cali, Manizales, Salento, and the Cocora Valley. However Bogotá, Cartagena, and Medellín — were largely undamaged and are operating normally.

We don’t want to be naïve when we travel. But we also don’t want to be overly fearful. That balance felt especially important when we began planning a trip to Colombia. Our first step was to read the State Department Travel Advisory.

Colombia Isn’t Just One Safety Rating

Because it uses the same metric to rate roughly 200 countries, the advisory system tends to be broad, even though risk is never evenly distributed within a country’s borders. A remote conflict zone and a capital city’s tourist district get folded into the same national number.

For at least the last six years the State Department has given Colombia a Level 3 – “Reconsider Travel” rating. It also specifies the regions that are particularly dangerous and gives them a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” rating. Most international visitors never go anywhere near those higher-risk regions. Nor would we.

The advisory itself covers a wide range of serious risks—crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and natural disasters.  Some of those risks are concentrated in remote regions affected by armed conflict and organized crime. Others, particularly robbery and theft, can also occur in major cities and tourist areas.

 In the meantime, Colombia’s popular destinations receive millions of international visitors, and cruise ships regularly dock in Cartagena. The country has invested heavily in tourism infrastructure as visitor numbers have grown.

For visitors sticking to the main tourist circuit, the crime you’re more likely to encounter looks different.

Everyday Crime, Not Cartels

The concern for most visitors isn’t kidnapping or cartel violence — it’s ordinary street crime:

• Pickpocketing
• Phone snatching
• Taxi scams
• Overly friendly strangers running distraction schemes
• Robberies involving intoxicated travelers late at night

In other words, the risks most visitors need to think about are generally urban and situational—not encounters with cartels or armed groups.  These habits can reduce your exposure:

• Keep your phone put away while walking, and never leave it on a table or bar. We used a slash-resistant phone tether worn across the body — it kept the phone accessible for photos without ever setting it down somewhere it could be snatched (or, just as likely, forgotten).
• Use a cross-body bag rather than anything that can be grabbed and run off with.
• Use rideshare apps at night rather than hailing on the street.
• Don’t wear flashy jewelry or watches.
• Don’t leave drinks unattended in bars or other venues.
• Be alert to dating-app scams — meet in public places and tell someone where you’re going.
• Use bank ATMs rather than street machines, and store passports in a hotel safe or locked bag.
• One report that concerned me involved “express kidnapping,” in which a victim is briefly held and forced to withdraw money from an ATM. I lowered the daily withdrawal limit on my bank card. That could not eliminate the risk, but it limited the amount accessible through the account.
• Ask your hotel if there are specific nearby streets to avoid.

We already practiced most of these habits.

Just six months before, my husband had been pickpocketed not once but twice in Lisbon! He began carrying a cross-body bag. We treated those incidents as a reason to improve our precautions—not as evidence that Portugal was an unsafe country or that Portuguese people were untrustworthy.

In planning, we also focused on accommodations in well-reviewed neighborhoods.

The Places We Visited

The key isn’t avoiding Colombia — it’s knowing where to go, and where not to. We followed Colombia’s well-established tourist route.

Bogotá: We visited museums, walked through busy sightseeing areas, ate in excellent restaurants, and stayed in a well-reviewed neighborhood.

Medellín: We stayed in El Poblado, an affluent area filled with hotels, restaurants, cafés, and international visitors, and did a day tour to Guatapé.

The Coffee Region: Salento and the Cocora Valley felt much more relaxed than the major cities.

Cartagena: We stayed within established visitor areas, including the historic center.

Tayrona National Park:  We chose an ecotourism resort rather than trying to explore isolated areas independently.

We felt comfortable in all of these places. But we did not assume every neighborhood was equally safe or that the same street would feel the same during the day and late at night. That distinction matters in Colombia, just as it does in New York, Chicago, Lisbon, or Barcelona.

Colombia Was Not What We Expected

One of our biggest surprises was how many European and younger travelers we encountered—and how few Americans. A few months later, my twenty-something nephew from New York called for advice about whether to spend more time in Medellín or Bogotá. Like many of the travelers we met, he was attracted by how far his budget could stretch there. It made us wonder whether Colombia’s reputation has changed more quickly among younger and European travelers than among older Americans.

Many appeared to be drawn by the same thing that initially attracted us: Colombia offers remarkable value. We could afford attractive accommodations in better neighborhoods, use rideshares freely, and enjoy excellent restaurants without spending what a similar trip might cost in the United States or Western Europe. One of those meals included the best steak I have ever had.

The Colombia we experienced was not the Colombia many people still picture. But that does not mean the country’s former reputation was invented. It means conditions have changed substantially in many tourist destinations while serious problems remain elsewhere.

Ultimately, the question is not whether Colombia is universally “safe.” It is whether, after reading the advisories, researching the places you intend to visit, and considering your own comfort level, you will feel comfortable traveling there.

We did. Colombia became one of the most varied, welcoming, and rewarding trips we have taken.

Already Planning Your Colombia Trip?

Skip the overwhelm and start with a complete, independent-travel itinerary.

My Highlights of Colombia Itinerary includes the route we followed through Bogotá, Medellín, the Coffee Region, Cartagena, and Tayrona National Park, along with practical transportation, lodging, sightseeing, and planning guidance.

New to Colombia?

If this article has you thinking about a trip, you might also enjoy:

➡️ 13 Reasons to Add Colombia to Your Travel List

From colorful colonial cities and the Coffee Region to Caribbean beaches, Andean mountains, and some of the friendliest people we met anywhere in South America, it’s a look at why Colombia surprised us—and why it became one of our favorite trips.

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