When to go to Colombia? This is one of the questions most often asked by our readers. So we’ve decided to put together this post to try and get to the bottom of the question and help you choose the best time to visit Colombia!
There are many ways of thinking about the “best season” to travel in Colombia. In this post, we’d like to give you the answers to the questions you may have:
How to avoid rain in Colombia ? What is the best season to see wildlife, whales, birds or turtles ? When is the best time to avoid mass turism ? When should I go to enjoy Barranquilla Carnaval ? What about the best moment to buy flight tickets for a trip to Colombia ?
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Best time to visit to Colombia
What makes you decide to travel to Colombia?
Depending on your expectations, your desires and the way you travel, you’ll decide when to travel to Colombia according to very different criteria. Let’s take a look at some of the details that may help you decide when to travel to Colombia. Then we’ll go into more detail in the post.
| Motivation for your trip | Best months to visit Colombia | When to go to Colombia |
|---|---|---|
| Air ticket prices | February March, April, May, June, September, October, November | Travel when tickets are cheapest |
| Avoid rain | January, February, July, August, December | Travel during the dry season |
| Taking part in an event | Travel during the event period | |
| Avoid US tourists | February, April, May, September, October, November | Travel outside US school vacations |
| Avoid Colombian tourists | February, March, May, June, September, October, November | Travel outside colombian school vacations |
Avoid tourists
You want to travel as quietly as possible and prefer to go “out of season” to avoid as many people as possible in the most touristy places.
Avoid the rain
You’ll prefer the months when rain is least likely, and make sure you get sun, sun and sun.
Take part in an exceptional event
You’ve heard about a special event in Colombia and you’ve decided to go to Colombia to take advantage of it, for example, to see the whales on the Pacific coast or take part in the Barranquilla carnival.
Paying the lowest airfares
Finally, we all know that sometimes the wallet dictates the dates of a trip. Your choice will be based on the months when air tickets to Colombia are cheapest.
The best month to travel to Colombia
Best time according to the weather
For many of you, one of the first criteria for deciding when to go to Colombia is the weather! You want sun!
Talking about the weather in Colombia isn’t that simple, but it’s an important question to know when planning your trip. Indeed, Colombia is a tropical country, and this contributes to the idea that it‘s hot and sunny everywhere in the country, but this is not the case.
Colombia doesn’t have just one climate, but several, depending on altitude and geography. In short, the higher you climb, the colder it gets, and vice versa.
When is the best time to visit Colombia?
From our point of view, it’s possible to travel all year round in Colombia. Rain has never stopped us from traveling and doing things.
In Colombia, there are only two seasons, but here we double them! There are two dry seasons and two rainy seasons (except in the Amazon).
Here’s an overview of the seasons in Colombia, but please note that they can vary from region to region.
| Seasons | Months |
|---|---|
| Dry season called “Verano” (summer) | December to February |
| Rainy season called “Invierno” (winter) | April/May and October/November |
Best time to attend an event in Colombia
WHICH SEASON FOR WHALES, TURTLES, GUAJIRA, TREKKING…
Sometimes dreams determine when we go on a trip. Sometimes there are calls from our earliest childhoods that shape our adult lives. There are simply things we’d like to do or see once in our lives, and it’s important to know the best time to go and discover those long-awaited wonders..
So when is the best time to see whales calving on the Pacific coast? When can you see turtles laying eggs on Caribbean beaches? Is there a better time to see anacondas and jaguars in the Amazon? How can I avoid getting stuck in the mud on the Ciudad Perdida trek? During which months is the Caño Cristales River Park open to tourists?
Here are the best seasons for each emblematic and exceptional activity on a trip to Colombia.
| Activities | Best season to visit Colombia |
|---|---|
| Whales on the Pacific coast | July to October |
| Caño Cristales | June to November |
| Scuba diving in Santa Marta | All year except February |
| Trek to Ciudad Perdida | December to March and July/August |
| Amazon | July to September for sailing without too much rain. October to December for hiking |
| Feria de las Flores in Medellin | August |
| Carnival in Baranquilla | February |
| Trek in the Andes | December to March and July/August |
| Turtle nesting in Uraba | February to June, April may be the best month |
| Carnaval de Negros y Blancos | 1st week of January |
Best time to avoid tourists in Colombia
high and low seasons in Colombia
Rest assured, Colombia is not yet an ultra-tourist destination. But it is beginning to attract more and more travellers from all over the world, so it may be worth looking at the less touristy seasons to go to Colombia.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that Colombians themselves go on vacation and head for the country’s highlights at vacation time. This is true not only during school vacations, but also during Holy Week and the various public holidays throughout the year.
Avoid high tourist season when visiting Colombia
Colombia’s high tourist season is a time when transport and hotel room prices can double.
| Colombian high season | High season for French tourists |
|---|---|
| December and January | All Saints’ vacation |
| Holy Week (week before Easter) | Easter vacations |
| Mid-June to Mid-July | Summer vacations |
Colombia in the low tourist season
If you’re looking for peace and quiet, if you want to avoid the crowds as much as possible, then the best time to go to Colombia is “off-season”.
| Colombian low season | Low season for French tourists |
|---|---|
| february to Holy Week | January and February |
| end of Holy Week to mid-June | May and June |
| september to November | September to November |
When to book cheap flights to Colombia
THE best prices on FLIGHT TICKETS
One of the most important aspects of planning a trip to Colombia is buying a plane ticket. In fact, as we explained in our post on budgeting for a trip to Colombia, it represents one of the biggest chunks of your budget.
After some hard research, here’s a very general idea of the periods when plane tickets to Colombia are cheapest.
Cheapest times to fly to Colombia
| Air ticket prices to Colombia | Months |
|---|---|
| Cheap flights | December and January, July and August |
| Cheap air tickets | February, March, April |
Outside these months, it’s fair to say that you’ll find fluctuating prices with some good deals to be had. There’s no secret about it: the more flexible you are about your departure dates, the easier it will be to find prices that match your ideal budget.
Bravo pour votre super blog et vos magnifiques photos
What a great way to share…it really makes us want to make a trip down there a reality this summer.
Thanks a lot! 🙂
Hello!
i’m planning a trip to Colombia in the last week of October, to Medellin and Cartagena. After a lot of research, I’m finding conflicting information about the weather. I know it’s the rainy season, but what could it be like? Can we expect to see the sun, or do we take the risk of torrential rains that keep us cooped up in our apartments?
Thanks in advance and congratulations on your excellent blog 🙂
Émilie
Hi, it’s difficult to give you an answer, the weather is difficult to predict and we’re certainly not going to tell you whether or not it’s going to rain every day 😉 Especially as in recent years the seasons have been capricious, including in Colombia! That said, yes, October is the rainiest month overall, but having already traveled during this period, no, it doesn’t rain h24 for 1 month 😉 So it’s perfectly possible to make the most of it, especially as you’ll be in regions where the weather is warm.
Good evening Angelica,
Good evening Samuel,
The best blog I’ve found. All the questions are addressed, every little detail peeled away … Bravo and many thanks! It’s a delight to read you. Nothing is left to chance
I’m “building” my trip to Colombia scheduled for late August/late September
I’d like your opinion on
– Is it hard to travel by public transport? Some journeys are long
– The illness has taken its toll: I can’t carry a backpack or go trekking. So rolling suitcase OK? in your opinion? Is it feasible?
Do you have the name of an agency to go through for the Guajira desert? Approximate price? Apart from this excursion, the Cocora Valley doesn’t require going through an agency according to what I’ve read?
I’m obviously thinking of booking the accommodation myself…
For which journeys do you think I should take the plane rather than the bus?
Please warn me if you think this is a very strenuous trip (I’m 74)
Do you need an agency for the Cocora Valley? If not, do you know if there is a 3-day package?
Many thanks for your help. My mind travels a lot … I don’t want to get my hopes up, so please reframe me if you see fit
I can’t remember if you went to Leticia. If so, which way?
I look forward to hearing from you
Many thanks
Andrée
0953967425
Hello Andrée, and thank you for your message. It’s difficult to give you an answer about your physical ability to travel to Colombia… To answer your questions point by point
– Public transport can be very tiring because of the length of some journeys (8 hours), although it is possible to find very comfortable buses for these journeys. You should also know that in the Andes, we’re in the high mountains, and the roads are very winding (check if you’re sensitive to motion sickness). To get to some of the less touristy places, the roads may be in poor condition and chaotic, but if you stay on the right track and visit only the most touristy parts, you won’t have to worry about the roads
– Travelling with a wheeled suitcase is no problem, as we did on our last trip 😉
– To discover Guajira with an agency, you’ll find a contact form on our article dedicated to our 4-day tour. Having said that, it’s a very trying experience, as the desert tracks are very chaotic. For a taste of what’s in store, you may be content to discover Cabo de la Vela, the most accessible part with a passable road
– For the Cocora valley, you don’t need an agency, and if you can’t make the trek, you can at least go and see the palm tree fields directly from the entrance, without having to go all the way round the valley, where some of it is quite steep. That said, if you want an agency to organize things for you over a few days, you can contact our partner who offers tours of a few days all over Colombia
– Finally, you can use the airplane to go from one big city to another if you think you won’t be able to take the bus for hours on end. For Cocora, for example, you can take a flight from Bogota to Pereira. It’s also easier to get to the Caribbean coast
We haven’t yet been to Leticia, but here again you can ask our partner what they can offer you, and they’ll be able to answer any questions you may have about “feasibility”, depending on your physical condition.
Hello and thank you for such a precious blog..
My family and I are traveling in July for 15 days and we hesitate to go to providencia which makes us dream… Is the climate right at this time of year?
Is the island really worth the detour?
Many thanks.
Hi, and thank you for your message, we really appreciate it 🙂 Concerning Providencia, we haven’t been there yet, but there’s no lack of interest 😉 As far as we know, it’s an island well worth a visit… As for the climate, no problem in July!
Ola
Thank you so much for this great blog and all the valuable information. I’d like to go to Colombia at the end of December (Medellin, Bogotá in particular) until mid-January And I’d like to do a working holiday in Colombia. Do you think it’s advisable to do it there? Many thanks again.
Lou-Solenn Dos Santos
Hola! Thanks for your message 🙂 As you could see in the article from December to February is supposed to be the best season, so it passes yes! Otherwise of course we encourage you to apply for a PVT in Colombia, you won’t regret it 😉
Hello and thank you for this blog full of advice! We’re planning to go to Medellin ideally during the last 2 weeks of April (or even the first 2, or last 2 of March) and I understand that the rainy season is starting…is there a big difference between March and April? And does it rain non-stop, or intermittently?
Thanks for your reply!
Yes, March is normally a better month than April, but weather is not an exact science… it can shift by a few days/weeks. Still, it’s not normally continuous rain either, but rather a pattern of heavy daily showers. Here again, it’s difficult to be precise: Colombia is a big country, with more than 10 different climates, and in recent years, as elsewhere, these phenomena have become more irregular. But here’s an idea. From our point of view, you can travel in all seasons in Colombia, just some are better than others and the rainy season can cause inconveniences such as flight cancellations or road closures
Hello,
Thank you for your very informative blog
We are planning a 3 week trip to Colombia between April and May
The weather doesn’t seem to be great at this time of year..
Can we still expect sun and warmth?
Among other things, we’re planning to spend some time in Providencia, so what weather can we expect there at this time of year?
Thanks a lot!
Juliette
Hello Juliette, thank you for your message, in April-May “normally” it’s the return of the rain, you should know that in recent years, as elsewhere on the planet, the weather in Colombia is capricious and the dry or rainy seasons are more random … You should also know that Colombia has a dozen different climates… so it’s hard to really anticipate what kind of weather you’ll have. That said, I can tell you from having traveled in October/November, which are supposed to be the worst months, that it’s quite possible to enjoy them. The rainy season doesn’t mean it rains 24 hours a day 😉 And as for the heat, it doesn’t make any difference, you’re in a tropical country where at low altitude it’s hot no matter what. For Providencia, there won’t be any problems at all.
Hello..
Thank you for this lovely blog!
It’s my last child’s baccalaureate year, so I’d like us to go away for 2 weeks as a family, and why not to Colombia?
I know that financially speaking it’s not ideal because the tourist season is at its peak in August… but we have no choice
As I have to combine everyone’s wishes and keep things surprising, could you recommend an itinerary that combines culture, hiking and beaches!!!!
All from Bordeaux
Thank you very much for your advice
Hello, thank you for your message, it’s difficult to answer an itinerary request like that, it depends so much on each traveller… and what we consider interesting may not be so for you… But we can give you a few hints:
– Culture: Bogotá, Medellin, Cartagena, San Agustin, Tierradentro, the heritage villages of Boyaca, Santander, Zona Cafetera, around Medellin… and encounters with indigenous populations
– Day hikes: Cocora Valley, Paramo de OCeta, Paramo de Chingaza, Paramo de Iguaque, PNN El Cocuy
– Treks: Los Nevados NPN, Ciudad Perdida…
– Caribbean beaches: Capurgana, Archipelago San Bernardo, Islas Rosario, Parc Tayrona, Palomino…
– Pacific beaches: Juanchaco/Ladrillero (Buenaventura), El Valle (Bahia Solano), Guachalito (Nuqui)
Good day, I’m Paula, I’m Chilean, I want to make a trip to Colombia from May to September, I want sun, not cold
What are the quieter villages to stay quiet?
I am a painter and I need to settle down to work
Thank you very much!
Thanks a lot!
Hello Paula, thank you for your comment. Regarding your question, what we can advise you is not to choose the cities or towns of Boyaca, not because they are not quiet, on the contrary, but in relation to the cold.
There are nice and quiet towns in the coffee zone, and I think of Jerico for example, where we were, there is also an interesting artistic wave with the new cultural space, I think they even rent spaces to work. Here is the link to our article : https://mytriptocolombia.com/visiter-jerico-sublime-village-patrimoine/
If not, the towns of Santander, or on the coast, towns like Mompox (although it is difficult to get there) but it depends on what you are looking for, if you want warmth, to be near the sea, or closer to the mountains. Do you want to stay in one place or change places from time to time?
It’s a bit difficult to advise you hehe….
Regards
I’m leaving for Colombia in October and I’m starting to worry about the weather. Is the rainy season a real obstacle to enjoying my stay in Colombia?
Hi Laura, I went there in October two years ago, it didn’t stop me from travelling, you can have delays on internal flights, some problems on the roads but overall on the most common areas no worries, I had been to Bogota, L’Eje Cafetero, and the costa caribe
Thank you so much for your great blog, which I discovered on my return from a trip to Colombia that I took in July 2018. I too fell under the spell of this country where life is good and where I dream of going back to as I only made a short two-week trip. Here’s what I wrote on the flight home: What a wonderful trip! So many experiences, and some wonderful encounters. From Valeria, our hostess at Jardin, to this couple from Marseilles who have just opened a small grocery store in Medellín, and who are still open on Saturday evening on their way back from Guatapé, after a long bus journey. And what can we say about all those anonymous everyday people, happy to welcome us and show us the best of their country (the cab drivers, the Metro Cable passenger, the little fruit juice vendor in Comuna 13 who learns foreign languages with the passing tourists and scrupulously notes down the vocabulary in a little notebook….) Thanks to Sarah for making this trip to Colombia possible, a gateway to Latin America, the best there is between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, with all the influence of Central America, the gateway of the great explorers…. Sylvie
Thank you so much for your comment and your wonderful testimonial! We’re happy to know that Colombia has conquered you and we hope that our blog will help you extend your trip and inspire you for the next ones 😉 if you want, you can join our facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/MonVoyageEnColombie/) and come share your experience in Colombia!
First of all, congratulations on this blog, which is so far my favorite of all those I’ve found 🙂 I’m going to Colombia from September 2 to November 29 this year. I’m well aware that the period isn’t ideal in terms of weather, but unfortunately I’ve had no choice… hence my question: is there an itinerary I should opt for to get through as much of the rain as possible? (example: maybe it’s wiser to go to such and such a region during one of these 3 months).
I’d like to ask another question: I’d like to spend about a month on a voluntary (ecotourism etc.) / humanitarian mission. I’m well aware of the sometimes sad realities that these missions can hide, and I’d like to avoid them as much as possible for everyone’s sake. Perhaps you have contacts, associations, websites or simply advice on this subject?
Thank you for your answers and, above all, congratulations on this blog. I can’t wait to discover this country!
Best regards
Emile
Thank you so much for your comment, Emile! It means a lot to us and makes us extremely happy!
Concerning your questions, September is still fine as far as the weather is concerned, October is the worst month on the Caribbean coast and in November it rains a lot in Bogota. That said, the weather is so variable! and even if it rains on the coast, for example, the sun doesn’t hide for too long… Samuel went to Barranquilla and Santa Marta in October and didn’t get too much rain… Avoid Bogota and Boyaca in November, though, because it rains quite a lot there.
As far as volunteering is concerned, it sometimes has a negative impact and you have to be careful. I hope you find a good assignment and enjoy your 3 months in Colombia!