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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Disclaimer: we apologize in advance for any grammatical or syntactic errors, as our native language is not English (we're a Colombian-French couple), so we hope you'll forgive us and still enjoy the information we share with you! Please note that all the information on our blog is based on our own experience, and is checked and updated regularly.
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.
