Money

Before travelling to Colombia, I thought that things might work similarly to what I knew from Europe. Clearly, it is not a Western country but even card payment is different here.

Things to know before your trip:

When travelling internationally accessing your bank accounts can be difficult sometimes. It might not work at all or there are huge conversion rates that apply when paying by card. So no matter if you're going on a short holiday or a longer trip, read my advice carefully.

• Get a travel card! There are multiple different companies that offer them. Generally, the aim is to give you the best conversion rates and not charge you huge amounts of unwanted payments. You'll usually also get "free" ATM withdrawals as a bonus. The cards are prepaid, so you simply top it up with the amount you want and you're good to go. A tip is to not just have the virtual card on your phone but also get a physical card. Hardly any ATM accepts virtual cards!

  The card I am using is from WISE. Note that if you click the link provided you will get a physical card for free!!

• Turn off geo-tracking on your banking app! This can usually be done within the app but if you're not sure about it, it might be helpful to contact your direct advisor.

When travelling around Colombia:

• Always have cash on hand! "Effectivo" in Spanish

  This really is crucial especially when travelling around the countryside to smaller towns. We have had several occasions where card payment simply was not possible (even in cafés and restaurants), the wifi didn't work hence their card receiver didn't work either, and small shops or street stands only accept cash anyway.

  Also, research the area or town you are travelling to next. There are towns that simply have no ATMs so you'd have to get a taxi or motorbike to go to the next town and get money. This can get quite expensive pretty quickly.

• Hostels or Hotels might want you to pay in cash on arrival.

  This was quite confusing for us in the beginning. Even when booking the accommodation in advance online, the booking fee was paid with my card but the rest was then requested in cash upon arrival. A lot of places will still accept card payment however, they usually charge you 5% of the booking cost. Once we even had to pay 8% which was a lot - this was in Medellin and because 3 different ATMs weren't working, so keep that in mind!

• ATMs

  Even though your card provider might not charge you for a withdrawal, the Colombian banks will. However, I have tried a few of them and came to the conclusion that there is a price hierarchy. These are the bank fees from lowest to highest.

  • Davivienda is the cheapest with fees from $15.000 to $20.000 COP

  • Servibanco usually charges around $22.000 COP

  • Bancolombia is the most expensive where fees can get up to $30.000 COP

  A tip here is to always get the maximum possible withdrawal amount to save on fees!