Is Colombia dangerous for travelers? It can be when not exercising basic precautions. Follow these 5 Colombia travel safety tips to protect yourself when visiting Colombia!
Colombia is often maligned as one of the more dangerous countries in an already dangerous continent, South America. Is this an exaggeration? The answer is: maybe. Colombia is a lot safer than it was several decades ago during deadly drug wars, but it does pose some unique dangers.
The good news is that most of these are quite easily avoidable if you follow these 5 tips concerning Colombia travel safety, so read carefully!
The transportation app Uber has revolutionized travel by making personal transport more accessible and cheaper. But it has another huge advantage: safety. The vehicle and driver of your ride is cataloged in the app, which means if the driver is up to any fishy business, he can be easily tracked. He also has a user rating to look after.
On the other hand, you do not have the information of a taxi driver, and may not remember his license plate number.
Getting scammed and overcharged by the meter could be the least of your problems, extortion and kidnapping the worst of them.
Of course, most Colombian taxi drivers are not criminals, but one is enough to ruin your trip.
The alternative apps to Uber, Cabify and Picap are also popular in Colombia and even cheaper. There is no reason to enter a taxi instead of using one of these options, especially at night when most of the dodgy activity is happening. And that brings us to our next tip…
This old cliche holds true for Colombia. Criminals are looking for loners at night they can rob, sometimes pulling up with a motorcycle out of nowhere and then taking off. This is why alone really means ALONE, meaning a side street with no other people.
As long as there are people around, you are probably safe from armed robbery, although there are plenty of other ways to get into trouble which we will get into in a minute, so a basic precaution before going out at night is necessary.
Colombians love to party and so do foreigners who visit the country, which is where much of the trouble happens. To mitigate the damage if you indeed get robbed, or worse, you should follow a protocol when going out at night: using a burner phone and taking only cash, no credit card.
First of all, what is a burner phone? A burner phone is a cellphone that has none of your personal details on it. It’s not connected to your Google account, bank account, emails, social media, nothing! It’s a phone only for calls and the internet.
When going out it will allow you to stay in contact with your friends, navigate with Google Maps, and call an Uber if necessary, while if something does happen to you (we will get to that in a minute) all you will lose is an old phone and some cash. It’s a bummer, but not the end of the world. It can be much worse, which brings us to the next item on the list.
As we have already mentioned, nightlife in Colombia is fun, but also dangerous. It is where criminals are on the hunt for drunk tourists they can take advantage of.
One of their main tactics is slipping something into your drink when you don’t notice, the beginning of a terrifying ordeal. Once you are drugged, you are at their mercy, and it can end very badly. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen. So never accept drinks or drugs from strangers, and never leave your drinks unattended.
Going out in a group, or at least in pairs, will go a long way in keeping you safe, so do that whenever possible. Because if your drink gets spiked and you’re alone, you can lose everything. How you may ask? The answer is simple, it’s called scopolamine.
When we are talking about your drink getting spiked, we are talking about scopolamine. What is Scopolamine? It is a drug made out of a native plant in Colombia, that is quite easily accessible, and therefore the favorite weapon of criminals in Colombia. It has no taste and therefore can be easily slipped into a drink without detection, but the main danger of scopolamine is its potency: the victim will usually remain functioning but in a state of extreme suggestibility.
This is the perfect situation for criminals at a party for example. After they drug their victim, they can keep track of him/her until the drug starts to kick in, and when it does they can easily convince the victim to come along and start doing things, like for example, going to ATM’s and withdrawing money, and handing that money over. Or even worse, taking you back to your apartment, and emptying it.
There is another way criminals can access your apartment, and this warning is primarily for men. Yes, I’m talking about women you bring back to your place. This is one of the most common and deadly scams in Colombia: you take a girl back to your apartment, and she slips something into your drink. While you are unconscious, she calls up her criminal friends and they take everything, I mean everything! I know an Australian guy who lost his phone, 3 laptops, 5000$ and a sneaker collection worth even more than that. It’s deadly.
For guys, women are one of the biggest dangers in Colombia, and especially in Medellin. Both on dating apps and in clubs, if she seems over-eager to go back to your apartment, alarm bells should be ringing. You should be EXTREMELY careful, there is no other way to put it.
One useful precaution is to stay in a hotel or Airbnb with a doorman who requires an ID checkup for people who want to enter the premises, as a last line of defense. But even better is to use your common sense before bringing a girl home: get to know her, ask for her social media profiles, and do anything you can to see if she is legitimate.
If you have ever felt that this is what girls do to you back home, well Colombia will definitely help you understand their caution. Not everyone has good intentions.
If this article scared you, and now you don’t want to visit Colombia, that was not my intent. My goal here is to scare you a little bit, just enough to make you cautious.
Thousands of travelers visit Colombia every year and come out completely unscathed, but there is a small percentage who do not. Don’t be one of them. Follow the basic precautions and you should do fine. Enjoy Colombia!
Is it safe to visit Colombia as a tourist?
It is hard to come to an exact definition of the word ‘safe’, but I would say Colombia is not much different than other South American countries.
It can be dangerous, but by following basic safety principles it is perfectly possible to travel and enjoy the beauty of Colombia while staying safe.
Is Medellin safer than Bogota?
Medellin is considered safer than Bogota, but it can still be dangerous so exercise caution.
Is nightlife in Colombia safe?
Colombian nightlife is a time and place where criminals are on the prowl for unsuspecting tourists and requires extra caution.
Be aware of the main dangers which are scopolamine drugging inside venues, and mugging on side streets outside.