HOW TO ARRIVE TO COLOMBIA

Colombia has lush landscapes where there are plentiful mountains, beaches, rivers, natural parks and islands; a preferred place for national and foreigner visitors.
The climate is varied some zones have tropical climate, temperature drops according altitude. Dry season is the best to travel to Colombia, but there is no troubles travelling in raining season.

BY AIR

Travelling by air is faster and comfortable, since Colombia has international airports where you will arrive. The main national airline is Avianca, the internationals ones are: British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, Varig and more.

Airports in Colombia:

The main airport is in Santa Fé de Bogotá, situated in the centre of the town. There are two terminals El Dorado and el Puente Aéreo:

- Bogotá: International Airport; (Telephone: 425-1000) and Puente Aéreo ;( Telephone: 425-1000).
Others airports where you can have domestic and international flights are:

- Barranquilla: Ernesto Cortissoz Airport (BAQ), located 7 Km away from the city.
Address: Soledad Atlántico 3rd floor
Telephones: (09)5 334 8052-70, (09)5 376 3720, (09)5 334 8128
Fax: +57 (09)5 347 1199

- Cali: Alfonso Bonilla Aragón Airport is located in Palmaseca (CLO) 18 Km. away from the city.
Telephones: (09)2 442 2624, (09)2 441 7041
Fax: +57 (09)2 441 7041

- Cartagena: Rafael Nunez Crespo Airport (CTG) is located in the centre of the city.
Telephones: 57 (09)53 596273, +57 (09)53 666 6610
Fax: +57 (09)53 665796, +57 (09)53 656 2921

- Medellín – José Maria Cordova Airport is located near Rio Negro 45 Km. away from the city.
 Telephone: (09)4 601212
Fax: +57 (09)4 603804

BY LAND

Colombia roads have more than 150.000Km that connect between cities. You can use it for entering or going out of the capital towards the rest of departments. The main highways are north, south, west, llanos orientales and Medellin highways.

Bus Stations in Colombia

Bogotá has an excellent bus station; from there many buses with national routes and different destinations in South America depart and arrive.

-Terminal de Transporte: Transversal 66 N° 35 – 11; Bogotá Telephone: (1) 2954460.
The bus services are organized according the destinations in five modules.

• Yellow- South of country
• Blue- East and West
• Red -  North and  to South America
• Green: Interdepartmental taxi servicies
• Purple: Passengers arrivals and taxi, buses arrivals too.

*   If you want to obtain tourist information go to module 5 local 127.
* In border, it is demanded driver license, national insurance and property card of your car.

BY SEA

It is  very common to travel by sea. There are many sea transport companies as load ships and passenger ships which provide services to passengers.

Ports:

Colombia has four main sea ports; three are on the Caribbean Sea; Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa Maria and one on the Pacific Ocean (Buenaventura).
Cartagena has the most important sea port, where tie up ships as Sun Line, Princess Cruises, Delta Norwegian American, Holland America, Wetours, Sitmar and Costa.
For travellers’ information, below we show data about the main ports:

- Sea Port “Muelles El Bosque”
Address: Bosque Diagonal 20 No. 48-14; Pedro Velez Avenue; Cartagena- Bolivar
Telephone: (57) (5)6625042, (57) (5)6690213, (57) (5)6690215
- Port of Mamonal
Address: Mamonal Km 7; Cartagena - Bolivar
Telephone: (57) (5)6687007
- San Andres Port Company
Address: Francisco Newball Avenue; Departmental Dock; San Andres and Providencia.
Telephone: (57) (8)5128394, (57) (8)5129197

* It is very common that cruise ships coming from different Europe zones arrive through companies as: Pacific Steam Navigation, Italian Line, French Line, or Royal Netherlands SS.

Natural and geographic regions in Colombia:

Colombia id divided in six natural regions. Below we have regions and their departments.

Caribbean Region:

Caribbean region is a beautiful zone, offers to visitors interesting opportunities for water sports. It has many archipelagos, islands, beaches, making it the ideal tropical destination for everybody.
* The departments that correspond are: Guajira, Magdalena, Atlantic, Bolivar, Sucre, Cordoba, Cesar, Antioquia and Chocó.

Pacific Region:

The region is full of gulfs, beaches and exotic landscapes. It characterizes by its humidity and vast marshes.
* Chocó, Cauca valley, and Nariño departments corresponds to Pacific zone.

Andean Region:

The Andean region is full of valleys, plateau, springs; it is a place where are developed a lot of economic and cultural activities. The most attractive are the mountain ranges, since you can do activities on the open air as walking, trekking and camping.

* Departments that correspond are: Nariño, Cauca Valley, Chocó, Antioquia, Risaralda, Caldas, Quindio, Tolima, Huila, Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Santander North, Cesar, Arauca, Casanare, Caquetá and Putumayo.

Amazon Region:

The Amazon region is the best nature reserve in the world, because of great variety of vegetables and animals. Its tropical forests and plentiful rivers allow do activities as fishing and adventure tourism.
* The region corresponds to Putumayo, Caquetá, Amazonas, Vaupés and Guainía departments.

Orinoquía Region:

This region is composed by vast plains covered by natural grasses and forests. You can also observe immense savannahs, watered by running of Orinoco River.
* The corresponding departments are Meta, Arauca, Casanare, Vichada and Guainía.

Insular Region:

The insular region covers both ocean and continental islands. It is a perfect place to rest and contemplate beautiful marine landscapes.
Caribbean Sea includes archipelago composed by San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina islands; Alicia, Quitasueño, Serrana and Serranilla sandbanks; and many islets as Roncador y Albuquerque, 700Km away from north coast. Gorgona, Gorronilla and Malpelo islands are in Pacific Ocean.

Recommendations

* Carry your personal documents as identity card and passport
* Take care of nature reserves and parks.
* Take precautions in marsh and humid zones.
* Carry repellent mainly when you visit humid zones as natural parks.
* Carry a first aid; you should need it, mainly when you are far away the town.
* It is advisable to have vaccinations against yellow fever, mainly if you will visit tropical zones.