How do you get around in Colombia?

Colombia is a country without passenger trains. What runs on rails in Europe runs on a road here or flies, and the difference between a good route and a bad one is measured in hours.

Medellín shows it best: inside the city there is a metro that works like a European one, and beyond the city limits begins a country where the timetable is written on a sign and departure happens when the bus is full.

In the city

The metro. Two rail lines, a tram, six cable cars and buses feeding into them. Line A runs along the valley floor from north to south, line B heads west. Since January 2026 a ride costs 3,820 pesos with a Cívica card and 4,400 without one; transfers between metro, tram and cable car are included. It runs from five in the morning to eleven at night, shorter on Sundays.

It is clean, punctual and at rush hour so packed you cannot raise an arm. People in Medellín are proud of the metro and it shows: nobody eats, drinks or shouts in it.

The cable cars are not an attraction, they are transport into the hills. The exception is line L to Arví, which is touristic and charged separately.

Buses go everywhere the metro does not reach, and without an app they are hard to read: signs behind the windscreen instead of line numbers. You pay the driver, in coins.

Uber, DiDi, Cabify. Formally a grey area, in practice used by the whole city. After dark it is the sensible way home. The driver may ask you to sit in the front so it looks like a lift from a friend.

A taxi flagged in the street is cheaper and less predictable; a running meter is not a given.

Motorbike taxis exist and are the fastest way to move in rush hour. They are also the fastest way to end up in hospital; there is usually one helmet and the driver is wearing it.

Cívica: the card that makes everything easier

Cívica is the transport card and comes in two forms. The registered one is issued against an ID, can be blocked and carries discounts. The bearer one you buy on the spot, and it is what everybody staying briefly uses.

• Buy and top it up at any metro station, at a window or a machine.
• Without a card you pay six hundred pesos more per ride, which pays for itself within days at two rides a day.
• It also pays for the airport bus, which half of all visitors do not know.

To the airport, and which one

Medellín has two airports and this is the most common source of confusion.

José María Córdova (MDE) is the big international one, near Rionegro, about 35 kilometres out of town, uphill, 40 to 60 minutes depending on traffic.

Olaya Herrera (EOH) sits inside the city, next to the Terminal del Sur, and handles domestic flights on smaller aircraft. Confuse the two and you miss your flight.

Getting to MDE:

• By bus for 20,000 pesos, or 14,000 with a Cívica card. It leaves from San Diego, from the Hotel Nutibara and from the terminals. The cheapest option and in ordinary traffic almost as quick as a taxi.
• By taxi on the official 2026 tariff: 132,000 pesos for a standard car, 134,100 for an electric one and 143,100 for a luxury one. The price is fixed, so there is nothing to haggle over and no meter.
• By Uber, usually a little cheaper than a taxi, though the airport has its own rules and drivers are reluctant.
• By shared car (colectivo), which lands between the bus and the taxi.

Practical advice: allow two hours from Medellín to MDE, not one. The road to Rionegro can surprise you.

Intercity buses

The bus is the backbone of long distance travel in Colombia. Comfortable, cheap and surprisingly punctual.

Medellín has two terminals and you need to know which one you leave from:

• Terminal del Norte serves the north and east: Guatapé, Santa Fe de Antioquia, the Caribbean coast, Bogotá. It is on line A, Caribe station.
• Terminal del Sur serves the south and west: Jardín, the coffee region, Cali, Pereira, Manizales. It sits by the Olaya Herrera airport.

Prices as of summer 2026, one way:

• Guatapé around 20,000 pesos, departures roughly every half hour, two hours on the road.
• Jardín around 25,000 pesos, three hours.
• Bogotá ten hours on a night bus, on the order of a hundred thousand.

How it works:

• Tickets are bought at the terminal at the operator's window, or in advance through redBus. For popular routes at the weekend, buy ahead; otherwise turning up is enough.
• Departures follow the timetable, though smaller operators leave when the bus is full.
• The air conditioning is set to freezer. A hoodie is not a suggestion.
• Mountain roads wind. If you are prone to motion sickness, sit at the front and stay off your phone.

Domestic flights

Over longer distances a plane is often cheaper than the bus and always faster. Bogotá, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Cali, San Andrés.

• Avianca, Latam, Wingo, Satena and smaller carriers fly. Booked ahead it is surprisingly cheap; booked the day before it is a multiple.
• Luggage is usually extra, and on the cheapest fares even a cabin bag is paid for.
• Medellín departures use both airports, so check whether your ticket says MDE or EOH.

By car

You do not need a car in the city and you do not want one downtown. Outside the city it is a different question.

When to rent one: for a loop around Antioquia, for trips into the mountains, with children and luggage. When not to: for a journey to one town with a direct bus, and never merely out of habit from home.

What to know:

• Pico y placa. On weekdays, depending on the last digit of the plate, you may not drive into parts of the city at peak hours. It applies to rentals too, and the fine reaches the owner, meaning the rental company, and then you.
• Tolls (peajes) are frequent on main roads and often cash only. Keep change.
• An SUV for the mountains. It is not about comfort but about whether you arrive. Off the main roads the surface turns to dirt.
• Do not drive at night. Not because of robbery, but because on unlit bends without barriers you meet a lorry in your lane.
• Driving habits. Motorbikes between lanes, overtaking on bends, headlight flashes that mean both hello and warning. I wrote about it separately and I have not changed my mind since.

What it costs

| What | How much | |---|---| | Metro ride with Cívica | 3,820 pesos | | Airport bus | 20,000, or 14,000 with Cívica | | Airport taxi (2026 tariff) | 132,000 | | Uber across town | 10,000 to 30,000 | | Bus to Guatapé | around 20,000 | | Bus to Jardín | around 25,000 |

Prices from my own journeys go into the records below the text; those carry a date and count for more than this table.

What to watch

Keep your phone in your pocket on a rush hour metro. It is not a dangerous place, it is a crowded place, and that is exactly what pickpockets want.

Keep your luggage with you at the terminal. Not because there is more theft there, but because it is the one place where your hands are full and your head elsewhere.

Call a taxi, do not flag one. The app knows the driver; the street does not.

And last: leave slack. Mountain roads do not have a timetable in our sense. Plan a connection to the minute and you are planning a missed connection.