Where to stay in Colombia

Prices and where they bite

Colombia is cheap to sleep in apart from two places: Cartagena's walled city and the nicer half of El Poblado.

• Hostels are excellent and everywhere, and the country has one of the better hostel scenes in South America. Salento, Minca, Guatapé and Santa Marta all run on them.
• Cartagena inside the walls is a different market entirely from the rest of the country, priced for cruise passengers and weddings. Getsemaní, a ten-minute walk away, costs a fraction and is more fun.
• Medellín splits between El Poblado, which is where the money and the nightlife and the foreigners are, and Laureles, which is quieter, cheaper and where more locals actually live. Laureles is the better stay for most people.
• Book ahead around the puentes. Colombia has 18 public holidays and most are shifted to Mondays, so long weekends are constant and they empty the good places in Salento and Guatapé.

Claim the tax exemption

• A non-resident foreigner does not pay the 19% IVA on a hotel room. Say so at check-in, hand over your passport and evidence of your entry to Colombia, and the hotel applies it.
• It is the hotel's job to do the paperwork, and the larger ones do it automatically. A small guesthouse may never have been asked; it is worth asking anyway.

Short-term rentals are being squeezed

• Medellín is inspecting apartment buildings in El Poblado, having moved from responding to complaints to going out and looking. Residential blocks are pushing for a municipal decree that operators say would end Airbnb in the city.
• Nationally, accommodation must hold a Registro Nacional de Turismo entry, and a 2026 ministry decree tightened how that registration is verified.
• The practical risk to a visitor is a cancelled booking, not a fine. If you are relying on a private apartment in Medellín, have a second option and prefer hosts with a long history.