Colombia with Kids: Our 1-Week Family Itinerary

Colombia is one of those countries where you could spend months travelling and still only scratch the surface.

We had just one week in Colombia, so rather than trying to see everything, we packed quite a lot into seven days. Our route took us from Bogotá to the coffee region, then on to Medellín, Guatapé and finally Cartagena on the Caribbean coast. Travelling with our 9-year-old, we found Colombia was especially good for mixing sightseeing with hands-on experiences that naturally became part of his learning.

If, like us, you’re travelling through Colombia and only have a week, this route gives you a really good introduction to some of the country’s biggest highlights. Here is exactly how we did it, plus the things we enjoyed most in each place and some practical advice for travelling around Colombia with kids.

A quick note before you dive in: this post contains some affiliate and sponsored links, including tours and hotels we booked ourselves. If you book through one of them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change the price you pay, and we only link to places and experiences we would genuinely recommend anyway.

Table of Contents

• Our 1-week Colombia itinerary at a glance
• Bogotá with Kids
• Salento and Colombia’s Coffee Region
• Valle de Cocora with Kids
• Medellín with Kids
• Guatapé Day Trip
• Cartagena with Kids
• Colombian food worth trying with kids
• Getting around Colombia with kids
• How much did a week in Colombia cost us?
• Is Colombia safe for families?
• Colombia with kids: FAQs
• Final thoughts: Is Colombia worth visiting with kids?

Our 1-Week Colombia Itinerary at a Glance

When	November
Our son’s age	9
Length	7 days, 8 nights
Route	Bogotá, the coffee region (Salento and the Cocora Valley), Medellín and Guatapé, Cartagena
How we booked	A private tour with Gran Colombia Tours, who were fantastic and easy to deal with
Getting around	Domestic flights between regions, plus private transfers and guided tours
Cost	About $6,000 USD for the three of us (see the breakdown)

Here is how our week looked:

• Day 1, Bogotá: guided city tour with Monserrate and La Candelaria, the Botero Museum and the Gold Museum
• Day 2, Salento: fly to Pereira, visit a coffee finca and try coffee picking, then explore Salento
• Day 3, Cocora Valley: walk among the giant wax palms, then head back to Pereira
• Day 4, Medellín: fly to Medellín, explore Comuna 13 with a local guide and see the sculptures in Plaza Botero
• Day 5, Guatapé: day trip from Medellín to climb Piedra del Peñol and wander the colourful town
• Day 6, Cartagena: fly to Cartagena and explore the fortress and old city walls
• Day 7, Cartagena: more time in the colourful streets of the old town before continuing our travels

This is definitely a fast itinerary. If you have 10 to 14 days, I would slow it down and give Bogotá, the coffee region and Cartagena more time. But for a one-week Colombia trip, it worked for us.

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🏞️ Top family day trip: Guatapé

One of the easiest day trips from Medellín is Guatapé. You can climb the giant Piedra del Peñol for huge views over the lakes, then wander the colourful streets of Guatapé town, all in one day.

Read more about our Guatapé day trip below.

Bogotá with Kids

Bogotá was our starting point, and I was glad we included it rather than treating the capital as somewhere to simply fly into and leave again.

The city is huge, and you could spend days exploring it, but with children I think a good guided tour is one of the easiest ways to get an introduction without spending hours trying to work out where everything is.

Take a guided city tour

One of our favourite things we did in Bogotá was a city tour with a guide.

This was particularly useful because Bogotá has a complicated history, and having someone explain what we were looking at made the city much more interesting than simply walking around and taking photographs.

We visited Cerro de Monserrate, the mountain overlooking Bogotá, which has been an important pilgrimage site since the 17th century. The views over the enormous city are impressive, but the history of the site made the visit much more interesting too.

Back down in La Candelaria, we wandered the cobbled streets, admired the colourful street art and learned more about Bogotá’s history as we explored. We also got to try some traditional Colombian food along the way, including bandeja paisa, a very filling dish of rice, beans, meat, plantain, avocado and egg. It was a good way to experience Bogotá through more than just its sights, and, importantly, kept our son interested too.

Recommended age: 7+

Our tip: If you are visiting Bogotá with kids, I’d book a tour rather than trying to cram all the historic sights into a self-guided walk.

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Visit the Botero Museum

The Museo Botero was another stop we really enjoyed.

Fernando Botero is one of Colombia’s best-known artists, and his distinctive style makes the museum particularly approachable for children. His figures are famous for their exaggerated, rounded proportions, so even a child who knows nothing about art can immediately spot what makes the paintings and sculptures different.

The museum isn’t enormous, which is another advantage when travelling with kids. You can see a good amount without committing half a day to an art museum. The collection also includes works by international artists, so it isn’t exclusively about Botero.

Best of all, admission to the Botero Museum is free. The museum currently operates Monday and Wednesday to Saturday from 9am to 7pm, and Sundays and public holidays from 10am to 5pm, although it is worth checking the official site before visiting because schedules can change.

Why kids will enjoy it: The unusual shapes and larger-than-life figures make it much easier to engage a child than some traditional art museums.

Recommended age: 6+

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Visit the Gold Museum in Bogotá

If you only have time for one museum in Bogotá, I’d make a strong case for the Gold Museum, or Museo del Oro.

This was one of our favourites because it is not simply a collection of shiny objects. It gives you an introduction to the indigenous cultures of Colombia and the importance of gold long before the Spanish arrived.

The museum holds an enormous collection of pre-Columbian archaeological objects. The Bogotá tourism authority describes it as one of the world’s largest collections of pre-Hispanic gold, with more than 55,000 objects made from gold and other materials.

For kids, there is a nice opportunity to talk about why gold was important to different societies, what it represented and how Europeans’ obsession with gold was very different from the way many indigenous cultures viewed it.

Practical tip: The museum is currently closed on Mondays and open Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 7pm and Sundays from 10am to 5pm. The official museum site says no advance reservation is currently required, but check before you go as opening arrangements can change.

Recommended age: 7+

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Salento and Colombia’s Coffee Region

From Bogotá we headed to Salento, in Colombia’s famous coffee-growing region.

To get to Salento, we flew from Bogota to Pereira (alternatively it is also possible to fly to Armenia). Both are approximately 1 hour flight. Then we drove to Salento for about an hour and a half.

We stayed in Pereira rather than in Salento itself. It meant driving to Salento and back each day, but it made getting to and from the airport much easier.

This area was probably the biggest change of scenery of the trip. We went from a huge high-altitude capital city to green mountains, coffee plantations and a much smaller town.

Salento is one of the main gateways to the Coffee Cultural Landscape, and coffee farms around the area offer visitors the chance to see how coffee is grown, harvested and prepared.

Visit a coffee finca

One of the highlights of our entire week in Colombia was visiting a coffee finca.

This wasn’t just a quick tour where someone points at a coffee plant and then takes you to a gift shop. We actually learned about coffee production and got to see the process from the plant onwards.

And the best part for our son? We became coffee pickers for the day.

There is something about being allowed to actually do the thing rather than just watch somebody else do it that makes the experience much more memorable for kids. We learned how coffee grows, how the beans are harvested and what happens to them before they eventually become the coffee people drink.

Why kids will enjoy it: It is hands-on and gives them a chance to participate rather than simply listen to a guide.

Recommended age: 6+

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Explore Salento

Even if you aren’t interested in coffee, Salento itself is worth exploring.

Salento is one of those towns that is easy to like from the moment you arrive. It is a small, colourful mountain town surrounded by the green hills of Colombia’s coffee region, with brightly painted buildings, wooden balconies and the kind of streets that make you want to slow down and wander rather than rush from one attraction to the next.

If the town looks strangely familiar, there’s a reason for that. Salento and the surrounding Cocora Valley are widely recognised as inspiration for the setting of Disney’s Encanto. The film isn’t a direct depiction of Salento, but its colourful houses, mountain landscapes and towering wax palms are very reminiscent of the area.

For our son, that connection made the landscape particularly fun to recognise. After watching Encanto, seeing the real Colombian scenery that helped inspire its world was a nice little connection between something familiar and somewhere we were actually visiting.

The Calle Real runs from the main square towards the viewpoint at Cerro Alto de la Cruz. The official Colombia tourism site notes that the viewpoint offers views over the town and towards the Cocora Valley.

Recommended age: All ages

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Valle de Cocora with Kids

If you’ve ever seen photographs of Colombia with enormous palm trees rising out of green mountain valleys, there is a good chance you’re looking at the Valle de Cocora.

And yes, the palm trees really are that ridiculous.

See the world’s tallest palm trees

The Cocora Valley is famous for the wax palm, Colombia’s national tree.

These palms can reach around 60 metres in height, making them the tallest palm trees in the world.

This was another excellent worldschooling stop for us because our son was genuinely interested in learning how something that looks completely out of place could grow so tall in the mountains.

The wax palm is also important to the yellow-eared parrot, which is closely associated with the species. You can explore the valley on foot, with different trails depending on how much hiking you want to do. There are also horseback riding options in the area.

The scenery is spectacular, but the main attraction for us was simply learning about the landscape and the trees.

Recommended age: All ages for the viewpoint and easier walks. Older children and teenagers will get more out of longer hikes.

A practical tip for families

Don’t underestimate the weather. The Cocora Valley is mountainous and conditions can change quickly. Bring layers and waterproofs, even if it looks warm and sunny when you leave Salento. And comfortable shoes are a must as well.

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Medellín with Kids

From the coffee region we continued to Medellín. You can fly direct from Pereira to Medellin in about 45 minutes.

Medellín is one of those cities where the history is impossible to ignore. It has undergone enormous changes over the past few decades, and one of the most interesting places to learn about that transformation is Comuna 13.

Explore Comuna 13

Our main experience in Medellín was visiting Comuna 13.

The area is now famous for its street art, music, colourful murals and outdoor escalators, but its recent history is much more complicated.

The escalators were introduced as part of efforts to improve mobility in the steep neighbourhood, and they have become one of the most recognisable symbols of Comuna 13’s transformation. Colombia’s official tourism site recommends guided tours of the area specifically because they explain its history and transformation.

We found this particularly worthwhile with our son because the experience wasn’t just about looking at colourful walls. It was an opportunity to talk about how cities change, what happens to communities after periods of violence and how art can become part of that process.

I’d strongly recommend doing this with a local guide.

A guide gives the murals, music and streets much more context and helps you understand what you’re actually seeing.

Why kids will enjoy it: Street art, music, escalators and an outdoor environment are much easier for many children to engage with than a traditional museum.

Recommended age: 8+

Is Comuna 13 suitable for children?

We visited with our 9-year-old, but I would choose your tour carefully.

The area has a difficult history, and some tours discuss violence and organised crime quite openly. For older children this can be an important part of understanding the history, but younger children may not need every detail.

I’d also stick with your guide and avoid wandering into unfamiliar areas on your own.

See Botero’s sculptures in Plaza Botero

Our walking city tour of Medellín also took us to Plaza Botero in the city centre. Fernando Botero, who was born in Medellín, donated the 23 bronze sculptures that fill the square in front of the Museo de Antioquia, and it opened in 2004. If you’ve already seen his paintings at the Botero Museum in Bogotá, it’s a nice follow-on for kids: the same rounded, larger-than-life style, but as giant outdoor sculptures you can walk right up to.

Recommended age: All ages

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Guatapé Day Trip

One of the easiest additions to a Medellín itinerary is Guatapé.

We visited Guatapé as a day trip, which worked well because you can combine the town with the famous Piedra del Peñol.

Climb Piedra del Peñol

Piedra del Peñol, the enormous granite rock that towers over the landscape just outside Guatape town. The rock rises around 220 metres above the surrounding area, and you can climb to the top via a long staircase built into the side of the rock.

There are a lot of steps, so whether you make it to the top will probably depend on the enthusiasm levels of everyone in your family. Our 9-year-old was perfectly happy with the challenge, and reaching the top makes the climb feel worthwhile. From up there, you get incredible views over the patchwork of lakes and green hills surrounding Guatapé.

Recommended age: 7+ depending on fitness and how your child feels about stairs.

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Explore the colourful streets of Guatapé

Guatapé was one of those places where we could have happily spent longer than we did. The town itself is incredibly cute, with brightly painted buildings, colourful zócalos decorating the lower parts of the houses, little shops and cafés, and streets that are fun to wander without having a particular plan.

The colourful zócalos are one of Guatapé’s most distinctive features. Many of the houses have decorative panels showing flowers, animals, people and scenes from local life, so even a simple walk through town becomes a bit of a treasure hunt with kids. It is worth taking your time here rather than treating Guatapé as just a stop before or after the rock.

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Cartagena with Kids

Our final stop was Cartagena, which felt completely different again.

There is a direct flight to Cartagena from Medellin, taking only about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

After Bogotá’s altitude and the green mountains around Salento and Medellín, suddenly we were in a Caribbean city with hot weather, old stone walls and colourful streets.

Cartagena’s historic centre is surrounded by its famous defensive walls, and the city’s old town is one of the places where simply walking around is part of the experience.

Explore the Cartagena fortress and city walls

Cartagena’s old city is packed with history, and one of the first things we wanted to explore was the fortress and the huge defensive walls surrounding the city. Cartagena was founded by the Spanish in 1533 and quickly became one of the most important ports in the Spanish Empire. Gold and other valuable goods passed through the city on their way to Spain, which also made it a target for pirates and privateers. The impressive fortifications were built over centuries to protect the city, including Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, the enormous fortress that sits just outside the old walled city.

Walking along the walls and through the old streets made all of that history much easier to understand. You can see the old gates, cannons and thick stone walls and get a real sense of how heavily the city had to be defended. Our son was much more interested in exploring a fortress than reading about one in a history book, so it was a great way to bring the history to life.

Recommended age: All ages

Worldschooling connection: Colonial history, geography, trade, military history and architecture.

Practical tip

Cartagena can be extremely hot, particularly in the middle of the day. If you’re travelling with kids, get out early, take a break during the hottest part of the afternoon and head back out later.

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Wander Cartagena’s colourful streets

One of our favourite things about Cartagena was simply walking through the old streets.

Cartagena’s old town is a wonderful place to simply wander, with narrow streets lined with brightly painted colonial buildings, colourful wooden doors, flower-covered balconies and little plazas opening up between the buildings. Much of what you see today reflects the city’s Spanish colonial past, when Cartagena was an important port and trading centre for the Spanish Empire.

Another memorable part of wandering around Cartagena was seeing the palenqueras, the women traditionally dressed in brightly coloured clothing who sell fresh fruit around the city. They come from San Basilio de Palenque, a community founded by formerly enslaved Africans and recognised as an important part of Colombia’s Afro-Colombian heritage. The women and their colourful outfits have become closely associated with Cartagena, although it’s worth remembering that they are real people and not simply a photo opportunity. It should be noted that if you would like a photo with the palenqueras, you should agree on the price with them first. There is no set price but usually they charge between $5 and $10 USD per each lady that’s in the photo with you.

Another fun thing to do in Cartagena is a food tour. During the tour you learn about the city, as well as the local street food. This is absolutely the best way to experience the culture and all the city has to offer!

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Colombian food worth trying with kids

Food is always part of our worldschooling.

Colombia has plenty of familiar options for children, but there are also some local dishes worth trying.

Arepas

These are probably the easiest introduction for children.

Arepas are made from cornmeal and can be served in lots of different ways, with cheese, meat, eggs or other fillings.

Empanadas

Colombian empanadas are generally made with corn rather than the wheat pastry you may be used to elsewhere in Latin America.

They’re usually filled with meat, potatoes or other savoury fillings.

Bandeja paisa

This is a famous dish from the Antioquia region around Medellín.

It’s substantial, with things such as beans, rice, meat, plantain, egg and avocado.

Basically, it is not the dish you order when you’re looking for a light lunch.

Fresh fruit

Colombia has an incredible range of tropical fruit, and buying fruit from local markets is an easy way to introduce children to things they may not see at home.

Coffee

Obviously, you cannot visit the Colombian coffee region without talking about coffee.

Our son was far more interested in the process of growing and harvesting it (he did also get a cheeky taste).

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Getting around Colombia with kids

This is one area where I’d build some flexibility into your itinerary.

Colombia is a large country, and the destinations on this itinerary are not close together.

For a one-week trip, domestic flights make much more sense for some of the longer journeys.

We had limited time, so spending entire days sitting on buses wasn’t what we wanted.

For shorter journeys and day trips, private transfers, taxis or organised tours can be more practical with a child and luggage.

In cities, use reputable transport options rather than simply flagging down random taxis.

And remember that travel times can be longer than they look on a map. Colombia is mountainous, and roads between destinations can wind through terrain that makes apparently short journeys take much longer than expected.

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How much did a week in Colombia cost us?

Costs for a trip like this can vary a lot depending on your travel style, so take these numbers as a guide rather than a fixed budget. Ours was probably on the more expensive end, and this trip can definitely be done more cheaply.

Our tour cost $5,241 USD for 8 nights at 5-star hotels, with all breakfasts and most lunches included (no dinners), plus all guided tours, entrance fees, transfers and domestic flights. This did not include visa fees, international flights, dinners, tips or any additional purchases. There is also a cheaper version of the same tour using 4-star hotels, which comes in at $4,678 USD.

We spent approximately another $500 USD on dinners for the three of us, which brought our total to about $5,741 USD. My son and I did not need to get a visa as Irish citizens, but my husband had to pay an entry fee as a Canadian citizen. The cost was 270,000 Colombian pesos, which is currently around $85 USD. With a few souvenirs added on top, our overall spend for the week came to about $6,000 USD.

If you want to see how a week like this fits into a longer trip, here is our real one-year full-time family travel budget.

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Is Colombia safe for families?

This is the question I would expect most parents to ask.

Colombia has changed enormously over the past few decades, but it is still important to take safety seriously. Current government travel advice continues to flag crime, kidnapping, terrorism and civil unrest as risks in parts of the country. The US State Department currently lists Colombia at Level 3, “Reconsider travel”, with specific regions under stronger warnings.

The UK’s current advice also warns about street crime, including pickpocketing, mugging and armed robbery, particularly in major cities and tourist areas.

That doesn’t mean families cannot travel to Colombia. It means you should travel thoughtfully.

A few things we would recommend:

• Don’t walk around unfamiliar areas after dark.
• Keep phones and valuables out of sight when you’re not using them.
• Don’t flash expensive jewellery, watches or cameras.
• Use reputable taxis or arranged transport.
• Be particularly careful around ATMs.
• Stay with your guide during organised tours.
• Check current government travel advice before travelling.
• Check the specific areas you plan to visit, rather than treating the entire country as having the same level of risk.

The current UK advice also has specific areas where it advises against all but essential travel, so don’t assume that advice for one part of Colombia applies equally to every destination.

Travelling with a child also changes how we travel generally. We tend to be more conservative about where we walk, when we go out and how we get around. It’s also why we chose hotels in well-known safe areas, especially in Bogotá and Medellín.

It is also worth having good travel insurance for a trip like this. We compare the options in our guide to travel insurance for digital nomad families.

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Colombia With Kids: FAQs

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Final thoughts: Is Colombia worth visiting with kids?

Yes, especially if your family enjoys learning through travel rather than simply ticking off attractions.

What stood out to us wasn’t one particular monument or beach. It was the variety of experiences we could have in a relatively short period.

One day we were looking at pre-Columbian gold in Bogotá. A couple of days later our son was picking coffee beans on a farm. Then we were standing underneath 60-metre wax palms, learning about Colombia’s national tree. In Medellín, we were learning about a neighbourhood’s difficult history through street art, and a few days later we were walking along the walls of a centuries-old fortress in Cartagena.

For us, that’s what makes Colombia particularly good for worldschooling families.

There are plenty of opportunities to learn about history, geography, art, agriculture, nature, food, culture and social change, but the learning happens because you’re actually there.

If you only have a week, this itinerary gives you a great introduction to Colombia, from the history and culture of Bogotá to the coffee region, Medellín and the Caribbean coast. With more time, we would simply slow the pace and spend longer in each place, because there is plenty more of Colombia we would love to explore.

More Family Travel Guides

If you enjoyed this Colombia itinerary, you might also like our other Latin America family guides:

• Antigua Guatemala with Kids: The Best Family and Worldschooling Guide
• 2 Weeks in Central America With Kids: Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua
• 5 Days in El Salvador With Kids
• 6 Days in Nicaragua With Kids