In January 2016, a job opportunity brought me to Colombia for a year. For those of you who follow our adventures, you know that I never leave my dog Shark behind, a mixed Border Collie adopted 3 years ago in the Indian Ocean. So I flew from Paris to Cartagena de Indias, a city full of history and colors on the Caribbean coast. We spent most of the year over there, enjoying my free time to explore the rest of the country. Therefore, I share with you the essential information you need to know before travelling to Colombia with your dog.
TRAVEL TO COLOMBIA WITH A DOG
Documents
Whether you arrive by air, sea or road, you need to present the following documents: a health certificate issued by the official sanitary authority of the country of origin within 10 days before arrival + a vaccination certificate.
Forbidden breeds
Staffordshire Terrier, Pit Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier and crosses or hybrids of these breeds.
Must-read
Consult the official website of the Institute of Agriculture of Colombia (ICA) to learn more about the documents to present and to contact them if needed (in Spanish or English).
Important
Once you have taken your dog back, you need to go to the ICA office at the airport/port/border with your animal and all the documents in order to get a sanitary inspection certificate. It is mandatory and has a fee (around $15 in 2016). Good to know: if you arrive outside office hours (Monday to Friday 8.00am-5.00pm), you need to contact the ICA previously by mail or phone to make an appointment. The fee will be increased.
EXPLORE COLOMBIA WITH A DOG
By car
You can rent a car to travel with your dog with no problem. Provide a sheet or a towel to cover his seat, water and ideally a dog seat belt to be attached to his harness.
By air
It is possible to travel with your pet on the 3 major airlines operating in Colombia: Avianca, Latam and VivaColombia. Your pet will travel in the cabin or in the hold according to his weight. VivaColombia only allows the transport of animals in the cabin up to 10 kg including the container. Consult the conditions and prices of pet transport on the official sites of Avianca, Latam and VivaColombia. To learn more about how to fly with your dog, read this article.
By bus
In Colombia, a law prohibits the transport of animals in the passenger space of buses. Some companies accept to transport dogs in the hold. The service is generally free but you have to bring your container. Flota Occidental offers free cages (subject to availability). My advice: go directly to the land transport terminal of your city and go around the agencies to find the ones that will accept to transport your dog. If you have a small dog, you can ask the bus driver nicely if he wants to make an exception. Be careful, never put a snub-nosed dog in a hold. They have trouble breathing in some circumstances and it can be fatal.
By boat
To get to the islands near the coast, like the Rosario islands near Cartagena, you will have to take a motorboat. Most agencies refuse dogs on board or ask you to pay for an extra ticket. Again, it will not be difficult to negotiate if your dog is small. For the larger ones, it’s always more complicated but not impossible. Same as for the buses, just go ask each agencies at the port and compare the offers. In Cartagena, for example, the agency Ocean & Land Tours accepts dogs on board at no extra cost.
LEAVE COLOMBIA WITH A DOG
Documents
Whether you leave by air, sea or road, you first need to learn what the pet regulations of your next destination are and make sure you have everything they ask. In any case, you need to present the following documents at the Colombian border: a health certificate issued by the official sanitary authority of the country of origin within 10 days before arrival + a vaccination certificate.
Must-read
Consult the official website of the Institute of Agriculture of Colombia (ICA) to learn more about the documents to present and to ask a question (in Spanish or English).
Important
To leave the country, you need to go to the ICA office at the airport/port/border with your animal and all the documents in order to get a sanitary inspection certificate. It is possible to go to the ICA office the day before or the same day of your travel (make sure you arrive at least 4 hours before your departure). It is mandatory and has a fee (around $15 in 2016). Goor to know: if you arrive outside office hours (Monday to Friday 8.00am-5.00pm), you need to contact the ICA previously by mail or phone to make an appointment. The fee will be increased.
HEALTH TIPS FOR COLOMBIA
In addition to maintaining your dog/s vaccinations up to date during your stay, I strongly advise you to give him an antiparasitic treatment (for internal and external parasites). The tropical regions of Colombia, such as the Caribbean coast, the Pacific coast, the Amazon region and the islands, constitute a favorable environment for ticks, fleas and mosquitoes that can transmit life-threatening diseases to your dog.
So use an effective treatment before arriving and throughout your stay, as advised by your veterinarian. Most of these diseases do not present symptoms until it is too late. The only way to track them is to perform a blood test after staying in a high-risk area. This is not very expensive in Colombia and can save the life of your dog. Indeed, treatments exist but must be realized in time.
MORE INFORMATION
Read my post about “Traveling with a dog in Colombia” (my experience, dog friendly hotels and trips…) and watch my video 🙂
Ready to explore Colombia wity your dog? Already been there? If you have a question, leave me a comment below.
Photos & contents @ The Tropical Dog 2015-2018
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Hello, I was wondering if you found any restaurants or bars in Cartenega that allows pups?
Hi Ken! Well as Cartagena is hot, I used to eat outdoors, on the terrace. But I remember that they let me in with my dog at el Cafe del Mural in Getsemani (Cra.9 # 29a). But most of places don’t allow them… But you can spend a beautiful day at the Beach Hostel on Isla Tierra Bomba with your dog. They have a dog friendly boat and beach bar! More information in the TRAVEL -> COLOMBIA section of my blog 😉
If you come by car or by the sea nobody cares about your dog 😉 Only if you come by air plaine they will make a big thing out of it. We also have an exact explanation how it went when we arrived in Cartagena by air plaine while our car was being shipped from Panama. Going out of Ecuador and coming back nobody cared about the dogs. Only when leaving again Bogota by air plaine was complicated as you explain above.
If you come from Panama by boat most likely nobody will care about your dog 😉
Cheers
Michel
Hi Michel! Thanks for the information! Good to know 🙂 I wish you safe travels with your dogs!
Hello, i want to travel with my dog to different cities in Colombia. We arrive to Bogota and i would like to stay for 20 days. Do you know a good route where we can enjoy the nature and climate? I would like to travel by bus with it, do you know safe buses where we can travel? I know the site of Redbus were you can buy bus tickets. I want to know what bus companies allow pets so i can buy the tickets now. Thanks!!
Hello Ana! Sorry for the late reply, I am on vacation 🙂 Well, if your dog is small enough to be carried on your knees you can buy a small soft container and ask nicely the driver if he allows you to take him on the bus. Most of bus companies don’t allow pets. Some allow them in the hold of the bus in a cage. But actually it’s up to the driver if he will allow the dog in the bus or not. As I explain in my article, it took me a lot of negotiation to travel with my dog through Colombia. I never booked my tickets before. I would check the departures on internet and arrive at the bus terminal one hour before and just ask each counter if they allow pets and if I could speak to the driver. Sometimes I paid an extra ticket to the driver so that it would let my dog in. What kind of dog do you have?
i am thinking about going to colombia and taking my 4 border collies
can you give me any feedback on this?
Hello,
We’re thinking to move to Colombia from Spain, our dog is 85lbs and he’s a rescue dog from Hong Kong. We travel around with him and we decide to go somewhere warm. Did you a lot of homeless dog around in Colombia? Any special document for the dog to enter Colombia? I did some research, seems they just need some basic documents?!
Thank you so much!!
Hello Pauline,
I’m sorry for the delay of my answer… I was busy for the holidays. I’m so glad that you are traveling around the world with your dog! Colombia is a good choice. If you want to live in a warm region, you should go to the Caribbean coast. The rest of the country is cold during winter. Well, there are homeless dogs in Colombia and all over South America, but it never was an issue in the 4 countries I traveled to with Shark. They were not aggressive. As to the documents, indeed Colombia requires the basic documents. The only thing is that you need to follow the steps that I talk about in the article about ICA.
I wish you a happy new year and safe travels with your pup! 🙂
Great article! Colombia has many amazing places that are perfect to visit with a pet. Especially the places full of nature. It is possible to travel by bus in the country, you only need to know some tips! I share with you an article that shows how to travel by bus with pets in Colombia: https://colombiabybus.co/things-to-know/travel-bus-pets-colombia/
Thank you for your comment and for sharing this useful article Anita! I loved my time in Colombia 🙂 Cheers!
Hello-
I am planning on taking my dog to Colombia for the month of January 2019 and then travel onward from there to other countries. You mention that you traveled to 4 South American countries with your dog- can you tell me what countries they were and what you needed to do to go from one country to another.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Stephanie!
Thanks for your comment. Your plan to travel to Colombia and other countries with your dog sounds great! From Colombia, I have been to Peru, Bolivia and Chile with my dog, mostly by air. Be aware that a lot of bus companies don’t allow pets onboard. In Chile, it’s even forbidden by law, so I didn’t stay long over there…
You can read my experience and my tips for Peru in this article: https://thetropicaldog.com/en/traveling-with-a-dog-in-peru/
More tips about Colombia in this one: https://thetropicaldog.com/en/traveling-with-a-dog-in-colombia/
My article on Bolivia is coming soon 🙂
Hey
We are from the UK planning to move and travel around Colombia with our German spitz she is 7.5kg and we were wondering which airline you used to fly to Colombia? Do you remember how much it cost in total?
great article ! thank you so much for sharing. ive looked through so many write ups on this and yours is by far the most clear. i just have one question if i may . ive read on some sites that once i get the health documents from my vet ( within 10 days of travel ) im suppose to ship the documents to colombia to be approved then they ship them back. im not sure how i can ship something that far ( from canada ) and get it shipped back all within 10 days. and i dont quite understand why i would have to since these are the same documents im traveling with that they will inspect when i land . any help is GREATLY appreciated !
sincerely David Cummings