Colombia eSIM for Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, and the coffee region

Colombia is a country of ride apps and short domestic flights, where the difference between a good first hour and a bad one is whether the phone works when you clear El Dorado's immigration hall. The best eSIM for Colombia is the one added at home, on Wi-Fi, so the ride into Bogotá and tomorrow's flight to Medellín or Cartagena are booked on a phone that connected at the gate.

Below: how a Colombia plan works, how to set it up before you fly, what to expect in the three big cities, the coffee region, and on the Caribbean coast, and which plan fits when Panama, Ecuador, or Peru is on the same trip.

A South American trip is usually long, and it usually crosses a border or two. KnowRoaming is built for that. You add the KnowRoaming eSIM, called KR.One, to your phone once, then add a plan per trip: Colombia now, a LATAM plan the year the route runs through three countries, anywhere else after that. The eSIM stays; only the plan changes.

The plan's days start when you turn it on and connect in Colombia, not at checkout. Buy it weeks ahead, add it at home, and a delayed flight costs you nothing. The full rule is in what plan validity means and when it starts.

Choose a fixed plan for a set amount of data at the lowest overall price, or an unlimited plan when you'd rather not count. Unlimited plans give you 5 GB a day at full speed, then a slower speed until the allowance resets the next day. If a fixed plan runs low, top up in the app and the extra data lands on the same eSIM.

See it in two minutes: Meet KR.One, iPhone setup with KR.One, or Samsung setup with KR.One.

Do this at home on Wi-Fi. It takes about a minute.

Before you leave

1. Get the KnowRoaming app (available on iOS and Android) and choose your Colombia plan.
2. Tap Add. First time on this phone? The app adds KR.One and your Colombia plan together. Already have KR.One? Only the plan is added, with nothing to scan.
3. Leave data roaming off on the KnowRoaming line until you land, and turn it off on your home line too so it doesn't run up charges in the background. Steps are in turning off roaming on your home line.

When you land

1. Turn the plan on in the app, then turn data roaming on for the KnowRoaming line. That setting lives in your phone, so the app can't flip it for you.
2. Give the phone a minute to find the network. If nothing happens, turn airplane mode on for 30 seconds and off again.

Prefer a QR code? The checkout page and your confirmation email both carry one; scan it from your phone's settings. Every tap, by device, is in adding your eSIM on iPhone, adding your eSIM on Android, and adding your eSIM on Samsung, or watch the iPhone QR walkthrough or the Samsung QR walkthrough. Still no signal after landing? Work through the no-signal checklist.

El Dorado is close to the city and the ride in is half an hour to an hour depending on the hour. Uber, DiDi, and Cabify all run in Bogotá with the number you already have, and the TransMilenio bus system covers the city on a card sold at the stations. Medellín's José María Córdova airport is a descent of about 45 minutes into the valley; Cartagena's is minutes from the walled city.

The peso is the currency, cards are accepted widely in the cities, and cash is useful for taxis, markets, and the coffee farms. Bogotá sits at 2,600 meters, and the first day is slower than you'd expect.

Bogotá's Sunday ciclovía closes the main avenues to cars, Monserrate's cable car climbs above the city, and the Gold Museum and La Candelaria fill the rest of a first day; all three run on the phone for tickets and directions.

Medellín's Metro, its cable cars up the hillsides, and Comuna 13's escalators are the city's story; the coffee region around Salento, Filandia, and the Cocora valley's wax palms is a short flight or a long bus south. Cartagena's walled city and Getsemaní are the Caribbean, with Tayrona National Park and Santa Marta a few hours east along the coast.

Claro's and Tigo's 5G cover the big cities; the coffee towns have 4G; Tayrona's trails and the Lost City trek have nothing on any network. Download maps and the park's entry booking before you go in.

Colombia is on the LATAM plan, 15 countries on one plan that also covers Panama, Ecuador, and Peru, switching networks by itself at the border; the Colombia-to-Panama sailing through the San Blas islands and the overland route south to Quito are both covered end to end. A Colombia-only plan stops at the border. Read do I need a new plan for every country? for the detail.

San Andrés and Providencia, the Caribbean islands two hours' flight from the mainland, have 4G in the towns and thin coverage on the reefs; the Pacific coast around Nuquí and Bahía Solano, where the whales come from July to October, is reached by small plane and is mostly offline. Book the flights and the lodges from the mainland and expect the phone to be a camera once you're there.

Leticia, the Amazon town at the three-way border with Brazil and Peru, is a flight from Bogotá and the gateway to river lodges that are entirely offline; Claro's 4G reaches the town and stops at the riverbank.

Barranquilla's Carnival in February or March is the second largest in South America after Rio's; Medellín's Feria de las Flores in August and Cali's salsa fair at the end of December fill their cities. Tickets and parade routes go online, and hotels near them book out early. Colombia's seasons run wet and dry rather than hot and cold, with the dry months of December to March the busiest.

Your plan connects to Claro or Tigo, with 5G in Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Cartagena, and Barranquilla and 4G LTE across the towns and highways. Your phone picks the network automatically once the plan is on; there is nothing to choose by hand.

In Tayrona, on the Lost City trek, on the Pacific coast, and in the Amazon around Leticia, expect no signal on any network beyond the last town. Save what you need before you go.

Most phones sold since 2019 support eSIM, including iPhone XS and later and most Android flagships from the same window. Check yours before you add a plan; it takes a few seconds. On iPhone, go to Settings, General, About and look for an EID or Available SIM. On Android, go to Settings, Network & Internet, SIMs and look for an option to add an eSIM. On Samsung, dial *#06# and look for an EID.

Your phone also needs to be carrier-unlocked. If you're not sure, carrier-locked vs unlocked: how to tell shows you where to look.

Adding a Colombia plan doesn't touch your regular SIM. Calls and texts on your usual number keep working exactly as before. The new plan handles data while you're there, and most phones run both at once without you doing anything else. Bank codes and two-factor texts still arrive on your home number, as long as that line stays switched on.

For South America the alternatives are your home carrier's roaming rate, often unavailable outside the capital; a local SIM that means paperwork, a local number, and a queue; or hostel Wi-Fi that is fine until you're on a bus. A Colombia plan added at home beats all three: one price agreed before you fly, live the second you land, and a LATAM plan if the route crosses borders.

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