Colombia gay guide: the ultimate country guide for the LGBTQ traveler

Out Adventures are offering a brand new Colombia tour that's hotter than Maluma! It starts in Bogotá, where you'll be shaking your arepa at the largest LGBTQ club in the Americas and hiking humid jungles in Tayrona National Park. Beach babies don't need to feel left out either, you'll have plenty of time for soaking up the country's sand, sun and sea in coastal Cartagena as well. There's also optional gay salsa classes, food tours and snorkeling excursions to make this adventure muy caliente!

Each year, Out in Colombia offer a variety of exclusively gay tours within the country. These tours include an exploration of the gay scene with a cute local as well as a cultural element: such as cooking classes and visiting a coffee farm. We love that Out in Colombia works hard to ensure their experiences are entertaining for gay travelers while ensuring they work sustainably and with local Colombians.

HeTravel is one of our favourite gay tour companies because of their focus on adventure-based trips. For Colombia, they offer this fantastic high energy tour, which includes mountain biking tour around Medellin's countryside, paragliding, zip-lining, canyoneering, staying in an eco-lodge and more. Gay adventure travellers like us will particularly love this!

Coda Tours offer a more generic “Highlights of Colombia” tour for LGBTQ travellers. This 8-day trip includes 2 nights in Bogota, 3 nights in Medellin and 2 nights in Cartagena. Each visit focuses on the highlights of that city, with a day trip to Guatape included as part of the Medellin segment. This is ideal for gay travellers who have limited time and want to pack in as much as possible into their Colombia holiday.

Bogota has the largest gay scene in Colombia, largely based in the residential Chapinero neighbourhood. This is where you'll find the uber-famous mega club, Theatron (see below), as well as lots of different cafes, saunas and gay bars like El Recreo de Adan and Brokeback Mountain. In terms of LGBTQ festivals, Bogota has the largest Pride event in the country, as well as the Diverso Cinema Festival, both in June.

For more, be sure to check out our gay guide to Bogota.

Medellin used to be considered the crime capital of Colombia but has evolved massively over the past decade to become one of the safest and most gay friendly cities city in Colombia. The paisas (nickname for people from the Medellin region) love meeting foreigners and are famous for being the hottest of all Colombians! The bulk of the gay scene of Medellin is based in and around Parque Lleras in Poblado with hangouts like Bar Chiquita and Donde Aquellos. Viva Discoteca is the main gay club to check out in Medellin.

For more, be sure to check out our gay guide to Medellin.

The 26-metre (85ft) tall Cristo Rey proudly looks on over Cali, the city nicknamed as the salsa capital of Colombia. Colombia's 3rd biggest city also has an exciting gay scene to check out, particularly in Comuna 3, just south of the Parque Natural Bataclán, with bars like Rumores, El Romano, Anastasia and the Queens gay club. In terms of gay events, Cali has a Pride every June, which will have plenty of parties taking place alongside it. In September, the city hosts the famous World Salsa Festival, which is when you'll also find some of the best gay parties happening in the gay bars/clubs.

The home of Shakira is a top gay city in Colombia because of the Gay Carnival in February/March. After Rio's Carnival, Barranquilla's is the most famous in South America, and definitely the gayest! All our Colombian friends told us this is where they all aim to head for the best parties during Carnival season. The Barranquilla Carnival has one entire day devoted to the LGBTQ community, which includes an awesome and super colourful parade.

Barranquilla also has a small gay scene with gay hangouts like Patio Barranquilla, Phuket and Lives Megaclub.

Cartagena is the most touristic place in Colombia because of its cute old town. As such, it's very touristy and very international in the city centre. There is a small gay scene here with a few gay bars like Le Petit, Solar and the Roma gay club. In terms of gay events, Cartagena has a small Pride and Circuit-like festival called Rumours happening every August.

We would book a trip to Bogota in a heartbeat just to party at the excellent Theatron gay club on a Saturday night. Theatron is the largest gay club in Latin America and definitely the best we've ever been to in all our travels. It's split into 13 mini clubs spread over 5 floors, each with its own theme, for example, one room is devoted to modern pop hits, another room is only for women, another is men only with live strippers, and there's even one just for reggaeton hits. Find out more in our article about what a gay night out in Theatron is like.

The Coffee Region of Colombia is the best part of the country in our opinion. It forms a triangle around the cities of Pereira, Manizales and Armenia, which each have airports. The cities themselves are nothing special, but the small towns around are simply gorgeous, in particular Salento. We loved Salento because it was full of character, like being transported back in time, with colourful colonial-style houses. Also, the best cup of coffee I tried in all of Colombia was right here...I speak as a caffeine-addicted coffee snob!

Medellin is an exciting city. Not only does it have an exciting gay scene (which we set out above), but in August, it has one of the prettiest and most exhilarating festivals in Colombia. The Feria de las Flores is 10 days of public concerts, pageants, orchid competitions, parades, and tons of parties. One thing you'll quickly learn is that every Colombian is an incredible dancer and loves to party! The Medellin Flower Festival is particularly special because the entire country descends on the city. It felt like all of Colombia had come to a standstill to come and celebrate.

Cartagena will always have a special place in our hearts as this is where I proposed to my Seby! We fell in love with the UNESCO-listed old town. Imagine lots of tight cobblestone alleys lined with resuscitated colonial-era mansions, their walls and wooden balconies painted pastel shades of yellow, blue and green. This is where you're going to go Insta-crazy! We particularly loved all the dramatic street art murals of the old town and Plaza de la Trinidad in Getsemani. In the evening it's full of quirky street performers, artists performing, street vendors selling freshly made Mojitos and ad hoc street parties kicking off later in the evening along the narrow streets.

We were blown away by the spectacular Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá. This underground cathedral is entirely carved out of salt and is only one of three such structures in the world. The other two are in Poland. The Salt Cathedral is so popular that it was voted as the #1 of the 7 Wonder of Colombia in a poll in 2007. As such it is very touristic and Disneyland-ish here, with plenty of tacky souvenir shops. But the structure itself is impressive and definitely worth the journey.

The other reason we love Medellin is because it's a handy base for visiting some of the small pretty towns of the Coffee Region. One of our favourites is Guatapé, located around 2 hours away by bus. This small town is lined with colourful streets where each building has been decorated with vibrant “zocalos” (bas-reliefs) and motifs. Another similar cutesy small town to visit in the region is Jardin but note it is much further away from Medellin (around 4 hours by bus), so would require an overnight stay.

The Caño Cristales is one of Colombia’s natural wonders. It gets its nickname the Rainbow River because at the right time of year (around September/October), it transforms into a stream of five colours – red, orange, yellow, green and blue. This is caused by a mix of aquatic plants, algae, sand and circular rock pools, which combine to produce this pretty unique liquid rainbow effect. You can also swim in it and literally feel like you're gliding through a magical rainbow!

A pure remote island paradise getaway in the middle of the Caribbean waters! San Andres and Providencia are Colombia's most remote islands located quite far out, close to the coast of Nicaragua. San Andres is the more developed, and larger of the two, with direct inexpensive flights to/from Medellin and Bogota. Providencia, however, is the true hidden gem. It is located 90km (56 miles) north from San Andres. You can only reach it via a short (and quite pricey) 20-minute flight from San Andres, or a 2.5-hour rough catamaran ferry.

The Tayrona National Park offers some of the most thrilling trekking adventures in Colombia. It's located right by the coast, so expect hot and humid temperatures here throughout the year. We flew to Santa Marta airport, took a private transfer over and stayed near the Park for a few nights. Inside the park, it feels like you're inside a vast thick rainforest. For our visit, we split the day into two. For the first part, we rented horses to take us to Cabo San Juan, which has a handsome beach to chill out at. The water here is quite rough in Tayrona, so cooling off in the sea depends on how high the currents get. For the second part of our visit, we trekked back through the thick rainforest spotting lots of monkeys, different types of birds and event the odd snake.

This is the signature dish of Medellin and the surrounding Antioquia region. People from this area are referred to as “paisas”, and “bandeja” means ‘a tray’ in Spanish.

This specific tray is an immense serving of rice, ground beef, red beans, chicharron (fried pork rinds), chorizo, morcilla (similar to black pudding), fried egg, avocado, arepas and plantains. Put it this way – even we have never been able to finish one…!

Chicharron is a plate of deep-fried crispy pork rinds or belly, usually eaten as a snack with a few beers, or part of a larger dish (like bandeja paisa). They look like thick slices of bacon, but with larger chunks of fat and a small slither of meat. They are particularly popular in the Andean regions of Colombia or with football crowds. Chicharrón can also be made from chicken, mutton or beef, but most of the time it's pork.

Arepas are deep-fried corn cakes, kinda like the main carb accompaniment to a meal in place of bread. They are generally a popular street food snack in both Colombia and Venezuela. In the coastal areas of Colombia, arepas are also a more elaborate breakfast dish. They come in different sizes and varieties. For example, in Medellin and the surrounding Paisa area, arepas are usually small white and round, served plain as an accompaniment in place of bread. By comparison, the breakfast arepas in the coastal region are much larger and stuffed with a variety of other ingredients like braised meat, cheese and/or egg.

Ajiaco is a hearty chicken/potato soup from Bogota. It's like comfort food for the Rolos (nickname for the people from Bogota). The capital city is located deep in a mountain basin of the Andes, so has a much cooler climate than the rest of the country. Therefore, hearty soups like ajiaco are very popular here. Ajiaco is usually made from chicken, three varieties of potatoes and a herb called “galinsoga parviflora”, or “guasca”. Try out our simple recipe for Colombian ajiaco.