Things to do BEFORE you travel to South America
Planning a trip to South America can be overwhelming from the UK, so here’s a handy travel guide of things to do BEFORE you travel, based on our experience of travelling to Colombia with kids.
Immigration
For travel to Colombia, between 72 hours to 1 hour before your trip, you’ll need to complete an online form with Migración Colombia (called a CheckMig). At the airport you will be asked to verify the information that you have completed in terms of where you are travelling to and your onward travel out of Colombia again at the end of the trip.
Each South American country will have their own immigration rules and you will need to make sure that you are complying with them! Do your research and make sure you only purchase visas or other immigration documents through the official websites - unfortunately there are many fake websites out there!
Vaccinations
In many parts of South America, there is an increased risk of Yellow Fever, Hepatitis B and Malaria. However, this is NOT a blanket rule for all of South America - it’s worth doing your research in terms of which areas you are visiting and therefore which diseases you may need to have a vaccination against.
On our trip, we travelled to three areas in Colombia and one of them had a slight risk of Yellow Fever depending on how high above sea level you would be staying (check out the travel maps linked below). We chose to err on the side of caution and get a vaccination against Yellow Fever, seeing as it lasts your whole life anyway!
The full list of Yellow Fever travel maps for South America can be found here:
Argentina - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/11/argentina#Vaccine_recommendations
Bolivia - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/30/bolivia#Vaccine_recommendations
Brazil - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/34/brazil#Vaccine_recommendations
Colombia - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/53/colombia#Vaccine_recommendations
Ecuador - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/70/ecuador#Vaccine_recommendations
French Guiana - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/82/french-guiana#Vaccine_recommendations
Guyana - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/99/guyana#Vaccine_recommendations
Paraguay - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/176/paraguay#Vaccine_recommendations
Peru - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/177/peru#Vaccine_recommendations
Suriname - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/213/suriname#Vaccine_recommendations
Venezuela - https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/country/239/venezuela#Vaccine_recommendations
Currency
Many countries in South America use US Dollars, but also have their own separate currency. A Revolut card is perfect for travelling between countries with different currencies, and they have added Colombian Pesos (COP) to the number of available currencies in 2023!
Read the Reviews
Before booking any accommodation - READ THE REVIEWS! These are the truest pictures you will get of AirBNB or other similar styles of accommodation. Be on the lookout for multiple identical reviews and opt for detailed positive reviews for anywhere you plan to stay overnight.
