Money in Medellín: cash, cards, Nequi, and the ATM rule that saves you 100,000 COP a year

You'll need less cash in Medellín than you think. The Visa-and-Mastercard penetration is high, the local payment app (Nequi) handles everything cards don't, and the ATMs work better than they did five years ago.

But there are four or five conventions that nobody tells you, and they're the difference between paying COP 100,000 in unnecessary fees over a two-week trip and paying zero. Here they are.

What you can pay for with a card

In El Poblado: almost everything. Restaurants, cafés, bars, supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations, taxis (when called through an app), Uber, larger food stalls in Mercado del Río, most bakeries, all chain stores.

Outside El Poblado: most of the above, but coverage starts to drop. Smaller neighborhood tiendas, family-run panaderías, street food vendors, menú del día restaurants in working-class neighborhoods, public buses, and the Metro all want cash.

Card type matters less than you'd expect. Visa and Mastercard are nearly universal. American Express has limited acceptance — you'll get turned away at maybe a quarter of restaurants. Diners Club is essentially nonexistent.

Practical takeaway: bring a Visa or Mastercard as primary, and keep a backup card from the other network in case one fails. Don't depend on Amex as your only card.

What requires cash

Six categories, in rough order of how often you'll hit them:

Taxis off-app. Hailing a taxi on the street is cash-only. Use Uber/InDriver instead — they accept international cards.
Tipping doormen and apartment cleaners. 5,000–10,000 COP per service.
Public transit. Metro is 3,250 COP per ride; you can buy a Civica card and load it (cards or cash), but single rides at the counter are cash-only.
Street food and small vendors. Empanadas at the corner stall, mango on a stick, the chocolate vendor in the park, the man with the hot dogs by Lleras at 1am.
Neighborhood corner stores (tiendas). Many take cards now but a meaningful minority don't.
Small bills at panaderías. The bread is 4,000 COP. They take cards but it's faster with coins and the staff appreciates it.

Practical takeaway: carry 200,000–300,000 COP at any time. That's about $50–75 USD. Don't carry more — there's no need and it makes you the rare tourist with a real pickpocket target.

ATMs — the rule that saves you 100,000 COP

This is the one nobody explains:

Withdraw from Bancolombia ATMs whenever possible, especially those inside Éxito supermarkets.

Why: Bancolombia's foreign-card fee is among the lowest in the country (around 19,000 COP per withdrawal in 2026). Many other banks charge 25,000–30,000. Over a two-week trip with three withdrawals, the difference is around 30,000–40,000 COP — small per visit, real over time.

Also: Bancolombia ATMs inside Éxito are open during store hours (~7am–10pm), have a guard at the supermarket entrance, and are well-lit. The standalone street ATMs are technically the same machines but feel less safe, especially after dark.

The Éxito in Oviedo mall is the one we send guests to by default. It's a 5-minute Uber from anywhere in El Poblado, has its own Bancolombia branch, and is open until 9pm seven days a week.

Other usable banks: Davivienda, BBVA, and Itaú. Avoid the standalone "Servibanca" cash machines you'll see in convenience stores — their foreign-card fees are higher and a small number have been involved in card-cloning reports.

Per-withdrawal limit

Most Colombian ATMs cap foreign-card withdrawals at 600,000 COP per transaction (~$150 USD). If you need more, you have to do multiple withdrawals — and you pay the fee each time. So withdraw the max each time. Trying to take out 1,200,000 COP in one go won't work; you'll have to do two withdrawals of 600,000.

Your bank's side

Some US banks charge a $5 fee per foreign withdrawal on top of what Bancolombia takes. Charles Schwab Bank reimburses ATM fees worldwide (the killer feature for travelers). Wise (Schwab equivalent for non-US travelers) does the same. If you're a frequent traveler, these accounts pay for themselves.

Nequi — set it up if you're staying more than a week

Nequi is Colombia's most-used mobile payment app, owned by Bancolombia. It's how people split bills, pay each other, tip the parking valet, buy from the food vendor who doesn't have a card terminal. It runs on a phone number — you scan a QR code or type the recipient's number and the money moves instantly, no fees.

Tourists usually don't bother with Nequi because the setup requires a Colombian national ID (cédula). But there's a workaround: Nequi recently opened to non-residents with a passport, and the setup takes about 20 minutes in their app. If you're staying more than a week, especially if you're a digital nomad doing a month, set it up.

What you can do with Nequi that cards can't:

Pay the corner vendor with a 30-second QR scan
Split a restaurant bill with a Colombian friend at the table
Tip the limpiabotas (shoeshine) without exact change
Pay your way out of small situations where the merchant doesn't have a card reader

If you're here for under a week, skip it. The setup time costs more than the convenience saves.

Tipping conventions

Colombia is not a heavy-tip culture but there are conventions worth knowing:

Restaurants in El Poblado: a 10% service charge is often automatically added to the bill (look for "propina sugerida" or "servicio incluido"). It's voluntary by law — you can ask to remove it — but most diners pay it. You do not need to add more. A bigger tip is appreciated but not expected.
Restaurants in casual spots: no service charge added, leave 10,000–20,000 COP if service was good.
Taxis (off-app): round up to the nearest 1,000 COP. Don't tip larger.
Uber drivers: tipping is optional and most don't expect it; 5,000–10,000 COP is generous.
Hotel/apartment doormen who help with bags: 5,000–10,000 COP per service.
Hair, nails, massage: 10–15% of the service.
Tour guides: 30,000–50,000 COP per person for a half-day tour.

Exchange houses vs ATMs

Always ATM. The Bancolombia interbank rate is better than any casa de cambio in El Poblado by 3–5%, even after the foreign-card fee. The bureaus near Parque Lleras catering to tourists are particularly bad rates.

If you arrived with cash USD and want to convert: the casas de cambio inside Centro Comercial Oviedo have the best public-facing rates in the neighborhood. But you're still doing worse than just hitting the ATM with your card.

What to do with leftover pesos on your last day

You arrive at MDE for your flight home with COP 180,000 in your wallet. What now?

Options, in order of how we'd rank them:

Spend them at the airport. MDE's food prices are decent and a real meal + coffee + something for the flight clears 60,000+ COP. There's a duty-free section with cigars, coffee, aguardiente.
Exchange at the airport. Rates are bad but better than zero. Expect to lose 8–10% to the spread.
Bring them home as a souvenir. Colombian banknotes are gorgeous; a 50,000 COP note features Gabriel García Márquez. If you'll return, hang onto them.
Give them to the housekeeper. A 50,000 COP tip on a 7-night stay is enthusiastically appreciated.

What not to do: deposit small bills into your home-country bank. Most won't accept Colombian pesos; the ones that will charge a 15–20% conversion fee.

If something specific to your situation isn't covered here — "can I pay with crypto?" (yes, at maybe four spots in El Poblado), "how does Bre-B work?" (the new central-bank instant transfer system, but you need a Colombian bank account), "are there safety risks at ATMs?" (see our safety post) — WhatsApp us. The general questions get a faster answer on the FAQ.