Cali to Quito: is it safe by bus?
I’d done a lot of research on transport options before setting off on my trip to South America, and the bus journey from Cali to Quito was by far the one I was most dreading.
Almost every travel blogger I spoke to knew someone who’d had a bad experience on the route, be it a full-on bus hijacking and mass robbery at gun point, or the mysterious disappearance of a backpack from the storage compartment.
Of course, flying is an option, but it’s crazy expensive – even the short trip from Cali to Pasto is at least 6 times pricier than a flight with the same airline between Cartagena and Medellin.
If you’re on a budget, the best piece of advice I can give you is to do this journey only during daylight hours. A good place to stop off is Pasto. There’s not much to do there, but you can bed down in a comfortable room and refresh for the next leg of the journey.
Disclaimer: This photo only represents a comfortable room. Sadly the beds in Pasto don’t have Spongebob duvets
Day One:
I left my least favourite place in Colombia (aka Cali, where I was mugged) at 9 am. This was despite getting up at 6. I wanted to travel with a company I’d heard about, but none was leaving until the evening, so I bought an 8 am ticket with the comfortable-looking Cootranar for $30,000 COP.
As I waited, a man came over to inform me that the bus would actually leave at 9. No apology or explanation was given. I cursed myself for getting up so early for no reason.
For most of the journey they played salsa music at a barely audible volume. I also saw the movie Safe House in Spanish for the second time. They sure LOVE Denzel Washington in Colombia.
The journey should have taken 9 hours. It took 10. But the service station we stopped at for 30 minutes was the most picturesque I’ve ever seen, with eagles and vultures soaring close by, and arid mountains as far as the eye could see.
We arrived at about 7 pm and I jumped straight in a taxi for $4000 to the Koala Inn hostel in central Pasto. I’d hoped to meet other travellers there, but it was quite deserted. I didn’t care. At $18,000 COP, with WiFi, a private room with double bed and TV, and a hot shower, this was a bargain. It was just a shame I had to get up so early again the next day.
If you do stay here and you need some dinner, turn right when you leave the hostel and take the first right to find a couple of restaurants serving food until 9 pm. One is cheap with local almuerzo dishes, and the other is a pizzeria with a massive menu.
Day Two:
The next morning, I left at 6 am and caught a cab from the corner. The bus terminal had plenty of companies with shuttle buses to Ipiales. I chose SuperTaxis for $7000. You have to wait for the shuttle to fill up with passengers before it sets off, so I was sitting around for 30 minutes. Pulling out of the station, we were met by a glorious sunrise.
Try to avoid the back seats as they have less space and you will end up squished into a corner with no headrest, clinging on to the ceiling as the driver swerves like a maniac round all the bends.
The journey to Ipiales takes roughly 1 hour 30 mins. I arrived at 8 am and decided I had enough time to detour to the nearby Las Lajas cathedral. It’s a stunning building that spans a massive gorge and it’s well worth stopping at for an hour or so if you have time.
The left luggage office recommended by the guidebooks seemed a bit dodgy to me. A man with a poo nail dumped my bag in a small room by the door and proceeded to walk me to the taxi terminal without locking the bag room. I shouted at him and he said it was ‘his problem’! It’s your judgement call whether or not you risk it, but I did retrieve all my belongings without hassle later.
The collectivos (or taxis) that go to the cathedral are $2000 COP per person each way, but we’d been sitting there so long without other passengers I told him I’d pay $5000 if we could leave immediately. It takes 15 minutes to the drop off point, from which you have to walk downhill through the town. Look out for the not so obvious signs on lamp posts that tell you which way to go and remember that trekking back up at altitude is tiring work! The best views are from the path on the other side of the gorge.
I got back to Ipiales at 10 am and hopped in another cab to the border for $7000 COP. I was there by 10:30 am.
You have to get an exit stamp before walking across the bridge and then queueing to get your entry stamp for Ecuador. It would be easy to miss one or both because no one would actually check if you strolled straight over and got in a cab. Make sure you don’t have any food or drink with you. They didn’t check me, but it’s better to be safe than detained.
I was in the queue for 1 hour 30 mins. Keep a book or iPod handy. Check they stamp you in and that it has enough days for your planned trip, then hop in yet another cab to Tulcan for about $3.50. I shared with a bunch of Colombians who’d also just passed through immigration.
My bus to Quito left Tulcan just after I arrived there at 12:30. It cost $4.80 and took just over 5 hours. From the bus terminal, it’s one final cab to the city centre.
I wasn’t sure whether to stay in the new town, where the Mariscal district has many hostels, tourism agencies, and bars and clubs, or the old town, which is prettier and a better base for sightseeing. Having heard that robberies are quite common in the more touristy areas, I chose a sociable-looking hostel called Secret Garden. It has fantastic views of the city and they offer plenty of travel advice – both local and further afield. They also serve meals and drinks and have WiFi.
This is the view from the terrace. I chose well!
Themocracy
Enjoy Ecuador! But stay safe in the buses and always keep your backpack with you now (hope all got well afterwards…). Climb up the viewpoint with the cable car, it’s worth the view! And hike Cotopaxi volcano if you get the chance, it’s fabulous (but go with other people so you can share a vehicule, as local buses only stop a few miles OUT of the entrance and a good miles away from the volcano).
Cheers and happy adventuring!
Jul’
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Thanks for the tips. I’ve already done the viewpoint. Met a nice guy from Hong Kong who bought me a hot chocolate. Really want to climb Cotopaxi too, but whether or not I can share a vehicle is down to luck I guess. Hope there are some other eager hikers in my hostel!
I heard epic horror stories about this border crossing while in Colombia! I didn’t have any trouble either, but the day before I left this guy told me his bus was stopped by the police and the driver took off down a ravine to get away (I have a feeling he was full of it, but it was still scary to hear about). Glad everything went well for you, and hope you have a great time in Ecuador!
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Oh my! I’m glad that didn’t happen to me. Ecuador is really cool, although I just took a night bus and arrived at 5am in the dark. Waiting till 10 to see if they even have room. Not so good!
Oh wow, Las Lajas Cathedral looks amazing. Glad you made it past the border all safe and sound!
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Yeah, it was a really cool detour. Really recommend it to break up the journey if there’s time. Otherwise it’s just a hell of a lot of buses and taxis and not much else!
I am always too late knowing where you are. I did this border crossing 3 times by bus.
The trick is that you should not cross at night, in fact you should never be on the bus at night in Southern Colombia. You can get from Cali to Popayan, there is a great hostel there. Then if you take the first bus in the morning you can get to the border pretty quickly and get to Quito before nightfall.
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I thought about stopping in Popayan, but in the end Pasto meant more equal travelling distance each way! Impressed you did this journey 3 times! You expert! :)
I’m heading to Colombia in a few weeks and recently realized I need proof of onward travel to enter Colombia. I don’t have a return flight as I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying so I was considering just purchasing a bus ticket to Quito from Cali in advance as my onward travel. Do you happen to know if that suffices for my Colombia Visa? Any other suggestions?
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I was in the same situation. I’m pretty sure a bus ticket is sufficient as proof of onward travel, but it’s annoying having to decide a date to leave the country and risking losing money if you don’t end up catching that bus. Another option, which a lot of people do, but sounds quite dodgy, is to pretend you have a flight out of the country. If you go through the booking process with Copa Airlines (ie, book a flight from Bogota to Quito), you get sent a confirmation email before you’ve paid. You can then edit the email in Photoshop so it no longer says you still have to pay. This way, if they ask for proof and they check the flight number you can be sure it exists and you should be ok. They didn’t check any proof when I flew there from the UK via the US. I don’t think they enforce it as strongly as a lot of countries, but it’s good to have a backup plan. Good luck!
[...] to the Google Gods, my most read post is one in which I offer advice to people trying to get between Cali in Colombia and Quito in Ecuador by bus. Before I set out on my trip through South America, I was anxious about my safety in Colombia. From [...]
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Two weeks ago, I flew into Quito for a couple of days to visit my wife’s family. Was there for two days and both were spent in bed with a headache that felt like my head was going to explode! Oh, and a nauseated stomach. Two days later, flew into Guayaquil and felt much better as soon as we landed. Next time I travel to Quito, I will need 2 – 3 days to aclimate before getting around the city.
I’m really sorry to hear that. I was lucky not to feel the effects of altitude in the cities, but I think it helped a lot that I approached more gradually by bus. Maybe you could try that next time you visit?
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