Before you start

A passport and valid entry stamp to travel and to drive short-term on a foreign licence
A valid foreign driving licence, ideally with an International Driving Permit obtained before you leave home
A cédula de extranjería, required to register in the RUNT, obtain a Colombian licence or register a vehicle
A tullave card for TransMilenio and the SITP, and the ride apps installed with a working payment method

Step-by-step

1
Get a tullave card and learn the two TransMilenio layers
Buy and load a tullave card at any TransMilenio station or authorised point. The 2026 fare is COP 3,550 for both the red troncal articulated buses and the blue SITP zonal buses, with TransMiCable included. The troncal system runs in dedicated central lanes and is fast but ferociously crowded at peak; the zonal buses are slower and calmer. Get the personalised card rather than the anonymous one — the balance is recoverable if it is lost or stolen.
In personWho: You, at a station ticket window15 minutes; same-day useCOP 3,550 (~US$0.85) per journey in 2026
2
Install two ride apps, and use them instead of hailing
Uber, DiDi, Cabify and InDrive all operate in Bogotá, and Cabify and DiDi will often route you a licensed yellow taxi. Ride-hailing sits in a long-running legal grey zone here, which is why having a second app matters when one is disrupted. A crosstown trip runs COP 15,000–35,000 and El Dorado airport COP 30,000–60,000 depending on traffic. Avoid street-hailing after dark.
Mobile appWho: YouMinutes to installCOP 15,000–35,000 (~US$4–9) across town
3
Drive on a foreign licence for up to six months, then stop
Under Ley 769 de 2002 (art. 25) a foreigner in tourist or transit status may drive on a valid foreign licence for up to six months. Carry an International Driving Permit alongside it — it is a translation, not a licence, and it smooths checkpoints where your document is not in Spanish. Once you hold a cédula and are resident, the foreign licence stops being an answer.
In personWho: YouUp to 6 months of tourist statusIDP obtained at home before departure
4
Get a Colombian licence: RUNT, CRC medical, CEA course, then the exams
There is no straight exchange for most nationalities. You register your cédula in the RUNT, pass a psychomotor and medical assessment at an accredited CRC, complete the required hours at a registered driving school (CEA) for your category, and pass theory and practical tests. Bogotá has plenty of CEAs; the bottleneck is usually appointment availability rather than difficulty. Budget four to eight weeks and COP 800,000–1,600,000.
In personWho: You, via a RUNT-registered CEA and CRC4–8 weeksCOP 800,000–1,600,000 (~US$200–400) all in
5
Learn pico y placa properly before you borrow anyone's car
Monday to Friday, 6am to 9pm. The district publishes the measure as who may drive, not who may not: on odd-numbered days of the month plates ending 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 may circulate, which means 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0 are restricted; on even-numbered days plates ending 6, 7, 8, 9 or 0 may circulate and 1 to 5 are restricted. Weekends and public holidays are free of it inside the city. Separately, a pico y placa regional applies on the last day of long weekends at the nine entry corridors, admitting even-ending plates 12pm–4pm and odd-ending plates 4pm–8pm. The fine plus immobilisation is severe and ignorance is not a defence, so check the district's calendar for the current month rather than reasoning from memory.
OnlineWho: You, checking the Secretaría Distrital de Movilidad's current decreeOngoing; verify each month
6
If you must drive daily, price the Pico y Placa Solidario permit
Bogotá sells a legal exemption by the day, month or half-year. The 2026 base figures start around COP 70,000 daily, COP 562,000 monthly and COP 2.81M for six months, then multiply by factors for the vehicle's assessed value, model year, fuel type and where it is registered — with a 1.5× factor for plates registered outside Bogotá. Revenue goes to the public transport tariff-stabilisation fund.
OnlineWho: You, via the Secretaría Distrital de Movilidad portalSame dayFrom ~COP 70,000/day or ~COP 562,000/month before multipliers (2026 base values)

Documents you’ll need

Passport with a valid entry stamp, and the cédula de extranjería once resident
Foreign driving licence plus an International Driving Permit for the six-month window
RUNT registration, CRC medical certificate and CEA course certificate for a Colombian licence
Vehicle papers if you own one: licencia de tránsito, current SOAT insurance and the tecnomecánica inspection certificate

Things most newcomers don’t know

Bogotá's pico y placa keys off the day of the month, not the parity of your plate — and the district publishes it as permission rather than prohibition: digits 1–5 may circulate on odd-numbered days, digits 6–0 on even ones.

Every other big Colombian city assigns fixed digits to fixed weekdays, so drivers arriving from Medellín, Cali or Cartagena reason by weekday and get it wrong. The second trap is reading the notice backwards, because it lists who may drive rather than who may not. And because a month can end and begin on two odd days in a row, your restricted day can fall twice in 48 hours.

Source: Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá / Secretaría Distrital de Movilidad (2026)

Registering a car outside Bogotá to save on tax now costs more, not less: the Pico y Placa Solidario multiplier for plates registered elsewhere rose from 1.2 to 1.5 for 2026.

Registering vehicles in cheaper municipalities was a long-standing Bogotá habit, and the exemption permit is where the city takes it back. Anyone buying a second-hand car should check where its plate is registered before assuming the running costs, because the difference is now a third more on every permit.

Source: Secretaría Distrital de Movilidad, Resolución 120963 (2026 tariffs)

The first Thursday of February is a compulsory, city-wide car-free day, imposed by decree and originally mandated by a public referendum in 2000.

Private cars and motorcycles cannot circulate between 5am and 9pm — in 2026 that was 5 February. It is not opt-out and there is no permit for it. People schedule airport runs, house moves and hospital visits into it every year and then discover their taxi is legal but their own car is not.

Source: Bogotá.gov.co / Secretaría Distrital de Movilidad

There is no metro yet, and there will not be one before 2028 — Línea 1 was about 80% complete in mid-2026 with commercial operation targeted for the first quarter of 2028.

Bogotá is routinely described online as having a metro under construction, which people read as nearly finished. The practical consequence is that your commute for the next couple of years is TransMilenio, a bus or a car in some of the worst traffic in the hemisphere, and it should weigh heavily in where you choose to live.

Source: Empresa Metro de Bogotá / Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá (2026)

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming pico y placa follows odd or even plate numbers as it does elsewhere, rather than the 1–5 / 6–0 digit bands against the calendar day — and reading the district's notice backwards, since it names the digits that may circulate, not the ones that may not.
Expecting to exchange a home licence for a Colombian one — for most nationalities there is no swap, only school, medical and exams.
Driving past the six-month foreign-licence window, which risks a fine measured in daily minimum wages and immobilisation of the vehicle.
Buying a car with a non-Bogotá plate without noticing the 1.5× Pico y Placa Solidario multiplier that now applies to it.
Planning anything car-dependent on the first Thursday of February, when private cars and motorcycles are banned city-wide.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.