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Amazonas is a department in the Amazon region of Colombia. It offers some wonderful opportunities to experience life on the Amazon River.
Introduction to Amazonas
A vast area of Colombia is made up of virgin jungle which is part of the massive Amazon River Basin. Much of the land is protected. Some areas are populated with indigenous tribes, including a few that refuse contact, and unfortunately, in others, paramilitary forces. Due to these and other factors, it’s a wild and quite dangerous section of the country – definitely not a tourist destination.
Fortunately, there’s a small section in the southeastern corner of the Amazonas department that’s extremely safe and quite developed for tourism. It runs along the Colombian border with Peru, separated only by the Amazon River.
This corner of Amazonas contains the department’s only two developed towns along the Amazon River – the capital city of Leticia and Puerto Nariño. Small villages populated by indigenous people dot the river on both sides, making up the rest of the area. Because of the aforementioned factors, there are no roads connecting these towns to the rest of Colombia. They both rely on the Amazon River for transportation, freight, food, economy, and much more.
Getting to Amazonas
Leticia is the gateway city in Amazonas. It can be reached via plane or boat. Alfredo Vásquez Cobo International Airport serves flights to and from Bogotá (as of July 2025). There are also charter flights from other cities if you take an all-inclusive tour. After arriving and collecting luggage, visitors must pay a COP$45,000 tourist tax for the Amazonas region (as of July 2025).
Leticia shares a land border with Tabatinga, Brazil. For the more adventurous travelers, it’s also possible to get to the region by boat from Peru or Brazil.
Getting Around Amazonas
Unless you want to stick around chaotic Leticia, you’ll have to get on a boat. The docks in Leticia offer transportation to communities and accommodation along the Amazon River, including Puerto Nariño.
Tours of Amazonas
There are a handful of companies offering all-inclusive tours of Amazonas with round-trip transportation. For our first visit to the region, we went with On Vacation. Overall, it was a decent tour but it started and ended in disaster.
If you aren’t into all-inclusive tours, you have a little extra time, and you want to see the REAL Amazon jungle (the On Vacation tour is Amazon-lite), a similar and much more thorough trip can be done easily on your own (or with my company, Paisadventure!).
For example, it’s possible to visit Amacayacu National Park in Colombia, or go deep into the jungle to stay at a lodge along one of the tributaries of the Amazon in Peru or Brazil. You can also head down the river to the port city of Benjamin Constant in Brazil (passport and possibly a visa necessary). Another option is to head to Puerto Nariño for an extended stay.
Feeling more adventurous? Hire a local guide to spend as much time as your heart desires camping out in the deep jungle. Just watch out for cannibals!
Leticia, Amazonas
Leticia is the capital of the Amazonas department and one of the major ports on the Amazon River. It was founded as San Antonio on April 25, 1867, and belonged to Peru at that time. On December 15 of that year, it was renamed Leticia in honor of Leticia Smith, the wife of local engineer Manuel Charón. The city was given to Colombia in 1929 to settle a border dispute between the two countries.
As the gateway to Amazonas, you’ll have to pass through there at some point. Our own experience in the city was very short, spending a few hours in the evening on our last day. We basically took a quick walk through town to change money for Brazil and really didn’t see anything. Our first impression is that it’s a chaotic border city.
There are several very good hotels in Leticia for every budget and many restaurants to choose from. Tour operators can offer excursions. Attractions in the city include a museum, galleries, and plenty of shops. Also, at Parque Santander the parrots come and sit in the trees every night at 5pm. I’ll definitely make a point to properly explore the city on my next trip to the region.
Puerto Nariño, Amazonas
The first excursion we took in Amazonas was a day trip to Puerto Nariño. The town, mostly inhabited by the indigenous Ticuna people, is located right on the Amazon River. To get there on your own, you have to take a roughly 2-hour boat ride from Leticia. The entrance fee for tourists is COP$20,000 per person (as of July 2025).
Puerto Nariño was originally a settlement under Peruvian administration called Puerto Espejo. After passing to Colombia, it was officially founded on August 18, 1961, by police officer José Humberto Espejo Hernández (1928-2017). It was later renamed for Antonio Nariño (1765-1823), a hero of Colombian independence. The town was elevated to a municipality on January 18, 1984.
The town is a successful experiment of sustainable living. It’s completely green. There are no cars or motorcycles in the town, save for an ambulance, and getting around is done on foot or bicycle. The streets and avenues are identified by palms and other trees. It’s a place where the entire local community lives in harmony with nature and quite an interesting place when you learn how the town works.
For visitors, there are many small hotels, hostels, and restaurants in the peaceful town. Opportunities to take a night hike in the jungle or exploring Lago Tarapoto, a Ramsar site since January 18, 2018, allow for even more unique experiences in nature.
Mirador Naipata
It’s worth paying the small entrance fee to climb up Mirador Naipata. The view is breathtaking. From the top, you can get a look at the entire town and the Amazon River on one side. On the other side is dense jungle as far as the eye can see.
Where to Eat in Puerto Nariño
As part of the excursion, we were treated to lunch in a local restaurant.
Las Margaritas
Our time in Puerto Nariño began with a delicious lunch at Las Margaritas and then we quickly walked through the town.
Yagua Indigenous Community
On the third day of our Amazonas tour with On Vacation, we took an excursion to visit a Yagua community. The Yagua are an indigenous tribe who settled in the specific area around the late 1970s.
Meeting the Community
We boarded a rickety old boat at our hotel at 8:30am and sailed up a small tributary of the Amazon. We then got off the boat one by one and walked up into the village.
We followed the path past homes and community buildings and the Yagua residents greeted us at a basketball court. They painted our faces with a local plant and told us the meaning of each symbol.
Next, a shaman talked to the group about the community and how they survive in the jungle. Members of the tribe then performed a traditional dance and invited visitors to join in. Then the shaman asked each visitor to pay a small admission fee. This definitely caught a few visitors by surprise because we thought it was covered in the excursion.
After the dance, the children came by with animals and allowed the visitors to handle them for a small tip. (Note: While this may seem harmless, holding the animals is discouraged because many of them die from the stress. Unfortunately, this is something we learned after the fact.)
Nature Walk
The Yagua tribesmen guided our group on a one-hour nature walk through the jungle. Before this, we were able to rent boots for a small fee while the local children watched our shoes.
Our guide, Martín, stopped at many of the trees along the way and pointed out their medicinal properties and/or traditional uses. It was very interesting and we learned a lot about survival in the jungle.
To finish up the visit, we walked back to the village where the locals washed our boots. We exchanged them for our shoes, then got back on the boats to return to the resort.
Ticuna Indigenous Community of Macedonia
The indigenous Ticuna people live in the community of Macedonia. We stopped for a visit on our way to Puerto Nariño. Overall it was a short but friendly visit and we enjoyed the hospitality of the locals.
We got off the boat and walked up to the village. The locals led us to a hut and entertained us with a welcome dance. Some of the visitors on the tour volunteered to dress up and take part. Afterwards, they sold handmade crafts.
When the presentation was over, the Ticuna gave us a few minutes to walk around their small village freely. We noticed almost all the homes were on stilts to help prevent flooding. The majority were built with wood and we only saw a few made of concrete.
Amazon River Dolphins
While cruising the Amazon, you might have a chance to spot the endangered Amazon river dolphins. They’re the largest species of river dolphins, and adults have a pink hue. We were able to see them on two different boat trips.
International Excursions from Amazonas
While in Amazonas, there are a few places you can visit internationally. We were able to spend time in Tabatinga, Brazil, and Puerto Alegría, Peru. There are no passport checks in the immediate area thanks to an open border policy.
