Amazon Rainforest Travel Guide: What to Know Before Visiting Leticia

Leticia sits where Colombia, Brazil, and Peru meet, deep in the Amazon basin. It's an unforgettable place to visit — but it rewards travelers who show up prepared. Here's a short Amazon rainforest travel guide, giving you a glance about what couples and families should know before booking a trip.

When to Go

The Amazon doesn't really have a "bad" season, but it does have two distinct ones:

• Dry season (roughly June–November): lower water levels, more walking trails accessible, easier wildlife spotting on land.

• Wet season (roughly December–May): rivers rise into the flooded forest, opening up canoe access to areas you can't reach by foot the rest of the year.

Neither is objectively better — it depends on whether you'd rather hike the forest floor or paddle through it.

Health and Safety Basics

• Yellow fever vaccination is typically required or strongly recommended for this region — check current guidance well before departure.

• Malaria prevention is worth discussing with a travel doctor.

• Pack a basic personal first-aid kit, though your guide will carry one too.

• Drink only bottled or treated water.

What to Pack

• Lightweight, quick-dry clothing in neutral colors (avoid bright colors and strong scents — they attract insects). There also exists insect-repellent clothing, which is great to avoid mosquitos

• A good, light rain jacket, even in dry season

• Closed, sturdy footwear for muddy trails (although Riveros Expedition provides rubber boots for all visitors)

• Insect repellent with DEET

• A dry bag for electronics during river excursions

• A torch

• Binoculars, if wildlife-watching is a priority for you

Amazon Rainforest Travel Guide: Budgeting for the Trip

Amazon travel doesn't have to mean luxury-lodge prices, though it's indeed more expensive than other colombian regions. Costs mainly depend on:

• Length of the trip (multi-day excursions offer better value per day than one-off tours)

• Group size (tours have degressive pricing depending on the number of persons in the group)

• Level of comfort in accommodation

  
  

Overall, a decent, declared and professionnal company would ask anywhere from 80-100 USD to 150-200 USD a day, per person. It is very hard to provide a decent experience to the customers, and a living wage to the workers, for less money than that. While it might look expensive, one has to imagine: what would I get for this price in Europe? Probably, only a basic room in a hotel, nothing included.

Around Leticia, such a price covers everything: transport, accomodations, activities, food, travel insurance, guidance, and much more so that you have nothing to worry about and can enjoy our beautiful forest, worry-free.

A lot of informal companies offer way lower prices, and some of them provide a very great service for it. But they won't provide insurance, per essence, nor any customer rights to you, nor a great wage to the workers as they often rely upon invisible, free work, as always with informal economy.

Traveling as a couple or family and choosing a mid-length itinerary is usually the sweet spot for value. Especially as a tourist, life in the jungle is demanding: extreme heat, humidity, heavy rains, noises, ... a 5-day tour is already a very intense experience.

Respecting Indigenous Communities

Many excursions include visits to indigenous villages. A few guidelines:

• Always ask before photographing people

• Follow your guide's lead on what's appropriate to touch, enter, or purchase

• Buy local crafts directly when possible — it supports the community directly

• Approach the visit as a cultural exchange, not a spectacle: people will gladly share their cultures and knowledge with you, especially if you want to share yours too

Good operators build these principles into the trip by design. It's worth asking any operator, before you book, how they work with local communities — not just whether they mention it.

Getting There

Leticia has its own airport, connected by regular flights from Bogotá (a 50 000 COP / person touristic tax will be collected at your arrival in Leticia airport). From there, most excursions begin by boat, since many lodges and villages are only reachable by river.

Planning Your Own Trip

Every Amazon trip should be shaped around who's traveling, what season it is, and what kind of experience you're after. Get in touch and we'll help you build an itinerary that fits.