How Bogota and Lima compare on cost, visas, working hours, weather, internet and safety. Every figure comes from our city guides and tools, checked and dated there.
The short answer
Bogota Doesn't win on any measure here. See who it suits, below.
Lima Pick it for faster internet and a lower US travel advisory level.
Everyday costsEven
What we have checked of rent, a coworking desk, weekday lunches and getting around comes to $769 to $1,590 (£578 to £1,190) a month in Bogota, against $1,060 to $1,580 (£797 to £1,190) in Lima. We can't call it: Bogota has no checked figure for a desk, so that total leaves it out.
The visaEven
Peru has no remote work visa, so the choice is about more than income. Bogota: Visa V Nomada Digital, about $1,650 a month (COP 5,252,715 a month). Lima: no remote work visa.
A London 9 to 5Even
A start in the small hours in both: 03:00 to 11:00 in Bogota, 03:00 to 11:00 in Lima.
A New York 9 to 5Even
Normal hours in both: 08:00 to 16:00 in Bogota, 08:00 to 16:00 in Lima.
InternetLima
Lima is faster. Typical download speed: 72 Mbps in Bogota, 207 Mbps in Lima, from each guide.
SafetyLima
Lima. The US State Department puts Colombia at level 3 and Peru at level 2.
Side by side
Measure
Bogota
Lima
Country
Colombia
Peru
Language
Spanish
Spanish
Currency
Colombian peso (COP)
Sol (PEN)
Plugs
Type A and B, 110V
—
Time zone
UTC−5 today
UTC−5 today
A month's basics
$769 to $1,590 (£578 to £1,190), with a desk missing
$1,060 to $1,580 (£797 to £1,190)
Remote work visa
Visa V Nomada Digital
None
Income needed
About $1,650 a month (COP 5,252,715 a month)
Nomad status in law since 2023, but no sign it has opened
Without a visa
British and American passports: 90 days, up to 180 in a year
British passports: not checked: the UK government's entry page could not be opened. American: under 90 days for tourism, no visa; the border officer sets the stay
Tax residency
183 days in any 365
More than 183 days in any 12 months, counting arrival and departure days; resident from the next 1 January
Download speed
72 Mbps
207 Mbps
Comfortable months
—
January, February, March, April, May, November and December
US travel advice
Level 3: reconsider travel
Level 2: increased caution
Meetups
None we could confirm
1 regular group still running
Dollars and pounds at today's exchange rate. Download speeds are the typical figure from each guide, which says where it comes from: some are for the city, some for the whole country, so treat a small gap as no gap.
What a month costs
Rent, a coworking desk, a cheap lunch on each of 22 working days, and getting around: the same four costs our budget calculator uses. The rent figures aren't always the same kind of figure (some are furnished one-beds, some are averages across every size of flat), so read the note under each.
Bogota
$769 to $1,590£578 to £1,190 a month
Rent
$599 to $1,420Furnished studio or one-bed, asking, Chapinero Alto and Usaquen. Administracion is often extra. COP 1,900,000 to 4,500,000
A desk
No checked figureNo monthly coworking price on an operator's own site: Regus quotes COP 21,967 a day only on 24-month contracts
Weekday lunches
$122Corrientazo, the national average in January 2026. There is no Bogota figure, COP 17,542 each, 22 working days
Getting around
$49TransMilenio at COP 3,550 a ride, two rides each working day (our arithmetic). COP 156,200
$781 to $1,250Average rent for an unfurnished 100 square metre three-bed, Lince up to Barranco (Urbania, April 2026). There is no one-bed figure, so a one-bed costs less. PEN 2,690 to 4,317
A desk
$184 to $216WeWork coworking membership. PEN 634 to 745
Weekday lunches
$77 to $89Menu, the set weekday lunch at a market stall, PEN 12 to 14 each, 22 working days
Getting around
$19Metro Line 1 at PEN 1.50 a ride, two rides each working day (our arithmetic). A 2023 fare, not rechecked. PEN 66
About $1,650 a month (COP 5,252,715 a month); in pounds, about £1,240 a month
How long
Up to two years
What it leads to
Nowhere: time on it does not count towards residence
Without a visa
British and American passports: 90 days, up to 180 in a year
The catch. The bar is pinned to the minimum wage, so it moves every January. The 2026 wage survived a court challenge in July, though a final ruling is still due.
British passports: not checked: the UK government's entry page could not be opened. American: under 90 days for tourism, no visa; the border officer sets the stay
The catch. Peru created a "Nomada Digital" immigration status in law in 2023 (Decreto Legislativo 1582): up to 365 days, extendable, for remote employees of a company based abroad. No source confirms its rules are in force. The latest, a PUCP law journal article of 25 November 2025, says the regulations had not been published and the procedures not set, so there was nothing to apply for. Meanwhile, visitors can come visa-free as tourists, for a stay the border officer sets: under 90 days for American passports. Check with Migraciones before relying on the nomad status. Make sure your entry is recorded, for example with a passport stamp. Without a record you may not be allowed to leave until immigration confirms your entry, which can take weeks, and overstays are fined on exit.
See where your own income stands in every country. Check your income
Keeping your working hours
A 9am to 5pm day in the employer's city, shown in local time, for today's date, so it allows for the clocks changing.
The UK government says street crime, including muggings and thefts, is a significant problem in Lima, and reports gunpoint robberies of British tourists in Miraflores and Barranco.
The US level is for the whole country, as the State Department sets it, and some countries have stricter advice for particular regions.
Who each one suits
From each city guide, word for word.
Bogota
It suits
Someone who wants a big capital rather than a nomad enclave, and who will live on TransMilenio at COP 3,550 a ride. US-facing workers, who get UTC-5 with no clock changes. Someone who is happy for the weekend to be free museums: the Museo Botero every day, the Museo del Oro on Sundays. And someone with Spanish, or about to learn it: Bogota's English score of 513 beats Colombia's 480, but Spanish still does the work at every counter that matters.
It doesn't suit
Anyone wanting a warm-weather nomad city. Anyone who needs everything in English: the tourist police complaints route, the cedula, the car-restriction platform and the lease all run in Spanish. Anyone who takes a listed rent as the rent, because administracion often adds COP 400,000 to 600,000 a month. Anyone careless about safety: the US rates Colombia Level 3, "Reconsider travel", the US Embassy has warned that foreigners are drugged and robbed through dating apps in Bogota, and the British government warns of fake police who ask to check your cash. And anyone hoping the nomad visa leads somewhere: it does not count towards residence, and its income bar resets every January.
Someone who wants a big Spanish-speaking capital and is happy to come on a visitor stay. From December to April highs run at 23 to 27 degrees, with about 165 to 190 hours of sunshine a month. There is real coworking in Miraflores and San Isidro, from PEN 634 a month, and Peru's median fixed broadband was 206.5 Mbps in April 2025. If you like eating out cheaply, the weekday menu is a set lunch for PEN 12 to 14 at a market stall.
It doesn't suit
Anyone who wants a nomad visa. Peru created one in law in 2023, but the latest checkable source, from November 2025, said its rules were still unpublished. Anyone who needs sun all year: from June to September Lima is grey, and August averages 17.5 degrees and about 28 hours of sunshine in the whole month. The two districts you would most want to live in, Miraflores and Barranco, are the two the UK government names for gunpoint robberies of British tourists. And without Spanish, every official process is hard.
