Leticia Packing List for Women: The Amazon Where Three Countries Meet

Photograph: Leticia, Amazonas by Ridiculopathy, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Leticia is the southernmost city in Colombia and the capital of the Amazonas department, a river town on the Amazon at the point where Colombia, Brazil and Peru meet. It runs straight into the Brazilian town of Tabatinga with no fence between them, and across the river on an island sits Santa Rosa, which is Peru. No road connects Leticia to the rest of Colombia, so everyone arrives by air or by boat. Packing for Leticia means packing for steady equatorial heat, rain on most days of the year, small boats, muddy jungle paths and mosquitoes, and for crossing a border two or three times without really noticing.

The photograph above is the most honest picture of Leticia we could find. It looks down on a wet main road after rain, with blue signs reading Amazonas and Leticia, a colourful Amazonas letter sculpture, a motocarro and a motorbike, low concrete buildings and, in the foreground, a signpost pointing ahead to Colombia and Brasil and right to Peru. What the frame does not show is the river. There is no Amazon in it, no boat, no port and no jungle. It cannot show the pink river dolphins at Lake Tarapoto, the parrots that roost in Santander park, Tabatinga across the line, Santa Rosa across the water, the village of Puerto Narino or any indigenous community. What it does show is the thing that makes Leticia unlike any other Amazon town: three countries on one signpost.

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What Is Here

Leticia is a border town before it is a jungle town. Wikipedia records that it was founded by Peruvians in 1867, that a war between Colombia and Peru broke out over it in September 1932, and that the League of Nations finally awarded the area to Colombia in June 1934. Today Wikivoyage describes movement between the three countries' border towns as unrestricted, and the Spanish Wikipedia notes that Leticia and Tabatinga are so close they effectively form a single city, where people get by in a mix of Spanish and Portuguese. You can walk or cycle into Brazil for lunch and take a short boat across to Peru in the afternoon.

The town itself is small and walkable. Its focus is Santander park, beside the church, where Wikivoyage describes flocks of small parrots flying in at sunset to roost in the trees, and says that if you ask nicely at the church you may be allowed up the bell tower to watch, with a view over the town and the river. The Banco de la Republica runs a small ethnographic museum and library in the centre, with exhibits in English and Spanish that Wikivoyage recommends before visiting an indigenous community. Wikipedia lists the Ticuna, Witoto, Tucano and others among the indigenous peoples of the region.

The Amazon is the reason most visitors come, and Leticia is the base for it. Wikivoyage notes that twice a year, when the water is very low, the port moves out towards the river, so the shoreline you see depends on the season.

The River, Puerto Narino and the Jungle

Most visitors take at least one day tour on the river. The standard trip, sold by agencies all over town according to Wikivoyage, takes in a water lily island, Monkey Island, an indigenous community, the village of Puerto Narino and Lake Tarapoto, where the tours go to watch pink river dolphins. Wikivoyage also reports that Monkey Island was said to be closed in 2021, so ask whether it has reopened before paying for it. You can also do the trip yourself: public boats run from Leticia to Puerto Narino, which Wikipedia places about 67 kilometres away and describes as the second municipality of the department. Wikivoyage advises reserving your return seat in advance and confirming the times, or you may be stranded there.

Amacayacu National Park lies upriver and is reached only by boat. Wikipedia notes that part of the park is flooded by the Amazon every wet season and that the Ticuna people live in part of it. Access and visitor services are decided by Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia, so check its current status before you book.

For a gentler introduction, Wikivoyage describes the Parque Ecologico Mundo Amazonico on the road out of town towards Tarapaca, a botanical and cultural centre with short guided tours of Amazon plants and culture. Many visitors also spend a few nights at a jungle lodge. The rainforest around Leticia is extraordinarily rich: Wikipedia records a survey some 10 kilometres north of town that found close to a hundred frog species. Wikivoyage lists night safaris among the typical lodge activities.

When to Go

Leticia is hot all year. Wikipedia gives an average temperature of about 27C, and its weather table shows average highs of about 30 to 31C in every month with nights around 21 to 23C. It is very wet: the yearly total in that table is well over 3,000 millimetres, and Wikipedia says the wettest month, March, gets a little more than twice the rain of the driest, July. In practice it can rain on any day of the year, usually in heavy bursts.

The river rises and falls through the year, which changes the trips: high water floods the forest and lets boats go deeper, low water exposes beaches and moves the port. Neither is wrong; ask your operator what their trips look like in the month you plan to go. The FCDO adds that the Colombian government has declared an El Nino phenomenon, with a high probability of strong intensity until at least March 2027, which it expects to bring unusually heavy rain, flooding and also higher temperatures and drought. That can affect river levels and flights, so leave slack in your plans.

Getting There

You fly in from Bogota, or you come by river. The FCDO notes that the departmental capital of Amazonas is only accessible by air because there are no roads, and Wikivoyage says Leticia has direct flights from Bogota. On arrival, non-Colombian visitors pay a tourism tax, which Wikivoyage says can only be paid in cash, and there is no ATM at the airport, so bring Colombian pesos with you.

By river, Wikivoyage describes a fast boat of most of a day or a slow boat of two or three days from Iquitos in Peru to Santa Rosa, and boats from Manaus in Brazil that arrive at Tabatinga, whose airport also has flights to Manaus. Stamps are the part that catches people out. Wikivoyage advises getting one exit and one entry stamp only, however many of the three towns you visit: the Colombian office is at the airport, the Peruvian one in Santa Rosa, and the Brazilian stamps are at the federal police on Tabatinga's main avenue, which closes in the middle of the day. Carry your passport, and the FCDO asks you always to carry a colour printout of your passport photo page.

Around town, mototaxis and covered motocarros are everywhere. Wikivoyage says a mototaxi can be recognised by the second helmet it carries. Wear the helmet.

Is Leticia Safe for Women Travelers

Leticia and the Amazonas department are named nowhere in the FCDO's Colombia advice, read on 10 November 2026, on either its landing page or its regional page. The areas it advises against are elsewhere, including several municipalities in Putumayo, a different department. But Leticia is a meeting point of three countries, and the advice of the other two matters as soon as you get on a boat.

Peru: the FCDO advises against all but essential travel within 20 kilometres south of the Putumayo River and the Peru Colombia border in the Loreto region, with two exceptions, the Amazon River itself and the triple border area from Caballococha up to Santa Rosa de Yavari. So Santa Rosa, across from Leticia, is inside an exception, not inside the warning. On the Amazon it adds that armed criminals, including river pirates and drug traffickers, operate along the river and have targeted solo travellers and foreign nationals, and it advises travelling with a reputable commercial or travel company and staying on your boat where it passes through areas it advises against. Brazil: the FCDO advises against all but essential travel along stretches of the Amazon and several tributaries in the west of Amazonas State, where Brazil borders Colombia and Peru. Before booking any river trip into Brazil, including the long boat to Manaus, read that page and check exactly where your route goes.

In Colombia itself, the FCDO warns that armed groups remain active in many parts of the country, that drugs are used to subdue victims, including scopolamine given in food, drinks, cigarettes and even paper flyers, and that criminals use dating apps to target foreigners travelling alone. Do not accept invitations to a stranger's accommodation or invite strangers to yours, do not leave a drink unattended, and do not take anything offered by a stranger. Express kidnappings are common in Colombia, often around ATMs at night, so use cash machines inside a bank or supermarket during business hours. Do not change money on the street.

In the Amazon you may be offered an ayahuasca, or yage, ceremony, which the FCDO says is marketed to tourists as spiritual cleansing, and its warning is direct: consumption is not regulated, intoxicated travellers have been assaulted and robbed, there have been reports of sexual assaults during ceremonies, and jungle retreats are often a long way from medical help. Our advice is not to take part. The FCDO also notes that in many rural areas the authority of the state is limited and mobile signal is often poor, and that there is a risk from landmines in rural and remote areas of Colombia. Go into the forest with a guide and a reputable lodge, and tell someone where you are.

Drugs move through this border, and the FCDO's advice applies with force here: pack your own luggage, keep it with you, lock it, and never carry anything for anyone else. Drinking alcohol in public spaces is illegal in Colombia.

The Leticia Packing List

Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a lightweight long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is a good thing to wear in the Amazon. Long sleeves are your first defence against mosquitoes, merino stays comfortable when it is damp, and it does not smell after days in the heat the way synthetics do. Take light colours, which make insects easier to spot.

For Insects and Health

This is the most important part of the list. The FCDO lists yellow fever, malaria, dengue, Zika and chikungunya among the health risks in Colombia, and Wikivoyage says a yellow fever vaccination is required for entering the area, at least 10 days before arrival. Talk to a travel clinic at least eight weeks ahead. Treat trousers, socks and shirts with permethrin clothing treatment before you leave, and use a DEET insect repellent on exposed skin, especially at dawn and dusk.

For Rain and Boats

Rain comes in sudden downpours, and river trips mean spray. A packable Marmot PreCip rain jacket and a waterproof dry bag for your phone, passport and camera in the boat are both worth carrying. The FCDO says to drink only bottled water outside Bogota and to avoid ice, so a LifeStraw water filter is a good backup for lodge stays and long boat days.

For Jungle Paths

Jungle trails are mud and roots. Many lodges lend rubber boots for forest walks, so ask yours; otherwise bring closed shoes you do not mind ruining, and sandals for town. Wikivoyage's own safety advice is to check your boots for insects and spiders before putting them on, and not to approach snakes. A rechargeable headlamp is needed for night walks and for lodges where the power goes off. That is our sixth affiliate link, which is our limit, so there is no link here for a sun hat; a light one with a brim is worth packing for open boats.

Our affiliate register carries no sunscreen and no eyewear, so bring sun cream and sunglasses of your own for the river, where there is no shade on the water.

Recommended Tours and Experiences

Essential Resources for Women in Leticia

Emergency numbers: ambulance 123, police 123, fire 119, according to the FCDO's getting help page; its health page says to call 123 and ask for an ambulance.

Hospital: Wikivoyage describes Leticia as the only town in the area with a hospital. The FCDO says public health facilities in smaller cities are generally ill equipped and poorly funded, that ambulance services in remote areas are unreliable, and that medicine for complex treatment may be unavailable in small towns. With no road out, a serious case may need evacuation by air. Make sure your insurance covers medical evacuation and that you carry accessible funds, and bring enough of any medication you take for the whole trip.

Brazil and Peru: Brazil has a vice consulate in Leticia. If you are crossing on into either country, read its FCDO page as well as Colombia's: the FCDO's Peru regional risks and the FCDO's Brazil regional risks.

US State Department travel advisory: the Colombia advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.

UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/colombia, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.

Official health authority: the Colombian Ministry of Health.

US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Bogota, is in Bogota, a flight away; there is no road between the two.

Official tourism authority: Colombia Travel, the national tourism board, covers the whole country; in Leticia, book river trips and lodges through registered agencies.

Solo women safety assessment: Leticia is a small, friendly town where a woman on her own will feel at ease in daylight, and the department is named nowhere in the FCDO's Colombian advice. The real risks are particular: drugging and robbery through drinks, food or dating apps, ayahuasca ceremonies where women have been assaulted, river crime on long boat journeys, which the FCDO's Peru page says has targeted solo travellers, and the distance from serious medical care. Travel on the river only with reputable companies, stay at established lodges, use ATMs inside banks, never carry anything for anyone, and keep your yellow fever certificate with your passport. Emergency 123.

Takeaways

Leticia is the one place where you can stand at a signpost pointing to three countries and then go and look at pink dolphins. Pack long sleeves, permethrin, repellent, a rain jacket and a dry bag, get your yellow fever vaccination in good time, bring cash for the arrival tax, and book anything on the river through a reputable operator.

Reading On

Upriver in Peru, the Iquitos packing list covers the Peruvian Amazon city from which boats come down to the triple border, and downriver in Brazil the Manaus packing list covers the city at the other end of the river route. For the rest of Colombia, read the Bogota packing list, since every direct flight goes there, and the Medellin packing list and the Cartagena packing list. The Colombia packing list and the Colombia travel guide for women cover the whole country, and the Peru packing list and the Brazil packing list cover the neighbours. For why one merino layer works in jungle heat and rain, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women, and every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women. The base layers themselves are in the Roman Trail collection.

If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.