Cost of living in San Andres

Welcome to the forum!

The short answer is "It depends''. Way to many factors to determine the cost of living anywhere in this country. Dominicans live on an average monthly salary of $400 per month. Some expats spend $5,000 a month. It really depends on many, many factors.

Where is San Andres???

@planner I think they may be in the wrong forum. San Andres is an island near Nicaragua, But it belongs to country of Columbia!

Hello everyone,

Indeed it is an island part of Colombia.

@ ghgloriaherrera9, welcome and please confirm, this thread is now on the Colombia forum.

All the very best

Bhavna

San Andres is a tourist island

and as such .. is likely pricier

than most of Nicaragua and

Colombia, at least upon arrival.

Normally, I would direct you to

the Numbeo cost-of-living site,

except hardly anybody has

posted COL information there

lately about SAI.

The island location may or may

not impact the level of health care

for residents that is available there

going forward.

Historically, visa renewals and other

requests have required some Expats

to return temporarily to the distant

mainland of Colombia.

cccmedia

I am very interested in moving soon and I need to know cost.
-@ghgloriaherrera9

Unfortunately San Andrés is not someplace where you can freely and legally choose to live, unless

1) you were born there, or

2) you have lived there at least three years before 1991, or

3) you marry one of the approximately 76,000 residents.

It is a tourist destination only for everyone else, with anywhere from 2000-4000 tourists entering each day. You may stay a maximum of 15 days.

https://www.radionacional.co/cultura/po … san-andres

You can find the cost of tourist packages by doing a search like

costo turismo san andrés

...and you can see here a typical cost and book a stay:

https://www.despegar.com.co/paquetes/ad … san+andres

The costs are quite reasonable at least from an expat point of view. The 15 days' stay may range from around 3 million to over 13 million COP per person, around $640 USD to $2900 USD, depending on the hotel and amenities.

I didnt read the responses, I am sure it has already been covered but-

1: A foreigner cannot settle in San Andres. It is hard for a mainland Colombian to move there. They only want tourists , so maximum 2 week stays at a time are only tolerated

2. Costs are at least double the rest of Colombia

I know the relative cost value , comparing apples to apples, because I have been there severl times, including about a month ago to bothe San Andres and Providencia.

In low season, costs might be just 25% higher than in Cartagen or 35% to 40%  higher than Santa Marta on an "apples to Apples" basis

Reason is, more expensive to ship fuel and basic goods there.

Perfume and liquor, on the other hand, are dirt cheap, because it is a "zona franca" a tax free zone