Colombia has no seasons. It has altitudes. Choose accordingly.

First thing to unlearn: there is no summer here. There's no winter either. You don't pick a season, because the calendar doesn't sell one. You pick an elevation, and the elevation hands you the same weather more or less forever. It's the only place I know where "what's the weather like?" is best answered with a number in meters.

Colombia sits near the equator, so the sun's angle barely changes across the year. What changes the temperature isn't the date, it's how high up you are. Go up a mountain, it gets cooler. Come down to the coast, it gets hot. That's the whole engine. Once it clicks, you stop choosing a country and start choosing a thermostat.

The altitude ladder, top to bottom

• High and cool (think Bogotá). At 2,640 m the capital sits high enough that you'll want a jacket most evenings and a heater-free apartment will still feel crisp. Highs sit around 19 C and lows around 8 C: daytime mild, nighttime properly cool, wetter Apr-May and Sep-Nov, drier Dec-Jan and Jul-Aug. People who hate sweating love it. People who moved for warmth are confused by it.
• The famous middle (think Medellín). At about 1,495 m this is the "eternal spring" everyone quotes, and for once the cliché earns it. Highs around 27 to 29 C, lows around 17 to 18 C, warm days and cool-ish evenings, wetter Mar-May and Sep-Nov, drier Jun-Aug: the kind of weather where you forget weather exists. It's a big part of why the city is on everyone's list.
• The warm valley (think Cali). At about 1,018 m it runs hot but drier than the coast, highs near 30 C and lows near 19 C, wetter Mar-May and Oct-Nov, drier Jun-Sep and Dec-Feb. Heat without the full coastal soup.
• Hot and coastal (think Cartagena, the Caribbean). Down at sea level it's hot, humid, and unapologetic about it, highs of 31 to 32 C and lows of 24 to 26 C, wet May-Nov and dry Dec-Apr. Air conditioning stops being a luxury and becomes a roommate. Glorious if you're solar-powered, punishing if you wilt.
• Wet and dry, not hot and cold. The Andean interior sets its temperature by altitude and gets two rainy peaks a year, while the coast stays hot and humid with a clear Dec-Apr dry season. The closest thing to a season here is rain, not temperature: the thermometer mostly stays put while the sky changes its mind.

Pick your thermostat

Here's the ladder as a table. Treat the figures as directional ranges, not guarantees, microclimates are real and a hill can change everything.

Zone (example city)	Elevation	Typical feel	Who it suits
High / cool (Bogotá)	2,640 m	8 to 19 C	Hates humidity, sleeps better cold, owns sweaters
Spring (Medellín)	1,495 m	17 to 29 C	Wants "forget the weather exists" mild
Warm valley (Cali area)	1,018 m	19 to 30 C	Likes heat without full coastal humidity
Hot coast (Cartagena)	Sea level	24 to 32 C	Solar-powered, friends with air conditioning

These are directional ranges, not guarantees. Microclimates vary block to block, so confirm the specifics for a given area before you commit.

The honesty beat

Now the part the postcards leave out. "Eternal spring" is real, and it is also, occasionally, eternally boring. Some people move for that endless mild perfection and discover, a year in, that they miss seasons more than they expected. No first crisp day of autumn. No relief when summer finally breaks, because nothing ever broke. The weather just is, every day, pleasant and identical, and a surprising number of transplants find that the lack of change messes with their sense of time. Two other real costs: at the high altitudes, the first week or two can leave you winded and oddly tired while your body adjusts, and on the hot coast the humidity is not a vibe, it's a daily negotiation with your air conditioning bill. None of this is a dealbreaker. It's just worth knowing that "perfect weather forever" has a quieter side nobody mentions in the brochure.

The practical version

• Decide your temperature first, then your city. The order matters more than people think.
• If you run cold, the high cities will test you. If you wilt in heat, the coast will too. Be honest about your own thermostat.
• Visit in the rainier stretch, not just the postcard one. You want to know the worse version before you sign a lease, not the best.
• Give high altitude a week before you judge it. The early breathlessness usually fades; the views don't.

This is the climate overview for people choosing where to land. The deeper "which region is actually yours" breakdown, coast vs. coffee vs. mountains vs. capital, lives on its own page.