I’ve spent one year and a half digital-nomading/backpacking around the Americas and, on June 2023 I decided to take a 2 week holiday in Venezuela. I found virtually no information online, so I hope this can be helpful.

Some weeks before the trip, I contacted locals in Venezuela through Couchsurfing and they helped me immensely with updated information. During my visit, the economy was almost dollarized, and international credit cards would work at shops but not at ATMs. Near the Colombian border, Colombian Pesos, dollars, and bolivars were widely accepted. You could pay with a dollar note and receive all the change in bolivars. I took small denominations of dollars for the trip, as I knew getting change for a 20-dollar bill was almost impossible, even in larger shops.

Regarding accommodation, there are hotels across the country, but not backpackers hostels. This mean I could find rooms for 20-30 USD per night, but not cheaper. I used Couchsurfing everywhere except at the beach in Choroní, where I found lots of budget places available. According to my experience, Venezuelans are likely the most generous people on the planet, so it was relatively easy to find amazing hosts.

Although the country’s situation has improved compared to a few years ago, prices in Venezuela are generally higher than in Colombia. Furthermore, there are constant power outages, and gas stations might run out of gas at any given moment. Despite these issues, I found the country to be pretty safe (safer than Cali in Colombia, for example). To avoid attracting attention, I left my backpack at a hostel in Colombia and traveled to Venezuela with a day pack, carrying just some clothes and a book. Personally, I think this decision served me well during the trip, as I was able to move around the streets unnoticed.

I crossed the border from Colombia to Venezuela in Cucuta. It’s a very busy border with efficient officers. I stamped my passport out of Colombia, walked the bridge to Venezuela, and queued to get my stamp into Venezuela. As a Spaniard, I didn’t need a visa, but I did have to show proof of a hotel booking and proof of my intention to leave the country. What I showed was a budget that I had requested from a hotel in Mérida, and a bus ticket from Cucuta to Medellin, and that seemed to satisfy them. It is possible to use an invitation letter instead of a hotel booking, but I didn’t want to risk getting anyone into trouble with immigration. No proof of Covid vaccination was requested. When asked why I was traveling to Venezuela, I simply said, «for tourism» and mentioned a few tourist spots I wanted to see. After about five minutes, my passport was stamped.

From the border I took a shared taxi to San Cristobal, where buses to other parts of the country depart. The border crossing itself wasn’t a big deal, but I knew the checkpoints from the border to San Cristobal could be a bit tricky. Locals with large bags (often returning from buying supplies in Colombia) are sometimes stopped and asked for small bribes. Personally, I wasn’t stopped when entering the country, nor were any of the other foreign travelers I met in Venezuela.

Bus travel was generally straightforward, although it’s impossible to check schedules online. I had to wake up early, head to the bus station, and buy my tickets there. Another issue was the current gas shortage affecting the country, which meant that many scheduled buses wouldn’t leave until they had enough passengers. In Caracas, I met a traveler from Brazil who had been hitchhiking across the country and had nothing but good experiences. For shorter city trips, I used the Ridery App, the local equivalent of Uber.

Along the trip I didn’t find any major security problem, and I enjoyed the nature and the cities. If power outages were not such a problem, I would have thought of coming back to Colombia to fetch my computer and stayed longer at the country.

To leave Venezuela, I took a night bus from Caracas to the border with Cucuta. That trip was the only headache of my whole trip. We were stopped at seven checkpoints throughout the night, and officers checked our IDs. I was the only foreigner on the bus and the only person asked to disembark three times throughout the night. Officers searched my belongings and tried to convince me that I was missing some documents (proof of Covid vaccination, an invitation letter, a flight ticket…). They were simply trying to coax a bribe out of me, but I stood my ground until they let me go. The bus driver and the rest of people I was travelling with were extremely supportive and ready to wait for me as long as necessary.

At the border I stamped my exit in Venezuela and crossed back to Colombia.