Best Time to Call Colombia

Country code 57 belongs to Colombia. Since a 2021 numbering-plan change, every Colombian number — landline or mobile — is exactly 10 digits with no domestic trunk prefix at all; you dial all 10 straight after +57. Mobile numbers start with 3, while landlines start with 60 followed by a region-indicating digit (Bogotá is 601).

Colombia keeps a fixed UTC-5 offset year-round with no daylight saving. Because US Eastern also sits at UTC-5 in winter, the two clocks match exactly during that season — the gap only opens up once the US shifts to daylight saving each spring.

Colombia observes a fixed Colombia Time (COT, UTC-5) year-round — there is no daylight saving, so the offset from Colombia's side never changes.

Because the US shifts for daylight saving while Colombia never does, the gap narrows and widens on the other end — Colombia matches US Eastern exactly during US winter, then falls an hour behind once US clocks spring forward.

Bogotá's full business day — 9:00 AM–5:00 PM local — maps almost exactly onto a normal US Eastern working day during US winter, with a one-hour shift once US daylight saving begins.

US Eastern callers have it easiest during US winter, when the clocks match exactly. UK callers should aim for their afternoon and evening, since Colombia sits several hours behind Western Europe.

Standard Colombian office hours run Monday to Friday, roughly 9:00 AM–5:00 PM, for government offices and most private businesses in Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali.

Colombia's economy centers on oil and coal exports, coffee, flowers, and a rapidly growing tech and business-process-outsourcing sector, with Medellín in particular developing a strong reputation as a regional tech hub.

Colombia observes a distinctive legal practice called Ley Emiliani, which shifts several public holidays to the following Monday to create long weekends ("puentes") — worth confirming the actual observed date rather than the traditional calendar date for many holidays.

Aim for Tuesday through Thursday. Mondays absorb the week's backlog, and many Mondays are shifted-holiday closures under Ley Emiliani.

2026 brings a genuinely new addition to Colombia's calendar: Law 2578 of 2026 established 9 July as the Day of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá, honoring Colombia's patron saint — first observed (under the Ley Emiliani Monday-shift rule) on 13 July 2026.

Semana Santa (Holy Week) around Easter brings a genuine nationwide slowdown, similar to the pattern seen elsewhere in Latin America, as many Colombians travel.

On these dates, most Colombian government offices and many businesses are closed. Holidays marked as shifted are moved to the following Monday under Colombia's Ley Emiliani (Law 51 of 1983) when they don't already fall on one.

• New Year's Day — Thursday, 1 January 2026
• Epiphany (shifted) — Monday, 12 January 2026
• Saint Joseph's Day (shifted) — Monday, 23 March 2026
• Maundy Thursday — Thursday, 2 April 2026
• Good Friday — Friday, 3 April 2026
• Labour Day — Friday, 1 May 2026
• Ascension Day (shifted) — Monday, 18 May 2026
• Corpus Christi (shifted) — Monday, 8 June 2026
• Sacred Heart (shifted) — Monday, 15 June 2026
• Saints Peter and Paul (shifted) — Monday, 29 June 2026
• Day of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá (shifted, new for 2026) — Monday, 13 July 2026
• Independence Day — Monday, 20 July 2026
• Battle of Boyacá Day — Friday, 7 August 2026
• Assumption of Mary (shifted) — Monday, 17 August 2026
• Columbus Day / Day of the Races (shifted) — Monday, 12 October 2026
• All Saints' Day (shifted) — Monday, 2 November 2026
• Independence of Cartagena (shifted) — Monday, 16 November 2026
• Feast of the Immaculate Conception — Tuesday, 8 December 2026
• Christmas Day — Friday, 25 December 2026

The Day of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá is a brand-new addition to Colombia's official holiday calendar, established by Law 2578 of 2026 and first observed 13 July 2026. Independence Day (20 July), Battle of Boyacá Day (7 August), Labour Day (1 May), and Christmas Day (25 December) are among the few fixed dates that never shift under Ley Emiliani.

Spanish is the official language and standard for all business — English is common in Bogotá and Medellín's international business and tech circles but isn't universal elsewhere.

Business culture is warm, relationship-oriented, and conversational, consistent with wider Latin American norms — some small talk before getting to business tends to land well.

Given Colombia's growing tech and BPO sector, particularly in Medellín, many business contacts are highly experienced with international calls and cross-border coordination with US and European partners.

• Looking for a domestic trunk prefix. Since 2021, Colombia has none — every 10-digit number is dialed the same way domestically and internationally, just with +57 added in front.
• Assuming a holiday falls on its traditional calendar date. Many Colombian holidays are shifted by law (Ley Emiliani) to the nearest following Monday — confirm the actual observed date rather than the historical fixed date.
• Assuming Colombia observes daylight saving. It doesn't — Colombia keeps a fixed UTC-5 offset year-round, so the gap to US Eastern only opens up when the US shifts to daylight saving.
• Missing the brand-new 2026 holiday. The Day of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá, observed 13 July 2026, is genuinely new to Colombia's calendar and easy to miss on an older holiday list.
• Confusing landline and mobile prefixes. Numbers starting with 3 are mobiles nationwide; numbers starting with 60 are landlines, with the following digit indicating the region.

The simplest way to stay inside the right window is to treat Colombia like a US Eastern-adjacent contact — a standard 9:00 AM–5:00 PM ET (winter, identical clocks) or an hour earlier (summer) window works well, Tuesday through Thursday.

A local Colombia +57 virtual number helps too: a familiar caller ID reads as a known local contact, useful for tech, BPO, and export-sector partners working with Bogotá or Medellín. My Country Mobile provisions +57 virtual numbers that route to any device or team, worldwide, backed by a network reaching 190+ countries with 99.99% uptime.