Your IVF Trip to Colombia: A Complete 3-Week Itinerary

Planning an IVF trip abroad feels overwhelming until you break it down. This itinerary walks you through what to expect medically each week, where to stay, how to keep working remotely, and what to do during the downtime between appointments.

Before You Leave: Pre-Trip Preparation (2–4 Weeks Before Travel)

• Complete your virtual consultation with the Colombian clinic and confirm your treatment plan
• Get baseline bloodwork (FSH, LH, estradiol, AMH, prolactin, TSH) and a transvaginal ultrasound at a local clinic or lab — your Colombian doctor will review results remotely
• Begin any pre-cycle medications as prescribed (birth control pills for cycle synchronization, DHEA or CoQ10 for egg quality priming, etc.)
• Book accommodation near your clinic (El Poblado in Medellín is the medical district, with furnished apartments available at $40–$80/night)
• Arrange travel insurance that covers complications from elective procedures abroad
• If using donor sperm, confirm shipment is en route to the clinic

Week 1: Baseline and Stimulation Start

Day 1–2: Arrival and Baseline Assessment

Arrive in Colombia (ideally on cycle day 1 or 2). Your first clinic visit includes a baseline ultrasound to confirm no cysts, bloodwork, and a face-to-face meeting with your fertility specialist to finalize your stimulation protocol. If everything looks good, you start injections that evening.

Days 3–7: Early Stimulation

Daily evening injections (self-administered or nurse-assisted). Monitoring visits every 2–3 days (blood draw + ultrasound) to track follicle growth. Appointments are typically early morning, leaving the rest of the day free.

Week 2: Monitoring, Trigger, and Retrieval

Days 8–11: Intensive Monitoring

As follicles approach maturity, monitoring becomes daily. Your doctor is watching for follicles reaching 17–20mm and estradiol levels that confirm egg maturity. The timing of the trigger shot is critical and will be determined based on these measurements.

Day 11–12: Trigger Shot

When follicles are ready, you take the trigger injection (typically hCG or a GnRH agonist) precisely 36 hours before the scheduled retrieval. This is the most time-sensitive moment of the entire cycle. Your clinic will give you exact timing.

Day 13–14: Egg Retrieval

The retrieval is performed under light sedation and takes approximately 15–20 minutes. You rest at the clinic for 1–2 hours afterward and go home with mild cramping that typically resolves by the next day. Your partner (if applicable) provides a sperm sample the same morning. By the end of the day, the lab will tell you how many eggs were retrieved and how many fertilized.

Week 3: The Waiting Game

Days 15–19: Embryo Culture

Your embryos develop in the lab for 5–6 days. The lab provides daily updates: how many are still developing, what grades they are reaching, and whether they are progressing to blastocyst stage. This is often the most emotionally intense part of the process.

Day 19–20: Transfer or Freeze

If doing a fresh transfer, a selected blastocyst is transferred to your uterus on day 5 or 6 of development. The transfer is painless and takes about 10 minutes. You rest for 24 hours and then resume light activity. A pregnancy test follows 10–14 days later (you can take this at home or at a lab in your home country).

If doing a freeze-all (increasingly common, and recommended when PGT-A testing is planned), all viable blastocysts are vitrified and stored. You fly home after retrieval and return for a frozen embryo transfer (FET) in a future cycle, or arrange international embryo transport to a clinic near home.

Estimated Trip Budget

Add this to the IVF cycle cost ($5,000–$8,000) and your all-in total for an IVF cycle including the entire trip is typically $6,650–$11,300. That is still less than the procedure fee alone at most US clinics.