Planning Your IVF Trip as a Couple's Adventure

Bottom line up front: Your IVF trip to Colombia does not have to be all clinic appointments and anxiety. You are spending two to three weeks in one of South America's most vibrant countries with the person you are building a family with. Treat it as both a medical trip and a couples' experience — because the quality time, shared adventure, and change of scenery can be genuinely healing during one of the most stressful chapters of your relationship.

Reframing the Trip

IVF is exhausting. By the time you get on the plane, you have likely been through months or years of trying, testing, decision-making, and emotional processing. The instinct is to approach the Colombia trip as a medical mission — get in, do the treatment, get out.

But here is the thing: you have two to three weeks in a beautiful country, and your treatment appointments only occupy a fraction of that time. During stimulation, clinic visits happen every 2–3 days and take an hour or two. That leaves entire days where you are simply together in a new place. You can fill those days with stress and waiting. Or you can fill them with each other.

This is not about pretending IVF is a vacation. It is about recognising that the trip gives you something rare: uninterrupted time together, away from work, away from routine, away from the reminders of infertility that permeate your daily life at home. That time is a resource. Use it.

Activities by Treatment Phase

Early Stimulation (Days 1–5)

You feel relatively normal during the first few days of stimulation. Energy is decent, side effects are minimal, and you are not yet bloated or uncomfortable. This is your window for more active exploration.

• In Medellín: Ride the Metrocable to Santo Domingo for panoramic views. Take a street art tour of Comuna 13. Visit the botanical garden. Explore Laureles on foot — it is the real Medellín, full of local restaurants and neighbourhood character.
• In Bogotá: Walk through La Candelaria's colonial streets. Visit the Gold Museum and the Botero Museum (both free). Take the funicular up Monserrate for sunset views. Browse Usaquén on a Sunday for the flea market and street food.
• Food adventures: Take a Colombian cooking class together. Visit a local market (Paloquemao in Bogotá, Plaza Minorista in Medellín). Find the best menú del día in your neighbourhood.

Mid-to-Late Stimulation (Days 6–12)

Bloating and fatigue increase. The egg provider will feel less adventurous. Shift to gentler activities that keep you engaged without requiring physical stamina.

• Become regulars at a neighbourhood café. Colombia's coffee culture is extraordinary — find your spot and make it ritual.
• Get couples' massages at a local spa. Colombian spas are excellent and affordable.
• Find a restaurant with a view and have a slow dinner. Medellín's hillside restaurants offer spectacular sunset views.
• Watch a movie at a local cinema — an unexpectedly fun cultural experience.
• Start a book or TV series together that you only watch during the trip.

Retrieval and Recovery (Days 12–15)

Retrieval day and the following 1–2 days are rest days. Keep things quiet and comfortable. The non-retrieving partner can take care of everything — food, pharmacy runs, keeping the apartment clean and calm.

Embryo Development Wait (Days 15–18)

This is an anxious period while you wait for fertilisation and embryo development reports. Distraction is your friend.

• Take a day trip to a nearby town — Guatapé from Medellín (the colourful town with the famous rock) or Villa de Leyva from Bogotá.
• Book a coffee farm tour. Medellín is surrounded by coffee-growing country, and half-day tours are easy to arrange.
• Take a salsa class. Even if you have two left feet, learning something new together is absorbing and fun.

Transfer and Two-Week Wait (Days 18–21+)

After transfer, gentle activity is fine. If you are staying for part of the two-week wait, fill the time with low-key but engaging activities. If you are flying home, enjoy your last days.

Practical Planning for Couples

Accommodation

Choose a comfortable apartment over a hotel. You are here for weeks, not days, and having a kitchen, a living room, and laundry facilities makes the stay feel like living rather than visiting. A one-bedroom in El Poblado (Medellín) or Usaquén (Bogotá) runs $40–$80/night and will feel like a genuine home base.

Work

If either of you plans to work remotely during the trip, set ground rules early. Designate work hours and protect non-work time. Colombia's time zones align well with US and Canadian business hours, and co-working spaces with excellent Wi-Fi are abundant in both cities.

Budget for Fun

Colombia is affordable enough that even with the IVF expenses, you can budget for experiences without financial stress. A generous daily budget for two (meals out, activities, coffee, transport) is $50–$80. A week of "fun money" at that rate is $350–$560 — less than one monitoring appointment at a US fertility clinic.

Communication

Agree in advance on how much you will discuss treatment versus how much you will give each other a break from it. Some couples find it helpful to have a "no IVF talk after 8pm" rule. Others prefer open, ongoing conversation. There is no right answer — just make sure you are on the same page.

The Relationship Benefit You Do Not Expect

Something unexpected happens when couples do IVF abroad: the shared adventure creates a story. Years from now, your child's origin story will not just be "we did IVF." It will be "we went to Colombia together, we found this incredible little café in Medellín, your dad learned exactly three words of Spanish, and we ate the best mangoes of our lives the week before we found out about you."

That story matters. It transforms a medical procedure into a chapter of your life together — one filled not just with anxiety and uncertainty, but also with adventure, laughter, and the unmistakable feeling of being a team.

The Bottom Line

IVF is hard on relationships. Colombia gives you a chance to offset some of that difficulty with genuine quality time, shared new experiences, and the kind of uninterrupted togetherness that daily life rarely allows. The treatment is why you are there. The adventure is what makes the trip worth remembering — regardless of the outcome.

Read more: Partner's Guide | Bogotá vs Medellín | Colombian Food During IVF | Returning Home After IVF