Cali is where you come to feel the tropics and learn to dance: warm year-round, refreshingly un-touristy, and utterly obsessed with salsa. It is cheaper and more laid-back than Bogotá or Medellín, with solid universities and famously outgoing 'caleños' who will drag you onto the dance floor within a week. If you want immersion, heat and rhythm over polish, Cali delivers.

Social life revolves around salsa, from beginner classes to the sweaty clubs of Juanchito and the spectacular Delirio cabaret shows. Granada and El Peñón hold the cocktail bars and restaurants, university nightlife is cheap and friendly, and December's Feria de Cali turns the whole city into a week-long party. Caleños are welcoming, so you will make local friends fast.

Cali is the most affordable of Colombia's big cities, so 450 to 700 euros a month is comfortable. A shared room runs roughly 600,000 to 1,200,000 pesos, street food and set lunches cost next to nothing, and MÍO transit fares are minimal. Your money stretches further here than almost anywhere else you could do an exchange.

Students cluster in the south around Ciudad Jardín, San Fernando and Tequendama, near ICESI, Javeriana and Univalle, while San Antonio offers bohemian charm on the hill. Rooms are found mainly through Facebook groups, university boards and word of mouth, so a local contact helps. Favour a well-regarded building, and visit before paying anything.

Cali runs on the MÍO bus-rapid-transit system, paid with a rechargeable card, which covers the main corridors well but gets crowded. Because of the heat and patchy coverage, students lean on cheap taxis and apps like DiDi and inDrive, especially at night. The centre and San Antonio are walkable, but distances and sun make the bus or a cab the norm.

Cali's universities include the large public Universidad del Valle (Univalle), the well-regarded private ICESI, the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali and the Autónoma de Occidente. Teaching is in Spanish, so decent Spanish is important, and the private campuses in the south are modern and green. Academic life is friendly and less pressured than in Bogotá's elite institutions.

For most Europeans, plus US, Canadian, UK and Australian citizens, Colombia stamps you in visa-free for up to 90 days, extendable at Migracion Colombia to a maximum of 180 days in a calendar year. For a short single-semester exchange that can be enough, and it is easily the simplest route.

For longer study you apply for a student visa, either a Visitor (V) visa or a Migrant (M) visa for study depending on length, through Colombia's online visa portal before or soon after arrival. You will need an acceptance letter, proof of funds and health cover; once it is granted, register it and collect your cedula de extranjeria ID card. The online process is reasonably quick by regional standards if your documents are in order.

Caleño food is tropical and generous: sancocho de gallina (hen stew) on a Sunday, aborrajados (fried sweet plantain with cheese), and cooling street treats like cholado and lulada packed with fresh fruit. Chontaduro sellers work the streets, the río Cali and its cat sculptures make a pleasant stroll, and the Cristo Rey statue watches over it all. Everyday Spanish is essential, as English is limited.

San Antonio is the postcard barrio, cobbled, bohemian and perched on a hill with sunset views, while Granada and El Peñón concentrate the best eating and going out. San Fernando is a solid, central student area, and Ciudad Jardín in the south is greener and near the private universities. Choose south for campus proximity, San Antonio for atmosphere.

Cali's location is a gift: San Cipriano's jungle river is two hours away and reached by improvised rail-motorbikes ('brujitas'), the Pacific whale-watching beaches of Ladrilleros and Juanchaco a boat ride beyond Buenaventura, and Lago Calima good for watersports. Colonial Popayán and the coffee region are easy weekends, and cheap flights reach Bogotá and Medellín.

Cali rewards the outgoing, say yes to dance invitations and your Spanish and social life will take off together. Stick to the busier, better-regarded neighbourhoods, use ride apps at night, and keep valuables discreet as you would in any big city. The heat is relentless, so hydrate, siesta if you can, and time errands for morning or evening.