Bogotá, Colombia

Evergreen city guide with quick facts, travel, business, and culture.

ColombiaBogotá D.C.

Overview

Bogotá is Colombia's high-altitude capital, set on an Andean plateau at 2,640 metres — a sprawling, energetic city of colonial old streets, world-class gold and art museums, a mountaintop shrine with sweeping views, bold street art and a fast-improving food and nightlife scene.

Colonial Old Town

La Candelaria's cobbled streets and painted houses, Plaza Bolívar and the founding plaza of Chorro de Quevedo.

World-Class Museums

The pre-Columbian Gold Museum and the El Dorado raft, and the free Botero Museum of art.

Monserrate & Street Art

The mountaintop shrine and city panorama, bold graffiti tours and the Sunday Ciclovía cycling ritual.

Food & Day Trips

Ajiaco soup, coffee and markets, the Zona G dining and the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá nearby.
Travel Overview

Bogotá, Colombia's capital, sprawls across a high Andean plateau at 2,640 metres, hemmed against green eastern mountains — a vast, cool, fast-changing city that has shed much of its old reputation and become a rewarding cultural gateway to the country. Its heart is La Candelaria, the historic colonial quarter of steep cobbled streets, brightly painted houses, universities and cafés, gathered around the grand Plaza Bolívar with its cathedral and government palaces. The neighbourhood holds two of South America's finest museums: the Gold Museum (Museo del Oro), whose dazzling collection of pre-Columbian gold and the Muisca raft of the El Dorado legend is world-class, and the Botero Museum, where Colombia's most famous artist, Fernando Botero, donated his rotund figures and an enviable collection of Picasso, Monet and Dalí — both unmissable, and the Botero free. Rising directly behind the old town is Monserrate, a 3,150-metre peak topped by a white pilgrimage church and reached by funicular or cable car, with a panorama over the seemingly endless city. Bogotá is also one of the world's great street-art cities, best explored on a graffiti walking tour through La Candelaria and beyond, and a place that reinvents its streets every Sunday for the Ciclovía, when major avenues close to cars and fill with cyclists, joggers and families. The food and nightlife have come into their own — the hearty Andean ajiaco chicken-and-potato soup and arepas, the world-renowned coffee, a wealth of exotic fruit, the upscale dining of the Zona G and Parque 93, the Sunday flea market and brunch of cobbled Usaquén, and a buzzing bar scene. Beyond the city, the extraordinary underground Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá and the El Dorado lake of Guatavita make memorable day trips. At this altitude the climate is cool and spring-like year-round (pack layers and a rain jacket), and Bogotá makes the natural starting point for Colombia — Cartagena, Medellín and the coffee region a short flight away.

Discover Bogotá

La Candelaria is the historic and cultural soul of Bogotá — the colonial old town climbing the lower slopes of the eastern mountains in a tangle of narrow, cobbled streets lined with brightly coloured one- and two-storey houses, churches, bohemian cafés and a clutch of universities that give it a youthful buzz. Its monumental centre is the vast Plaza Bolívar, ringed by the neoclassical Cathedral, the Capitolio (Congress), the Palace of Justice and the French-style city hall, with pigeons, vendors and a statue of the liberator Simón Bolívar in the middle. Around it wind streets full of museums, hidden courtyards, street art and old churches; the Chorro de Quevedo, the tiny plaza where the city was supposedly founded, fills with students, chicha (fermented maize drink) sellers and storytellers in the evening. It's a quarter best explored on foot in daylight, ideally on a walking tour that unlocks its history and graffiti.

Frequently asked questions

Bogotá sits at about 2,640 metres, high enough that some visitors feel mild effects — shortness of breath on the steep La Candelaria streets, tiredness or a headache — for the first day or two. Take it easy on arrival, stay hydrated, go gently on alcohol, and save the climb up Monserrate (3,150 m) for once you've acclimatised. The altitude also keeps the climate cool and spring-like year-round, so pack layers and a rain jacket whatever the season.

Bogotá's high-altitude climate is cool and spring-like all year — there's no hot summer or cold winter, just drier and wetter spells. The drier months tend to be December to March and July to August, which are slightly more reliable for the Monserrate views and the Sunday Ciclovía, but rain can come any time, so always carry a layer and a light raincoat. Days are mild and nights chilly throughout the year.

Two stand out. The Gold Museum (Museo del Oro) holds a world-class collection of pre-Columbian goldwork, including the famous Muisca raft behind the El Dorado legend — one of the finest museums of its kind anywhere. The Botero Museum, free to enter, shows Fernando Botero's rotund figures alongside an excellent international modern-art collection he donated. Both are in or near La Candelaria and easily combined in a day with the National Museum.

Diplomatic missions in Bogotá

6 embassies based in this city, grouped by region.