Bogotá, the capital of Colombia is filled with rich history and culture. It is a big city with a population of around 8M and despite all that it’s buzzing metropolis has to offer, it is often overlooked by travellers. If you’re passing by Bogotá and have a day or two to spend, here’s a list of some of Bogotá’s best attractions, restaurants and hotels to make your stay memorable.
Attractions in Downtown Bogotá
Museums
Bogotá has quite a few interesting museums like the Museo del Oro / Pre-Columbian Gold a2Museum ($1) which has three floors of exhibitions, displaying historical artefacts from different eras and regions of Colombia. You can easily spend at least two hours here as there’s a lot to read and take in.
Other museums nearby are Botero Museo (free and closed on Tuesdays) and the National Museum. Botero Museo is one of Latin America’s most important international art collection and is close walking distance from Museo del Oro.
La Candalaria
The museums are situated within La Candalaria so after you’ve spent a few hours taking in all the information, have a stroll around the area. La Candalaria is one of my favourite areas. You’ll meet many backpackers here as it’s a popular place with a good art scene, you can find many arts and crafts. If you are interested, there is a company that offers a graffiti tour in Bogota for free (although small donations are usually offered). They do tours twice a day, starting at either 10am or 2pm. You can sign up online here.
If graffiti isn’t you’re thing and you’d much prefer checking out the local food, or both, 5Bogota is another small organization that offers tours in the area but the price is $50.000 pesos per person.
Monserrate
Near La Candalaria is the entrance to Monserrate. It’s a beautiful church at the top of the mountain but main attraction is the view you see of Bogotá. You must buy a ticket for $16.400 pesos (Mon-Sat) or $9.400 pesos (Sun) at the station which will give you a return cable cart ride. Monserrate is very popular so most likely there will be a line, but it is definitely worth the wait and don’t forget to take your camera fully charged! We arrived to the top just after sunset and managed to take one good shot before our GoPro died.
Paloquemao Market
Take a short taxi ride to Paloquemao Market where you will be exposed to a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, seeds, flowers, meat. It is said that Colombia has around 150 different types of fruits so you will be bound to see something that you haven’t come across before. As for flowers, Colombia is the second largest exporter of flowers in the world after Holland.
Restaurants
Bogotá has surprised me with its variety of tasty dishes. One of my favourites is caldo de costilla for breakfast with bread and is very popular. You can find it in almost all the restaurants / cafes that serve breakfast.
On calle 11 No 6-50, the street that takes you to Botero Museum, there is a restaurant called La Puerta Falsa. It was highly recommended by a local Colombian for having the best tamal and chocolate in town. The location of the restaurant is great with a cosy interior. We obviously ordered the tamal with lulo juice and it was delicious.
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