Bogotá is Colombia’s capital and home to over 8 million people. The 3rd highest capital in South America (after Quito, Ecuador and Sucre, Bolivia), standing at 2,640m above sea level, Bogotá will quite literally take your breath away! A vast and sprawling city, the main tourist district is La Candelaria, where the main tourist attractions are within reach.

How we got to Bogotá

We arrived in Bogotá from Villa de Leyva, catching a direct minibus at 12.30pm with Flota Valle de Tenza, which cost 25,000COP. The first hour of the journey was very bendy and caused our stomachs to turn a little! We arrived after 4 hours to the Terminal de Transportes in Bogotá. After queuing for a secure yellow taxi, it took us nearly 45 minutes (it was rush hour) to reach El Candelaria and the cost was 30,000COP.

Colonial and colourful La Candelaria

What we did in Bogotá

Bogotá has so much to offer people and we had a lot of fun in the city. We were quite apprehensive about coming here as everyone we had met on our travels who had been were not very complimentary. Here are the top things we got up to which made our stay here so enjoyable:

Bogotá Graffiti Tour

The Bogotá Graffiti Tour is a great introduction to the city and gives a nice overview of how graffiti and street art has transformed the city in a positive way. Note that this is not a historical walking tour of the city, it is based in La Candelaria and a little bit of the downtown, and you get information on the graffiti/street art and the artists themselves. The tour is provided by street artists themselves, giving it a more unique and authentic feel!

Some of the Street Art we saw on the tour

The tour begins at Parque de los Periodistas and lasts about 2.5 hours. There are 2 tours a day, 1 at 10am and the other at 2pm. This is a free walking tour but as normal it is tip based, tips from 20-30,000COP are expected. To sign up go here.

Some are so vivid!

Plaza Bolívar

Plaza Bolívar (Bolívar Square) is the main square in Bogotá and is located in the heart of La Candelaria. It is surrounded on all sides by important buildings, The Palace of Justice, The Cathedral of Bogotá and the seat of the mayor, Liévano Palace. However, the real attraction for us was the pigeons. Yes, you read that correctly. The pigeons in Plaza Bolívar are not the slightest bit afraid of humans, because they are so used to being fed by them! Buy a bag of corn from one of the many sellers around for 1,000COP, put some in your hands and the pigeons will come, landing on you to eat them directly out of your hands. Even if you have nothing in your hands some will come to check it out! We know this isn’t something for everyone but it really was good fun, Aoife even said she got an adrenaline rush from it!

Alan getting some kisses from the pigeons

Aoife was less enthusiastic 

Museo del Oro

Pretty much every city in Colombia has a Museo del Oro, but the one in Bogotá has the biggest collection of pre-Hispanic gold work in the whole world. There are more than 50,000 pieces of gold work in the museum, and there are also some informative videos detailing the different ways that gold used to be made by the indigenous cultures. Each different region in Colombia is covered, detailing gold work that was discovered there. You can also learn more about the myth of ‘El Dorado’ which was believed to have been based on a lake located close to Bogotá. The museum will probably take between 2 to 2.5 hours in total (there are 3 floors) and costs 4,000COP.

Look at all the gold!

Botero Museum

Fernando Botero is Colombia’s most famous artist and, despite being from Medellin, has a museum dedicated to his work located in the La Candelaria district of Bogotá. Botero’s art is famous for his disproportionate (note – not fat!) portrayals of objects and people. The museum is really interesting and doesn’t just contain work by Botero, there are some by Picasso, Dali and many more! The museum is also located right next to the Casa Moneda (they are interconnected) and all are totally FREE!

Some Botero classics

Monserrate

Monserrate is a mountain that dominates Bogotá, particularly La Candelaria. It reached more than 3,100m in altitude and contains a church and market at the top. To reach the top you have two options; you can hike up or get the funicular. The hike up has some security warnings with it (robberies have been reported) and is closed at 1pm due to there being no police there after this time. The funicular cost’s 20,000COP for a return ticket ( a little less at the weekend) and takes about 5 minutes up and down. When we were there it was pretty quite so we didn’t need to queue on the way up or down but for busier times, i.e. weekends and holidays, expect delays. The views from the top are unbelievable and you can really feel the altitude up there! We went in the evening as the weather was also more clear then!

The views are amazing!

The funicular is pretty steep!

Other things to do

We had 3 full days in Bogotá and it rained heavily on our last day so we didn’t cover everything thing there is to do here. Some other activites for you to consider if you have some more time are; the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira, Museo Nacional, Free Walking Tour, Free Bicycle Tour, the weekly ciclovia on a Sunday.

Parque de Los Periodistas with Monserrate in the background

Where we stayed

We stayed in Masaya Hostal in La Candelaria. Masaya hostals are a chain that are located throughout Colombia but this is the first time we stayed in one. The dorms were nice, there was a curtain for privacy and a lamp and electric socket next to each one. The toilets were located quite far from the rooms and, for such a big hostel, it was strange that there was only one set of toilets for men and women. Breakfast was big and plentiful, although extra at 12,000COP. The bar was a nice edition with a really friendly barman, he even showed Aoife how to dance Merengue one night!

Our Top Tips

• Stay in La Candelaria, it is the district which is nearest to all the main tourist attractions in Bogotá.
• We found some really cheap Menu del Dia in the city, for 6,000COP, the cheapest we have found in Colombia!
• Although La Candelaria is the tourist part of Bogotá it also has a rough edge to it, be careful with your belongings when walking around and don’t engage people who look abit rough!
• When going to Monserrate take care with how you get there, our guide for the Graffiti tour told us to follow the water features in Parque de Los Periodistas the whole way to the university and then turn right. She mentioned that if we strayed another way it would not be a good idea!
• Take Uber’s if you need to get around the city. Unfortunately Uber is technically illegal in Colombia so trying to get one from the bus station to La Candelaria is pretty tough, but you can go the opposite way. When we went back to the bus station with Uber it only cost us 12,000COP, abit different to the 30,000COP the taxi cost on the way in.
• Bogotá is at a high altitude and nestled amongst the Andes, meaning the weather is not ideal. When we arrived it was “winter” and it rained quite alot, but this was no surprise to us! Some people seemed quite annoyed about it, expecting sunshine and 30 degrees, do your homework beforehand and know what to expect!
• Enjoy Bogotá, and try it for yourself. A lot of people are negative about it but we enjoyed our time here!