BOGOTA
Colombia's capital is shaking off its bad reputation. Planning on passing through? Forget it, you'll need at least a week, more probably. Gentrified streets, street art, and a thriving cafe culture make Bogota a worthy pin on your travel map.
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getting there
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From Santa Marta | We paid £62 via Skyscanner to fly with Latam for two seats and one checked bag (Feb). The flight takes 1 hour 30 mins. A Tuesday morning flight is significantly cheaper than other days. The bus costs 150,000Cop (£26) with Expreso Brasilia and takes 17 hours. Busses depart from Terminal De Santa Marta. It's around a 20 minute taxi ride from the Centre. Berlinas and Copetran also run the route.
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From Cartagena | In peak season it's around £45 to fly with Wingo from Cartagena and takes 1 hour 30 mins. In low season you can get the same flight for around £15. A bus with Expreso Brasilia costs 170,000Cop (£30) and takes 22 hours. Busses depart from Terminal De Cartagena which is 45mins in a Taxi from The Historical Centre.
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From Medellin | It's £18 to fly with Viva Air and takes just under 1 hour. A bus with Bolivariana costs 90,000Cop (£16) and takes 8 hours, departing from Terminal De Norte which is 10 mins from El Pablado in a taxi. Expreso Brasilia also departs from Terminal Del Norte, and costs 105,000Cop (£18.50).
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International | Bogota is served well from all over Colombia and the rest of South America. There are over 90 direct international routes. If youre headed to/from the UK there's a single direct route to Heathrow serviced by Avianca. Tuesdays are the cheapest.
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To Stay
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The backpackers head to La Candeleria which is not only the safest area of Bogota it also give easy access to Monserrate, the Museums (Museo's), and downtown.
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Viajero Bogota | A private double (with breakfast) here will cost you £32 a night (including 10% discount) use WEBVIAJERO at checkout, but you must book through their site. A spot in their 4 bed mixed dorm will cost you £14 per night including breakfast. You have a £11.70 non breakfast option too. There's two co-working spaces, a restaurant, the privates are sound proofed, and there's a branded Spa. Along with everything else you'd expect from the chain; laundry, all day coffee and decent variety of breakfast. You get free access to the steam room and sauna.
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Spotty Hostels | Fancy a splurge? A private double (with breakfast) will cost you £44 a night. There's a bar, co-work space, cinema room, games room a terrace, swimming pool, hot tub, and BBQ. A bunk in a 4 bed dorm is £11 without breakfast or £16 with.
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To do
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Climb Monserrate | The 1606 steps to the Basilica Santuario aren't as daunting as they appear from the bottom. The route is lined with vendors selling water (agua) and fruit (fruta) and Cops patrol its length. It took us 50 minutes, including several stops. The view of the city from the summit is unrivalled and is completely free. It sits at 3,200 metres, so ensure you're familiar with the effects of altitude before you begin. You can take the cable car (Teleferico) all the way to the top. It is standing room only and extremely steep. Alternatively you can take The cable train (Funicular), it is only slightly less hair-raising. The queues may be lengthy, you may wait 3 hours for your ride. Go early and miss the crowds.
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The Teleferico runs Mon - Sat 12pm - 11:30pm, and Sun 10:00am - 4:30pm.
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The Funicular runs Mon - Sat 6:30am - 11:45am, and Sun 5:30am - 5:30pm.
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A return will cost 23,500Cop (£4.20) for either.
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A one way trip is 16,000Cop (£2.80).
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There's some variations for Athletes, OAP's and Bank Holidays.
Check out our full guide to climbing Monserrate here.
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Go Tejo | Colombia's national sport involves throwing weights at gunpowder parcels, with beer. The winner makes the most explosions and most venues offer dinner too. It's derived from indigenous game turmequé practised 500 years ago. Checkout our full guide here. We played at Termeque Tejo, in Chapinero you can get a combo for 25,000Cop (£4.35) each which includes 2 hours court time and 2 beers.. Ask for David, he speaks good English and gave us rule briefing before we began. Chapinero is a relatively safe neighbourhood. The food here is average but fine if you just want to soak up the alcohol. A pulled pork sandwich will cost you 27,000Cop (4.70).
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Find Gold | It's 5,000Cop (£0.90) per person to enter the Gold Museum. One hour is good minimum time to set aside, but like any museum you could get lost for an afternoon. The exhibits have good English translations though we were left wanting for more information. Checkout the 'special room' for a bit of theatre though mainly as an indication of just how many items there are in the collection.
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Top Tip: All public museums are free to enter on the first Sunday of every month.
The Botanical Gardens | Its 25 minutes in an Uber (for around 12,000Cop) to Jardin Botanico de Bogota and they're some of the largest we've seen. Admittance is 10,000Cop (£1.74) and an extra 5,000Cop if you want to enter their complex of green houses. There's a cafe on site serving deliciously organic coffee and all the accompaniments. We spent around 2 hours wandering the gardens and their mostly indigenous collection.
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To Eat & Drink
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Take a Walking Food Tour | Beyond Colombia do a 2 hour walking tour of Colombias traditional dishes and drinks. Ours was more like 3 though we didn't mind. Rafa, our guide was excellent. It's themed, you'll try breakfast (Desayuno), Lunch (Almuerzo), dinner (Cena), desert, coffee (Café) and a few things in between. Every stop was well chosen, optional and close to the last. It's tip based though around £8 is recommended. If you ate everything you can expect to pay 35,000Cop (£6) each. We spent 45,000Cop (£7.80) between us and were stuffed. this was one of our favourite walking tours in South America.
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Hashtag Pollos | Rotisserie chicken at it's finest, and they have stiff competition; Latin Americans love their chicken. For 28,000Cop (£4.87) you can order a combo which comes with a herby half chicken, fries, a drink and several dips. It's mouth-wateringly delicious. Go early evening as there's a line around the corner for lunch. Just try to ignore the glib name.
Dos Gatos y Simone | A lovely spot for Mexican. With a wide ranging but firmly Mexican menu Dos Gatos is lovely place to sit for an evening. A plate of Enchiladas will cost you 29,000Cop (£5) and a local beer 9,000Cop (£1.57). It's a 15 minute walk from La Candeleria through a nice bit of town. It's not to be confused with their sister restaurant near to the Botanical Gardens.
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Arte y Pasion | Beleive it or not, Colombia has come late to great coffee. Historically all the good stuff was exported leading to a bitter local brew known as tinto. Most Colombians had no love for coffee as a result. This barista academy is reversing that trend. They specialise in Latte art and you can get various methods of brewing including a German siphon. A cappuccino with a rather impressive lion in the foam will cost you 7,000Cop (£1.23). There's two venues, we tried the impressive setting near the presidential palace.
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something else
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Quietly | While Bogota is massive, with all the variations of a sprawling Capital it seems to do things a little quieter. It's missing the honking horns, musical car alarms and all night beats that plague some of the other stops in Colombia.
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Polas | If you ask for a ceverza you may get looked at funny. Here beers are Polas. La Pola was the nickname of the Heroine, Policarpa Salavarrieta Ríos, who helped Colombia gain independence from Spain. Bavaria Brewing named a beer after her called “La Pola”, and the name remains, although that specific beer no longer exists.
NEXT STOP
The gateway to the Lost City, and probably the first beach town you will find on the Caribbean coast. It is a good base for a day trip to Tayrona National Park and its hiking, diving and beaches. Step off and hop the coastline to Buritaca, Palomino - as far as Venezuela.