Colombia’s lively capital city of around eight million, Bogotá has many gems, including a cobblestoned colonial heart (La Candelaria), excellent museums, a few party-filled nightclub districts, and a temperate climate (as one local puts it, “Bogotá gets four seasons in one day”). Located on a high plateau in the Andes, the city has an elevation of about 2,600 meters (8,500 feet) that can cause altitude sickness, so make sure you ease into that aguardiente. There are wonderful opportunities in Bogotá to try typical national foods and drinks, like moist tamales and warming canelazo.
BogotáEat Your World Team2023-09-11T16:31:08-04:00
Graffiti, Bogota
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Bogota
Bogota Food + Travel Guide
Essential Dishes
What to Eat in Bogota
What: A warming alcoholic beverage consisting of anise-flavored aguardiente and aguapanela (hot sugar water), served in a cup rimmed with Read more >
What: A sour-tasting, traditional fermented corn drink with a low amount of alcohol. Perhaps an acquired taste, but something worth Read more >
What: A local favorite of rich hot chocolate served with a hunk of white cheese, meant to be dunked into Read more >
A type of palm fruit that’s intensely dry and starchy, almost yam-like in color and texture, and is high in Read more >
Gelatin, a sweet, pulled, taffy-like dulce that’s not as innocent as it looks: Pata means “paw” or “leg”; like many Read more >
A type of sweet passionfruit, high in vitamins A and C, with an orange and hollow-feeling exterior that conceals sweet, Read more >
Obleas are very thin, round brown wafers—almost like a flattened waffle cone, but lighter—that are spread with sweet arequipe (Colombia’s Read more >
What: A carnivore’s dream: grilled steaks and other grilled meats, including chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), pork chops, beef ribs, flank Read more >
Moist masa (cornmeal dough), various meats (often chicken, pork, and beef), vegetables, and chunks of hard-boiled egg are enveloped and Read more >
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Activity Tips
How to Burn It Off in Bogota
BIKE
Sundays in Bogotá bring the original Ciclovia, for which the city closes some 75 miles (122 km) of roadway to accommodate bikers, joggers, rollerbladers, and dog-walkers from 7am to 2pm. Join the two million Colombians that turn out for this weekly madness with Bogotá Bike Tours (Carrera 3 No. 12-72; map) in La Candelaria; half-day rentals cost 20,000 COP. Or take one of their guided, three-to-five-hour bike tours any day of the week for 30,000 COP. If you are biking on a Sunday, try to get up to Las Pulgas market—a trove of handicrafts, clothing, antiques, and, yes, food—in the pretty, upper-class barrio of Usaquén (map). Either way, biking is a wonderful way to see the city and burn off some of those tamales.
Read MoreAccommodations
Where to Stay in Bogota
Budget travelers, consider the popular Platypus Hotel (20,000-55,000 COP/$11-$30, dorms and private rooms available; Calle 16 No. 2-43, map), operated by famously hospitable staff right in the center of La Candelaria. The pretty, 14-room La Casona del Patio (doubles from 135,000 COP/$71; Carrera 8 No. 69-24; map) is a good midrange option in the north of Bogotá, located in Zona G between La Candelaria and Zona Rosa, the nightclub district. If your budget is bigger, look no further than La Candelaria's graceful, luxe Hotel de la Ópera (standard rooms $111-$152, depending on season; Calle 10 No. 5-72, map).
