Visit Bogota in 1 day – Bogota city tour

Obviously we can not see everything from Bogota in 1 day. But one day is enough to get a general idea of this huge city and its characteristics and atmosphere. Here is how I visited Bogota in 1 day and what were my impressions.

Visit Bogota in 1 day – Tour Program

• Mirador Monserrate Currency Museum
• Emerald size work shop
• Visit of the historic center, la Candelaria
• Lunch in a traditional restaurant to taste typical dishes
• Visit Botero Museum

Visit Bogota in 1 day – Mirador Monserrate

Our guide recommends that you leave early to go directly to the cable car that provides access to the Mirador. Indeed, usually from 10 am, a crowd of tourists disembarks and thus forms an interminable queue at the ticket office of the cable car.

Good advice since at 9:30, we go quietly to 3,150 meters to find ourselves at the top of the Hill of Monserrate. Price of the round trip: 20,000 COP is about 6 Euros.

The view is spectacular: Bogota proudly stands before us under a clear sky!

Visit Bogota in 1 day – Currency Museum

It was here that the first gold coins of Latin America were minted in 1621. This is the House of the Mint which keeps the numismatic collection of the Bank of the Republic. It exhibits most of the coins circulating in Colombia since the beginning of the seventeenth century. Visit that can quickly become boring …

Visit Bogota in 1 Day – Emerald Cut Workshop

Tour catcher-tourists because we end of course by selling jewelry at exorbitant prices … So I strongly recommend!

Visit Bogota in 1 day – La Candelaria

It is in the rain that we will walk in this district of BOGOTA. Apart from some graffiti and some colorful houses, we do not make WAOUH and we quickly went around …

Visit Bogota in 1 day – Botero Museum

There, by cons I feasted! Here is a museum that allows you to discover an artist whose works are easily identifiable but that we do not really know well … His family, his social background, his region, his evolution, his exhibitions … all this information helps to to better understand his paintings and sculptures but also the everyday life of Colombians in recent years.

I could appreciate his own works (a hundred drawings, paintings and sculptures) but also his private collection which brings together paintings by Renoir, Chagall, Picasso, Miro … and a magnificent sculpture signed by my favorite DALI!

Visit Bogota in 1 day – Traditional restaurant

On the good advice of our guide, we settle in a restaurant with retro Baroque decor in the heart of Candelaria. This is the EL SON DE LOS GRILLOS restaurant, one of the oldest restaurants in BOGOTA (over 30 years old).

After a small salad, we tasted the specialty of the capital: el ajiaco. It is a consistent soup consisting of dads, corn, chicken, rice, cream, capers and served with a whole grain of corn. We liked it.

Then, more classic, we took the black pepper chicken with rice and avocado.

All for 29,000 COP is about 8 Euros! Note that each dish ordered was split in two because the portions are huge …   

Visit Bogota in 1 day – My impressions of Bogota

Is it because of the rain or because of all that we could hear on the dangerous side of this city or because we were tired by the theft of the day before and the time difference … but I can say that I did not particularly appreciate this city.

Cheap hotel in Bogota

Before booking my hotel, I studied the different districts of Bogota. So I chose my hotel in a chic and safe neighborhood: El Chapinero. Everything was perfect in Saint Simon hotel and for a good value ! Also, I particularly enjoyed the full and varied breakfast buffet.

See this hotel on Booking

But tomorrow is another day …

and our circuit takes us to

Tatacoa desert!