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(CNN) – One of the highest capitals in the world, Bogota is considered “2,600 meters closer to the stars.”
While this elevation (8,530 feet) means you’re more likely to be surrounded by clouds than contemplating a starry night sky, when it comes to coffee and culture, the metropolitan city doesn’t disappoint.
Here are some of the best ways to experience the city:
Botero and beyond
Bogota is not known for its art scene, but it should be. The city has a large number of art galleries, of which there are more than 100, many of which are free or low-cost. Every October, the city hosts the Bogota International Art Fair, a four-day extravaganza of artists showcasing their contemporary works, in a variety of formats and media.
The Museo de Arte de la Universidad Nacional is one of the most established galleries, bringing together some of the most experimental and ambitious projects in the city. The Parqueadero, located on the first floor of the Banco de la República Art Museum, provides a blank canvas for artistic productions in a space that began as the museum’s parking lot.
The MÜ Gallery is one of the first galleries in the country dedicated exclusively to fine arts photography and focuses on showcasing Colombian artists and organizing photography history workshops.
The Botero Museum is dedicated to Fernando Botero, the most famous artist in Colombia.
Sebastian Barros Salamanca / VWPCS / AP
The Museo Botero pays tribute to the most famous artist in Colombia, Fernando Botero, with his signature plump women and fruits of all kinds. Set in a beautiful colonial mansion with rooms surrounding a courtyard, the gallery is free to enter. It houses 208 pieces from Botero’s art collection, 123 of which are works he created and 85 from his private collection of internationally renowned artists, including Picasso, Money and Chagall.
A look at the walls
Bogota has a unique street art culture, which is part of the city like the walls themselves. Local artists are allowed to take charge of sections of the city’s buildings and the result is a collection of colorful, engaging and conversational murals.
The Bogota Graffiti Tour is a fascinating way to discover the Colombian capital.
Andia / Editorial Universal Group Group / Getty Images
The well-named Bogota Graffiti Tour offers two free tours a day. Graffiti art provides a perceptive lens to a complex city and taking a tour is a fantastic way to understand the social and political comments this art form seeks to convey.
Deep cultural immersions
Latin American history shines in some of the best museums in Bogota. In addition to the well-known Gold Museum (Gold Museum), which houses more than 55,000 gold pieces, many of which are sacred ornaments of the Amazon, the city offers many other institutions to get lost in the day.
Santa Clara is an old church converted into a museum and an impressive colonial-era building built between 1629 and 1647. It costs less than a dollar to visit and see paintings by some of Colombia’s most revered Baroque artists, along with intricate floral motifs. of gold and religious statues. .
The Gold Museum houses more than 55,000 gold pieces.
Lucas Vallecillos / VWPics / AP
The National Museum of Colombia is housed in a former prison, designed by English architect Thomas Reed in 1874. Ethnology, art and archeology dating back to 10,000 BC are exhibited here through 17 exhibition halls.
The Museo Colonial is another must-see museum, housed in a historic building, built in 1610 as a former Jesuit school, that exudes history. The museum houses a variety of paintings, sculptures, antique furniture and decorative arts.
The National Museum of Colombia reopened to the public after four months in the summer of 2020, amid new pandemic security measures.
Nathalia Angarita / Bloomberg / Getty Images
A cup of coffee
No guide to Bogota would be complete without mentioning coffee. Although the city is not within the coffee triangle, the region famous for its coffee production, in recent years numerous cafes have emerged now that the country does not export all its best beans.
Historically, Colombians drank aisle, the remnants of the coffee industry, which was formed in a strongly surprising place red. Luckily, things have changed since then, and although you’ll see how locals enjoy a cup red of a street vendor, good things are not to be missed.
Numerous cafes have sprung up in recent years now that the country is not exporting all of its best beans.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
Lucia Londoño Tostadores and Varietale offer great coffee tasting excursions without leaving the city. Visitors learn how coffee is grown, harvested, roasted and brewed and come one step further to become coffee connoisseurs.
And those who prefer to skip straight to coffee will not be able to choose.
The Arte y Pasión Café in Plaza Bolívar is a charming old café with vintage décor. Amor Perfecto a Chapinero is one of the first specialized cafes in the country and is worth a visit for its award-winning coffee and unusual methods, such as the honey process: coffee that is left to dry in its own pulp, creating a sweeter infusion .
Azahar, in 93 Park, is an elegant place that uses coffee directly from farmers, and is also completely transparent about its prices.
A market of distinctive memories
Worth going north, Usaquén is a neighborhood somehow charming and old-fashioned and trendy, with a lively gastronomic scene.
But the best activity is the Sunday flea market, which is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (give or take, after all this is Colombia). The Usaquén market has countless local handicrafts, such as ceramics, soap, jewelry, shoes, charcuterie and other handmade items.
Climb to see and look for species
A trip to Monserrate on a clear day takes visitors a little higher still to a panoramic bird’s eye view of the stretching city. The funicular offers a hesitant walk that shakes your stomach or there are plenty of stairs. There is a church at the top and a couple of expensive restaurants, but the real attraction here is the city.
Another wonderful outdoor activity is to visit the botanical garden of Bogota, an oasis of calm in the middle of the chaotic city. Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet and the gardens have an impressive selection of flora from the numerous ecosystems, with a special emphasis on Andean and moor species.
The botanical garden of Bogota shows the biodiversity that differentiates Colombia.
Vannessa Jiménez G / NurPhoto / AP
Flavors of Colombia
One of the best things about Bogota is the booming food scene and the fact that visitors who spend dollars enjoy an excellent exchange rate, which means you can eat standard foods with Michelin stars that don’t break the bench.
Leonor Espinosa is one of the most beloved chefs in the country and with good reason. She comes from fresh food from local farmers and is passionate about weaving cultural traditions into their menus. LEO, its eponymous restaurant, offers a 13-course tasting menu.
Chef Leonor Espinosa mixes a plate of rice in the kitchen of her eponymous restaurant LEO.
Fernando Vergara / AP
Meanwhile, in Matiz, all the dishes are like an edible art, with the menu that divides the land and the sea by its ingredients.
La Candelaria’s La Puerta Falsa (False Door) restaurant offers a more traditional experience at home, where diners can smear a bowl of warming ajiaco soup, made with three types of potatoes and chicken and served with avocado and rice. and finish with a hot chocolate, of course, dip bread with almojabana in it.
Andrés Carne de Res is one of the most distinctive points in the city. The restaurant has a capacity for 2,000 people.
Genaro Palacios / VWPCS / AP
The destination you can’t miss, however, is Andrés Carne de Res, located in Chía, about an hour’s drive from Bogota, depending on where you are staying. But most people who come to this infamous institution are not going to look for food, but to the party.
Much more suitable for non-pandemic times, the gargantuan restaurant seats up to 2,000 people, and they still have to divert people to their doors. The menus are 40 pages long, diners leave the tables in the middle of the main course to go to the sauce (there are five dance floors) and there is also, for some reason, a 25-foot climbing wall.
Next to the DJ, there are several live bands on hand, as well as some hammocks in the parking lot for anyone too tired to return to the city.
Lucy Sherriff is an independent multimedia journalist based in Bogota and deals with environmental, travel and gender issues.
