Bogotá With Kids
A city of eight million at 8,600 feet, with a gold museum, a mountain you ride up by cable car, and streets that close to cars every Sunday so the whole city can bike. Bring a jacket.
Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel
Is Bogotá good for kids?
Yes, for two or three nights. The Gold Museum, the Monserrate cable car, Sunday Ciclovía and the fruit at Paloquemao fill the days. It is cool and high, so pack jackets and take the first day slowly.
How many days do you need in Bogotá?
Two nights for the Gold Museum, Monserrate and the old center. Three if you can include a Sunday or the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá.
Is Bogotá safe for families?
The hotel neighborhoods of Chapinero, Zona G and Usaquén are comfortable for families. Use ride apps instead of street taxis, keep phones put away in the center, and visit La Candelaria in daylight.
When is the best time to visit Bogotá?
December to March is the driest stretch, with July and August a second dry window. April, May, October and November bring the most rain. Temperatures stay in the 50s and 60s all year.
What is Ciclovía in Bogotá?
Every Sunday and public holiday from 7 am to 2 pm, Bogotá closes about 75 miles of main streets to cars. Families bike, run, skate and walk them. Rent bikes near Parque de la 93 or Parque Simón Bolívar and join in.
Two Days Here Make The Rest Of Colombia Better
Bogotá is not the postcard. Cartagena is the postcard. Bogotá is the capital, high in the Andes, cool and gray and busy, and it is where the Gold Museum is, where the El Dorado legend comes from, and where the whole country’s food shows up on one plate.
I plan it as the first two or three nights of a Colombia trip. The kids see the gold, ride the cable car, eat ajiaco, and then fly to the coast and understand what they are looking at.
Getting Around
Uber and taxis booked through an app are the way to move. The historic center is walkable in daylight. The TransMilenio buses are packed and not worth it with kids. Sundays, the streets belong to bikes.
Neighborhoods worth basing in
La Candelaria
The colonial center. Plaza de Bolívar, the Gold Museum, the Botero Museum and the base of Monserrate are all within a few blocks. Great by day, quiet after dark, so I put families here only in the bigger hotels.
Chapinero and Zona G
The restaurant neighborhoods north of the center. Tree lined streets, the best hotels, cafes and bakeries on every block, and 15 minutes to the sights. My default base.
Usaquén
A former village swallowed by the city, with a cobbled plaza, a Sunday flea market and a calmer pace. Farther from the sights, closer to the big parks and the northern malls.
Four Seasons Casa Medina
A 1940s stone mansion in Chapinero with fireplaces, a glass roofed courtyard restaurant and connecting rooms. The one families ask me about by name.
JW Marriott Bogotá
A tower on Calle 73 near Zona G with an indoor pool, big rooms and a breakfast that fills everyone up before the Gold Museum. Easy taxis to everything.
Hotel de la Opera
Two restored colonial houses beside the Teatro Colón in La Candelaria, with a rooftop restaurant and a small pool. Walking distance to every sight in the center.
The Three I Build Every Bogotá Trip Around
La Candelaria and the Gold Museum
Start in Plaza de Bolívar, walk the painted colonial streets of La Candelaria, then spend two hours in the Museo del Oro. It holds tens of thousands of pre Hispanic gold pieces, including the Muisca raft, the tiny gold scene behind the El Dorado legend. The last room is a dark vault that lights up around you. Closed Mondays, free on Sundays, so expect a Sunday crowd.
Monserrate
The white church on the mountain above the city, 10,300 feet up. Take the cable car or the funicular from the base station near La Candelaria, walk the path along the top, and look down on all of Bogotá. Go in the morning when the sky is clearest, and bring the jackets.
Paloquemao market
The city’s big produce market, with fruit most American kids have never seen. Lulo, granadilla, pitahaya, guanábana, feijoa. Go with a guide for a fruit tasting tour early in the morning, or just buy a bag and a juice and let them try everything.
Family Time, Built In: Bogotá With Kids
Bogotá with kids runs on museums, bikes and food. The altitude is real but gentler than Cusco. Give everyone an easy first afternoon and these are the pieces that work.
Bikes on the Ciclovía on Sunday morning
Fruit tasting at Paloquemao
Maloka interactive science museum
The cable car up Monserrate
PARK & DOWNTIME PICK
Parque Simón Bolívar, bigger than Central Park, with a lake, paddle boats, bike paths and playgrounds. Closer to the hotels, Parque de la 93 has a playground and is ringed by restaurants with outdoor tables.
Five Things To Eat In Bogotá
Arepa con queso
Ajiaco
Empanadas
Chocolate con queso
BuñuelosNicole’s Perspective
The gold that started a legend
I taught social studies for eight years and the El Dorado story is the kind of thing that gets a whole class leaning in. A chief covered in gold dust, a raft on a lake, treasure thrown into the water. The Gold Museum in Bogotá has the actual Muisca raft, a few inches of gold that started five hundred years of searching. Kids who have heard the story stand in front of it for a long time.
I plan Bogotá as the opening act of a Colombia trip, two or three nights before Cartagena or the coffee towns. Families who skip it fly home with a beach. Families who do it fly home with the whole country.
The Day Trip: The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá
An hour and a quarter north of the city, inside a working salt mine, there is a cathedral carved 600 feet underground. You walk down through tunnels past fourteen carved stations, and the main nave is lit in blue and purple with a cross cut into the rock. Kids love the tunnels and the echo. Pair it with lunch in the colonial town square above and be back in Bogotá by late afternoon.
Things I Would Tell A Friend Before They Booked
How Many Days
Two nights covers the Gold Museum, Monserrate and La Candelaria. Three adds the salt cathedral or a Sunday.
The Gold Museum and La Candelaria on day one, Monserrate and Paloquemao on day two, then fly to the coast.
Fly in on a Friday, do the sights Saturday, and spend Sunday on the Ciclovía and at the Usaquén market before the salt cathedral or the flight out.
Bogotá first, then four nights in Cartagena or three in the coffee region around Salento. Ten days covers the three faces of the country.
Bogotá With Kids, Answered
Is Bogotá good for kids?
Yes, for two or three nights. The Gold Museum, the Monserrate cable car, Sunday Ciclovía and the fruit at Paloquemao fill the days. It is cool and high, so pack jackets and take the first day slowly.
How many days do you need in Bogotá?
Two nights for the Gold Museum, Monserrate and the old center. Three if you can include a Sunday or the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá.
Is Bogotá safe for families?
The hotel neighborhoods of Chapinero, Zona G and Usaquén are comfortable for families. Use ride apps instead of street taxis, keep phones put away in the center, and visit La Candelaria in daylight.
When is the best time to visit Bogotá?
December to March is the driest stretch, with July and August a second dry window. April, May, October and November bring the most rain. Temperatures stay in the 50s and 60s all year.
What is Ciclovía in Bogotá?
Every Sunday and public holiday from 7 am to 2 pm, Bogotá closes about 75 miles of main streets to cars. Families bike, run, skate and walk them. Rent bikes near Parque de la 93 or Parque Simón Bolívar and join in.
Ready To Put Bogotá On The Calendar
Send me your dates and your kids’ ages and I will set Bogotá at the front of the trip, pick the base and line up the coast or the coffee region after it.
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