Bogota 2600 Meters Closer to the Sky

Ok, so there are a million things to do in Bogota.

Before you do anything, you must go to Andres Carne de Res. I promise you that you will never experience something like that place in your whole entire life: crazy decoration, shows and the best food. It's a restaurant/party place, you can go Thursday, Friday or Saturday but the best day is Saturday. Make a reservation because it's always full. Their speciality is all types of meat but order the "Lomo al Trapo", a meat sealed with a piece of cloth and cooked in a wood oven. For side dishes have the Criolla Potatoes and you must have "chicharrones" made from pork and there's no way I can explain it, just try it. To drink have a "Mandarino", Mandarin Natural Juice with Vodka.

Mandarinos


During dinner you will be visited by rare theater-like shows, fortune tellers and characters from Colombian Literature. It's also a real colombian party scene. If you had some drinks and have a rented car, ask for an "Angel" at the entrance. They will assign a driver that will take you home safely. Also, if one of your companions had too many drinks you can "check them in" at the Hammock Center, you will be given a number and you can pick them up when you leave, that way you will be able to continue the party.



The best areas to visit are the G Zone, T Zone and Uzaquen, there you will find the good restaurants and bars. In the G Zone go to "Criterion" for brunch. Also, Harry's Bar is an interesting place to order Spanish Tapas. In the T Zone go to Luna, Di Lucca, Balzac, Pravda and El techo. Uzaquen is also a good area because it used to be a small town near Bogota hundreds of years ago and now it's part of the city but its colonial architecture was preserved. In Uzaquen, I recommend going to Amarti and 80 Sillas.

Visit the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira. This is a Catholic Church built underground within the tunnels of a salt mine. It's pretty cool. When I went there I actually made a wish and it came true, so wish away!



The old part of bogota is called "El Centro", a colonial area with important locations like the Narino Palace, which is were the President and his family live and also good restaurants. There's one in particular called Leo, Cocina y Caba, ask for the Tuna and tell them to only seal it.



If you want to take it easy, we usually go on the weekends to a nearby town called Anapoima. Bogota is cold and Anapoima is only two hours away and has warm weather. You can rent houses there at a place called Mesa de Yeguas, a golf club with more that 100 surrounding houses. I love going there because it's a good way to get away from the city without traveling for too long.





For shopping I like to go to the T Zone, you can walk around but there's also three malls in the area: Centro Andino, Atlantis and El Retiro. When you go to El Retiro visit the Mercedes Salazar jewelry store, it's my favorite.

In Bogota, I don't recommend renting a car because the traffic is crazy. Move by taxi but always make sure you order one, don't take them on the street.

Bogota is 2600 meters high and is filled with fun and interesting activities, so apart from all the touristic things to do, I hope my personal suggestions help.