Budget · 3-hour walk · Bogotá
La Candelaria in three hours
The main square and the colonial quarter behind it, the Botero collection, and the gold museum at the end.
Bogota's old quarter climbs the foot of the mountains and is barely a kilometre square, with two of the best museums in South America inside it and both free or nearly. The altitude is the thing people underestimate: 2,640 m, so the gentle slope up Calle 11 is more tiring than it looks.
The route, stop by stop
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Plaza de Bolivar
Cathedral on one side, supreme court on another, congress on a third. Llamas for photographs in the middle.
20 min here Walk here → -
La Candelaria
Painted colonial houses on steep cobbled lanes, with street art on every other wall and universities throughout.
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Botero Museum
Donated by the artist on condition it stays free forever. Also holds his Picassos, Mirós and Monets.
40 min here Walk here → -
Gold Museum
Fifty-five thousand pieces of pre-Hispanic goldwork, and the best-presented museum in the country.
More in Bogotá
Every walking route in Bogotá, or the full Bogotá guide for where to stay and what a day costs.