Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Bogotá
Monserrate and Usaquén in six hours
The funicular up the mountain over the city, then the colonial village the city grew around.
The three-hour route walks La Candelaria. This one goes up and then north: Monserrate is 3,152 metres and the shrine on top has been a pilgrimage since 1657, and Usaquén was a separate village until Bogotá absorbed it in 1954 and still has its own square, church and Sunday flea market. Go up Monserrate early — the cloud comes in most afternoons.
The route, stop by stop
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Monserrate
Arrive by funicular from the previous stop
Funicular or cable car to 3,152 metres. The shrine holds a 1656 statue of the fallen Christ and pilgrims still climb the steps on foot. Thin air; walk slowly.
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Plaza de Usaquén
Arrive by taxi from the previous stop
The village square with its 1665 church, a half-hour north, colonial low-rise on three sides and restaurants on the fourth. On Sundays the flea market fills the streets off it — antiques, crafts and emeralds of uncertain provenance.
70 min here Walk here → -
Hacienda Santa Bárbara
An 18th-century hacienda house with a shopping centre built around and under it, which sounds worse than it is.
30 min here Walk here → -
Parque de la 93
Arrive by taxi from the previous stop
A square block of park ringed by the restaurants and bars Bogotá goes out to. Twenty minutes south of Usaquén and a different city again.
45 min here Walk here →
More in Bogotá
Every walking route in Bogotá, or the full Bogotá guide for where to stay and what a day costs.