Private Bogotá City Walking Tour with Monserrate and Museums

Monserrate: Bogotá's sacred mountain

Monserrate rises above the eastern edge of Bogotá to a height of about 3,150 metres, and its white sanctuary on the summit has drawn pilgrims since the seventeenth century. The church holds a revered statue of the fallen Christ, and on Sundays the paths and terraces fill with Colombian families. You reach the top by cable car or by the funicular railway that climbs the steep forested slope, and the view from the terraces covers the entire city and the high plateau of the Andes.

With a private guide, a Monserrate tour is far easier: you are driven to the lower station, the guide explains the history while you ride up, and you can take your time at the viewpoints, the church and the small craft stalls. Mornings are usually the clearest time, before clouds gather in the afternoon. Monserrate tickets for the cable car or funicular are bought on the day and are not included in the price.

The Gold Museum and the legend of El Dorado

The Gold Museum in central Bogotá holds one of the largest collections of pre-Hispanic goldwork in the world, with tens of thousands of objects made by the peoples who lived in Colombia long before the Spanish arrived. Over several floors you see masks, breastplates, nose rings, figurines and offerings worked with astonishing skill, and learn how gold was used not as money but as a link between people, nature and the spirits.

The star of the collection is the Muisca raft, a tiny golden boat carrying a chief surrounded by attendants. It illustrates the ceremony at Lake Guatavita in which a new ruler covered in gold dust offered treasures to the waters, the origin of the El Dorado legend that drew European explorers across South America. Allow about 45 minutes; the Gold Museum is closed on Mondays and free on Sundays, and its tickets are not included.

The Botero Museum

The Botero Museum occupies a beautiful colonial house with a courtyard in La Candelaria and is one of the most visited museums in Colombia. It was created in 2000 after Fernando Botero, the Colombian artist born in Medellín, donated a large group of his own paintings and sculptures together with works by European masters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from his private collection.

His style is recognisable at once: people, animals and still lifes painted with generous, rounded volumes, often with a gentle sense of humour and a sharp eye for Colombian society. Your guide points out the most famous pieces and the stories behind them, and the visit takes about 45 minutes. Entry to the Botero Museum is included on this tour; note that the museum is closed on Tuesdays, so plan your date accordingly.

La Candelaria, Chorro de Quevedo and La Concordia Market

La Candelaria is the historic heart of Bogotá, a neighbourhood of steep cobbled streets, colonial houses painted in bright colours, wooden balconies, churches, universities and colourful street art. At its top end is Chorro de Quevedo, a small square traditionally said to be where the city was founded in 1538, now a meeting place for students, street performers and travellers. Your guide explains how the old Muisca settlement became the Spanish colonial capital and how the district looks today.

You spend about an hour walking La Candelaria with plenty of photo stops, then visit La Concordia Market, a neighbourhood food market where you try a typical Colombian snack and see tropical fruits that many travellers have never tasted before. Is La Candelaria safe to walk? With a local guide it is the best way to enjoy it, keeping valuables out of sight as in any busy city centre.

Plaza de Bolívar and the Primate Cathedral

Plaza de Bolívar is the main square of Bogotá and of Colombia, named after the independence leader whose statue stands in the centre. Around it stand the country's most important buildings: the neoclassical Primate Cathedral, the largest church in the city, the columned National Capitol where Congress meets, the modern Palace of Justice and the French-style Liévano Palace, seat of the mayor. The presidential palace lies just behind the Capitol.

Pigeons, street vendors and school groups fill the square, and on clear days the green mountains, Monserrate among them, frame the view to the east. Your guide explains the events that shaped modern Colombia in this square over about 30 minutes, before our private vehicle takes you back to your hotel. It is the natural finale of a Bogotá city tour and one of the best places to understand the capital.