This week’s travel dream: The rebirth of Bogotá

Up until a few years ago, Bogotá, Colombia, was “dangerous and deeply sketchy,” said Kevin Gray in The New York Times. But the capital city is cleaning up its act, and after decades of “grappling with drugs and poverty,” it now, “for the most part,” has a right to proclaim itself a safe destination. Though armed policemen with muzzled “Hannibal Lecter” dogs are a “disturbingly common sight,” such “tough-on-crime measures” are what have helped Bogotá rebuild after Pablo Escobar’s reign. Hotels are opening, and the number of foreign visitors has doubled in the last six years. Today the country’s tourism office claims that the “only risk” in visiting Colombia is “wanting to stay.”

In Bogotá, as in any big city, “you can find trouble” if you look for it. But stay on the safe side and head to the gentrifying northern neighborhoods of Usaquén or Zona T. Once a retreat for the wealthy outside city limits, Usaquén is dominated by a colonial church and still feels like the “rustic village” it once was. Every Sunday, one of the city’s “most vibrant and eclectic flea markets” sets up here. As locals and tourists troll the streets, cuenteros, or storytellers, draw crowds of “up to 200 people” on the church’s steps. While Usaquén offers a sense of history and tradition, Zona T is an upscale neighborhood with more than 50 nightclubs and bars, each “pulsating” with reggaetón, dance, salsa, or house music. Named for the T-shaped pedestrian strip at its center, the area teems with packs of glamorous young people all “checking each other out.” Cocaine hasn’t disappeared, but “partying in the Zona T means three things: drinking, dancing, and chasing the opposite sex (or the same sex, depending).”

Another neighborhood that deserves attention is La Candelaria. Once among Bogotá’s “seediest neighborhoods,” it is now home to a “lively mix” of artists, activists, and students. “Lined with Spanish-tiled roofs and Creole iron balconies,” its colonial streets bustle with upscale cafés, cultural institutions, and local peasants selling loose cigarettes. Looming above La Candelaria is Bogotá’s largest Andean peak, Monserrate. At its top sits a white church where “hundreds of pilgrims celebrate Sunday Mass (some crawling on their knees to get there).” From up there, you can see Bogotá’s sprawl and “striving spirit on full display.”

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Contact: colombia.travel/en