Bogotá D.C. is Colombia's capital district, a high-altitude Andean metropolis of roughly eight million people spread across a plateau at 2,640 metres (8,660 ft). The city pairs a dense colonial core in La Candelaria — home to the Gold Museum and the Botero collection — with the glass towers of the northern business districts, a 200-kilometre cycle network, and the green wall of the eastern mountains rising directly behind the historic centre.
Top day trips
Handpicked excursions within easy reach.
Zipaquira and the Salt Cathedral
An enormous Roman Catholic sanctuary carved 180 m below ground inside a working halite mine, with fourteen stations of the cross hewn from rock salt and a nave lit in shifting blue and violet. Above ground, Zipaquira's whitewashed colonial centre and the Plaza de los Comuneros make an easy lunch stop, and the town is the terminus of the weekend heritage train.
Highlights: The 180 m descent past the fourteen carved stations of the cross · The main nave and its illuminated cross cut into the salt wall · The salt-mining museum and the brine mirror pools · Zipaquira's colonial plaza and the neoclassical cathedral above ground
Laguna de Guatavita and the Embalse de Tomine
The circular crater lake where Muisca chiefs were covered in gold dust and rowed out with offerings, the ritual that gave rise to the El Dorado legend. Access is by guided walk only, on stepped paths through paramo and frailejon scrub to viewpoints over the jade-green water. Below, the vast Embalse de Tomine reservoir and the rebuilt white village of Guatavita fill out a full day.
Highlights: The crater-rim viewpoints over the sacred Muisca lagoon · Paramo vegetation with frailejones and hummingbirds on the ascent · Sailing and windsurfing on the Embalse de Tomine · The whitewashed relocated village of Guatavita above the reservoir
Nemocon Salt Mine
A quieter and more atmospheric alternative to Zipaquira, Nemocon's mine descends past mirror-still brine pools that reflect the salt ceiling, curtains of crystallised salt and the heart carved into the rock. The chambers stood in for the Chilean rescue in the film Los 33, and the village above has a pretty colonial plaza and a salt museum.
Highlights: The mirror pools reflecting the salt vault · Salt crystal formations and the carved heart chamber · The film set used for Los 33 · Nemocon's colonial plaza and the Museo de Sal
Villa de Leyva
A whitewashed colonial town in a dry Boyaca valley, built around one of the largest cobbled plazas in South America. Beyond the plaza lie a Cretaceous fossil museum built around an in-situ kronosaurus, the pre-Columbian observatory known as El Infiernito, vineyards and the ochre desert of Candelaria.
Highlights: The 14,000 sq m cobbled Plaza Mayor · The Museo El Fosil and its in-situ kronosaurus skeleton · El Infiernito, the Muisca astronomical site · The Pozos Azules turquoise pools and the Candelaria desert
Suesca Rocks
A 4 km wall of orange sandstone above the old Bogota-Chiquinquira railway, Colombia's birthplace of rock climbing and still its busiest crag, with hundreds of bolted and traditional routes from beginner slabs to hard overhangs. Guided climbs, abseiling, torrent trekking and a campsite scene make it the default adventure escape from the capital.
Highlights: Bolted sport routes and classic trad lines on 4 km of sandstone · Guided first-time climbs and abseils with local schools · The flat railway walk beneath the entire crag · Campfire and hostel scene in the fields below the rocks
Chia and Cajica
The Sabana's nearest escape: Chia is known nationally for Andres Carne de Res, a vast, chaotic, art-crammed restaurant and dance hall, while neighbouring Cajica has a craft market on its plaza, wool and ceramic workshops and a slower colonial feel. Both suit an evening out or a Sunday lunch without leaving the Sabana.
Highlights: Andres Carne de Res in Chia, a landmark of Colombian nightlife and grilled meat · Cajica's artisan market and wool workshops around the main plaza · Trout and ajiaco restaurants along the Chia-Cajica road · Cycling and horse riding on the flat Sabana lanes
Tabio and the Termales El Zipa
The closest thermal baths to Bogota, fed by naturally warm mineral springs in the Rio Frio valley below Tabio. The complex has a large recreational pool, a smaller medicinal pool, a steam room and gardens with a small lake, and Tabio village itself has a pleasant square, a Sunday market and several trout restaurants.
Highlights: Naturally warm mineral pools at 2,600 m · Turkish bath and jacuzzi in the balneario complex · Tabio's colonial square and weekend market · Trout and sancocho restaurants along the valley road
La Calera and the Embalse San Rafael
A short climb over the eastern ridge reaches a different landscape of pine slopes, dairy farms and the deep blue Embalse San Rafael, a drinking-water reservoir with walking trails and a visitor centre operated by the city water utility. The road up is the city's classic cycling ascent, and roadside stalls at Patios sell arepas and canelazo above a full panorama of Bogota.
Highlights: Walking trails and birdwatching around the San Rafael reservoir · The Patios viewpoint over the whole of Bogota · Roadside arepa and hot-drink stalls on the climb · Trout restaurants and country steakhouses in La Calera
Parque Natural Chicaque
A privately managed cloud forest reserve dropping 900 m off the Sabana rim into perpetually misty Andean forest, with 20 km of trails, giant oaks and tree ferns, a canopy zip line, horse riding and a mountain lodge. The descent from paramo edge to subtropical forest happens in a single morning's walk.
Highlights: Cloud forest trails through ancient oaks and tree ferns · The Pena viewpoint over the Magdalena valley · Canopy zip line and horse riding · Hummingbird and tanager birdwatching in the mist
Villa de San Diego de Ubate and the Ubate Valley
Colombia's self-declared dairy capital, a working market town in a green valley of milk farms, famous for its Basilica del Santo Cristo and for cheese, arequipe and almojabanas sold straight from the roadside. Nearby Sutatausa has Muisca rock art and the Laguna de Fuquene lies a short ride further north.
Highlights: The Basilica Menor del Santo Cristo on the main square · Dairy stalls selling fresh cheese, arequipe and almojabanas · Muisca rock paintings and colonial murals at nearby Sutatausa · The reed-fringed Laguna de Fuquene north of the valley
Girardot and Ricaurte - the tierra caliente escape
The capital's traditional hot-weather weekend, on the banks of the Magdalena 2,350 m below the Sabana. Girardot and neighbouring Ricaurte are built around swimming pools, riverside promenades and holiday condominiums, with the Piscilago water park at kilometre 105 and boat trips on the river.
Highlights: Hotel and day-pass swimming pools in a hot, dry climate · The Piscilago water park with wave pool and slides · The Magdalena river promenade and the historic railway station · Boat trips and the Camino Real bridge to Flandes
Trips by distance
How far you can go in a day.
Getting there
Transport options for day trips.
- Tours
- Organised small-group day tours from Bogota to Zipaquira and Guatavita start around COP 200,000-320,000 per person (about USD 63.50-101.60) including transport, entry fees and a bilingual guide; hotel pickup in La Candelaria, Chapinero and Usaquen is standard
- Private
- A private car with driver runs roughly COP 450,000-750,000 per day (about USD 142.90-238.10) for the Sabana circuit, which suits groups visiting several villages in one day
- Public
- Intermunicipal buses to the Sabana leave continuously from Portal del Norte and the Terminal del Norte; Tolima and Girardot services leave from Terminal Sur, and long-distance coaches from Terminal Salitre. Fares to nearby towns run COP 8,000-15,000 (about USD 2.54-4.76)
- Rental
- Car rental from about COP 150,000 per day (about USD 47.60) makes sense only for reservoirs and paramo roads with no bus service; Sunday evening returns on the Autopista Norte and the Via Bogota-Girardot are notoriously slow
Multi-day tours from Bogotá D.C.
If you have longer than a day, these are organised multi-day trips that start here.
Browse multi-day tours from Bogotá D.C.We may earn a commission from bookings made through this link.
Day trip tips
Make the most of your excursions.
Sabana day trips are easiest from Portal del Norte, where intermunicipal buses to Zipaquira, Nemocon, Guatavita, Suesca and Ubate leave continuously without a terminal formality
Tolima and Magdalena valley trips such as Girardot and Melgar leave from Terminal Sur, while long-distance routes to Boyaca and beyond use Terminal Salitre and the Terminal del Norte
Most Sabana towns sit between 2,500 m and 2,900 m, so the weather stays cool and wet even at midday - a rain shell is more useful than shorts
Sunday and public-holiday returns towards Bogota on the Autopista Norte and the Via Bogota-Girardot regularly add one to two hours; leaving before 15:00 avoids the worst
Entry to the Laguna de Guatavita reserve is by timed guided group only, so the lagoon cannot be combined with a late start
Carry cash in small notes: village buses, reserve gates and roadside food stalls rarely take cards
The weekend Tren Turistico de la Sabana turns the Zipaquira trip into an experience in its own right, but it commits the whole day to a fixed timetable
Ciclovia on Sundays makes cycling out of the city towards Chia, La Calera or the Sabana lanes unusually safe until 14:00