Entertainment in Bogotá
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Yumi Yumi
Right off Av Jiménez, this pocket-sized lounge/restaurant – run by a bleach-haired Brit bloke and mustached local chef – fills with student passersby and hostel guests for excellent, experimental two-for-one cocktails (try the sour lucita, with tequila and lulo fruit) for COP$14,000. The Thai curry special on Monday and Tuesday (COP$9000) is the best touch of Bangkok in Bogotá.
reviewed
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B
Plaza de Toros de Santamaría
Bullfighting is invariably popular, with fights held at the Plaza de Toros de Santamaría on most Sundays in January and February. Tickets are available from the bullring’s box office (from COP$20,000). The events bring the area to a standstill, while the bullring itself (a 1931 red-brick ring) often fills to capacity (14,500), or beyond.
reviewed
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Café Para Dos
Grab a comfortable cushion, adjust your eyes to the candlelight and try the excellent canelazo de frutas, the house specialty that mixes juice, fruit and aguardiente (Colombia's most popular spirit). It also serves crepes and sandwiches. There are a few tables, but most people sit on the floor of this excellent chill-out bar.
reviewed
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D
Punta Sur
It seems that half the people in this place are either dancing on top of the tables or passed out underneath them. You can join them by first ordering a shot of booze from one of the waitresses done up in cowgirl outfits. Best of all, there's no cover. Punta Sur is the first in a string of crowded bars just north of the Atlantis Plaza.
reviewed
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E
Casa de Citas
Named for an earlier incarnation – when prostitutes advertised themselves from the balcony above – the saloon-styled Citas is now an atmospheric cafe, adorned with Castro photos, that hosts live rumba, jazz or salsa shows Thursday through to Saturday. Great COP$7500 set lunch during the day too.
reviewed
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F
Salomé Pagana
For Zona Rosa, it’s a surprisingly divey, red-walled salsateca, run by the gray-haired collector César Pagano, who hits the black-and-white checkered dance floor most weekend nights. A mix of locals come for salsa and son cubano wearing whatever: tennis shoes or high heels.
reviewed
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Centro Cultural Gabriel García Márquez
Opened in 2008 and a modern addition to La Candelaria, this expansive new complex pays homage to Colombia’s most famous author in name, but its events span the cultural spectrum way past literature. There’s also a giant bookstore (with a few English titles), a hamburger restaurant and cafe.
reviewed
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G
El Corredor De Las Vegonias
This hole-in-the-wall bar is just big enough for a hammock, a few floor cushions and a couple of tables that hold chess boards and candles. Drink menus are glued to old 45 LPs. The friendly English-speaking owner, Mauricio, plays a variety of music and can give tips on other night spots.
reviewed
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H
Pequeña Santa Fe
A cozy, historic two-story home with a fireplace by the bar and soft-lit lot upstairs sits next to the evocative Plazoleta del Chorro de Quevedo. It’s one of a few great spots here to sample a hot mug of ‘canelazo Santa Fe’ (a yerba-buena tea with aguardiente), or a beer.
reviewed
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Gaira Café
Vallenato legend Carlos Vives’ ultrafun dancehall/restaurant for live vallenato – or modern takes on it. Locals pack in for food and rum drinks, and dance in the tight spaces around tables to an 11-piece band. Cocktails are about COP$15,000, sandwiches and salads from COP$11,000.
reviewed
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Cha Cha
Atop the old Hotel Hilton in Chapinero (with sweeping city views), the glitzy Louis XVI–meets-art-deco club brings in fairly casual locals for a mix of DJs spinning various rhythms del noche – rumba, salsa, electronica. And Sunday night is ‘Sungay’ night.
reviewed
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J
Vinacure
An unreal makeover of a historic theatre, this camp electronica disco has a giant flesh-to-flesh dance floor for fun-seeking bogotanos of all persuasions; all eyes equally fasten onto the red-curtain stage for wild drag queen karaoke shows later on.
reviewed
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K
El Viejo Almacén
One of half a dozen bars/clubs on the block, the Viejo Almacén is a classic tango dive. Soft lit space with oodles of Carlos Gardel pics, a wall of 5000 dusty tango LPs, and couples taking a step or two as some of the vinyl spins. Beer is COP$1500.
reviewed
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Palos de Moguer
This popular pub serves beer made from its own brewery. There's sport on the TVs and American rock blaring from the speakers. It also serves pub grub, including nachos and calamari. Free wi-fi is available for anyone with a beer-proof laptop.
reviewed
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Treffen
A quirky option in Chapinero is Treffen, which means ‘encounter’ in German, but no words describe the bar’s cartoon nightmare mood, with nooks and crannies filled with stuffed animals, colorful tables and games menus.
reviewed
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El Libertador
Busy with 20-something cool kids, this posh cocktail bar, above a restaurant on a boutique-eats strip near Museo Nacional, has soft-light rooms with lounge seats, a mounted deer head and pricey malt whiskeys (from COP$16,000).
reviewed
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Quiebra Canto
Name-dropped first – for years now – by salsa-seekers across town, the Canto is a double-level disco a short walk from La Candelaria. Wednesday is big with expats for electronica DJs, but weekends go for live salsa.
reviewed
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Escobar Rosas
An unsigned sad little corner building opens into one of La Candelaria’s most popular dance places – a gritty, cramped, two-level place with electronic, funk and rock music for arty youth. Carpe diem!
reviewed
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P
Estadio El Campín
The principal venue for soccer is the Estadio El Campín. Games are played on Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon. Tickets can be bought at the stadium before the matches (from COP$6000).
reviewed
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Q
Juan Valdéz
Caffeine junkies and expats love this chic outlet of the Juan Valdéz chain. Look for the glass and steel structure with the parasols outside. There's a second location at the Donación Botero .
reviewed
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Alma
Bogotá’s beautiful, snobby, ritzy crowd elbows its way into this new Zona Rosa three-floor club that varies its musical styles – salsa, rock, electronic, funk. Don’t be surprised to be turned away.
reviewed
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Teatro de La Candelaria
One of the edgiest theaters in the center, with a mix of political shows (often lefty, sometimes covering women’s-rights issues) that always know when to put in a joke to diffuse any tension.
reviewed
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Saloon
The most popular bar on the Calle 51 'student street.' The cover charge includes vouchers for four beers. Up and down this street you'll find several other student-packed watering holes.
reviewed
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Surikata
This intimate bar is about the extent of Zona Rosa's alternative scene. It plays American/British rock from the '80s and '90s, but it's more of a chill-out spot than a place to dance.
reviewed
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Barbar
This three-level discotheque booms out electronic, reggae, salsa and merengue. The upstairs VIP room is all white padding and silver chrome, as if it had been designed by IKEA.
reviewed
