Other entertainment in Colombia
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A
Saloon
This edgy, arty bar has a student vibe. Foreign DJs sometimes spin here, and every other Friday there’s live music. You can get sandwiches and light salads (COP$10,000 to COP$12,000). It also sometimes hosts art installations. It’s on the second floor of a white building in the heart of Granada.
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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Termales El Otoño
Termales El Otoño is outside Manizales on the way back to town, which helps alleviate the cracking headache and nausea you will experience on the trip down the mountain. It sells beer, liquor and snacks. On weekends the place turns into a party zone, and there are 15 luxury cabins nearby (COP$155,000 to COP$294,000). To get here on your own take the bus marked ‘Termales El Otoño’ from the Manizales terminal (COP$1200, 40 minutes).
reviewed
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B
Macondo
This San Antonio institution does great coffee, a wide range of desserts, light sandwiches and salads, and serves beer and wine till late. Jazz plays on the stereo and the smell of coffee is in the air. Try the scrumptious cocktails, like the Melquiades (mango, chocolate, coffee, Baileys, whiskey and blackberry sauce) or the Macondo de Lulo (coffee ice cream with fresh lulo and whiskey).
reviewed
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C
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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La Kasa
This popular split-level disco plays techno, accompanied by half a dozen electronic disco balls. Three bars will keep you well lubricated, and the fish in the two tanks built into the walls guarantee you a captive audience for your latest dance moves. One of the very best places for techno in Medellín; best for a visit on Thursday and Saturday.
reviewed
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Roland Roots Bar
This travelers’ icon encapsulates island life in one ridiculously atmospheric beach bar – booths fashioned from bamboo under ramshackle thatched roofs spread among the sands, all set to a booming reggae soundtrack. Roland is an island legend for his late-night parties and his coco locos – jazzed up piña coladas served in coconuts.
reviewed
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Babylon
Decked out in Wonder Woman and Superman memorabilia (plus stacks and stacks of old televisions), this dimly lit disco offers the best value drinks in Las Palmas. Seating is at heavy wood picnic tables, and projector screens show cartoons all night long. On Thursday it does an all-you-can-drink-night for COP$30,000 (women free).
reviewed
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D
b lounge
This small, groovy bar attracts a relatively young crowd. Feather boas hang from the ceiling, and the Wednesday night karaoke is very popular. There’s a wooden terrace outside facing the car dealership across the street. On the edge of the ever-expanding zona rosa (nightlife zone) at the time of our research.
reviewed
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E
Várzea
Off the beaten track on the road to the airport, this trendy little neighborhood bar was one of Leticia’s best-kept secrets – until now. It has a friendly atmosphere with great music and strong drinks. It also happens to serve the best pizza in town, with a huge selection of toppings. What more do you need?
reviewed
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Bar Oz
Located about a kilometer from the main strip in Menga, down a country road past several small farms, this disco boasts large replicas of the Sphinx, a small pond, bonfires in good weather, and a restaurant (mains COP$16,000 to COP$27,000) specializing in grilled meat. Don’t come if it’s raining.
reviewed
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F
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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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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H
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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Tienda Vieja
This happy, well-worn but well-loved Cali institution plays salsa and Colombian crossover. Seating is in small, colorful wooden chairs – they’re not comfortable, but then you came here to dance, right? In the same complex there’s also a good grill restaurant, Rancho de Jonas.
reviewed
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I
La Casa de la Cerveza
A chic spot set high atop the city’s walls, with stupendous views out toward Castillo de San Felipe. DJs spin tracks nightly and, in case you get hungry, there’s also a parrillada (restaurant serving grilled meat) with meals priced from COP$20,000 to COP$42,000).
reviewed
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J
Donde Fidel
Salsa all day, every day is the calling at this hotspot under the city’s old walls. Inside, a mixed crowd shimmies and shakes to salsa in cramped quarters while the outside terrace – full of younger revelers waiting for Tu Candela to open – grooves to the reverberations.
reviewed
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K
Papayera
Also known as Eslabon Perdido (the missing link), Eslabon Prendido (the tipsy link) or just ‘Es La Bon,’ this punnily-named bar is famous for its Tuesday night live salsa jams. It’s a few blocks from Parque Periodista, a seedy area where a number of edgy bars cluster.
reviewed
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Café Con Verso
The colorful hand-painted murals, Sinatra and Hendrix portraits and art-deco decor provide a welcome change of atmosphere to San Gil. The friendly lounge keeps punters happy with strong drinks and chilled-out sounds. Daily pasta specials will keep your tummy happy.
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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Discoteca L’ Boom
Also known as Kahlúa, this is the only real nightclub in Leticia, and not a particularly good one. The dimly lit interior looks more like a strip club, complete with mirrored walls and stripper poles. DJs crank out salsa, cumbia, vallenato and reggaetón tunes.
reviewed
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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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Blues Brothers
This loud bar is an obligatory stop on Thursday nights, when a live salsa band raises the roof (11:30pm to 1:30am). Staff mix great (if expensive) cocktails, and some nights the bartenders dance on top of the bar and pour shots of liquor down your throat.
reviewed
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M
Café y Chocolate
This groovy little cafe at the foot of Parque San Antonio is a hopelessly romantic place to take a date. The mellow lounge atmosphere is perfect for an early evening drink, and you can order nibbles, but no real food. Some weekends it hosts live music.
reviewed
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Carnaval
A five-minute taxi ride past Mango’s on the highway is this massive disco. It attracts DJs from around the world. This is your late night option – no one shows up until 3am. The retractable roof opens and closes to let in a breath of fresh night air.
reviewed
