We recommend that you take a guided tour of Bogota in english to get a better grasp of Colombia’s sprawling capital. We’ve selected for you what we consider to be the best proposals accompanied by the best english-speaking guides!
The agency run by our friend Camila, a Bogotanese with a degree in political science, offers guided tours of Bogota in english that are simply brilliant: a “historical” guided tour to understand the history of the conflict in Colombia, a Graffiti Tour that combines discovery of the most beautiful works and the social role of street art in Bogota, and a visit to the Ciudad Bolivar district in the midst of social transformation.
Camila also offers a more traditional tour of Candelaria, the Gold Museum, the Botero Museum and the Monserrate.
Given the richness of these visits and the interest that this kind of initiative can have for travelers, we recommend them 100%!
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TO DO AT THE START OF YOUR TRIP!
This is definitely a tour we recommend you take at the very beginning of your stay in Colombia! It’s a tour that allows you to immerse yourself in history, breaks down myths and tells the real story of Colombia today: a perfect introduction to a trip to Colombia. It’s the perfect introduction to a trip to Colombia, and an experience that will enable you to see Colombia in a whole new light.
Disclaimer: we apologize in advance for any grammatical or syntactic errors, as our native language is not English (we're a Colombian-French couple), so we hope you'll forgive us and still enjoy the information we share with you! Please note that all the information on our blog is based on our own experience, and is checked and updated regularly.
Bogota Historical City Tour in english
BEst Bogota City TOURS IN english
This historical guided tour of Bogota in english was created in response to the fact that tourists often leave Colombia without a minimum understanding of the country’s history, peace process, armed conflict… issues that contribute to its identity and uniqueness.
Realizing that there were no tours that explained Colombia’s recent history in depth, Camila’s team decided toorganize daily tours of downtown Bogota. The aim: to humanize the history of the conflict in Colombia, while helping people to understand its complexity, far from the binary visions of events of this kind, demystifying clichés, without taboos, 100 based on facts, in an interactive and educational way.
All the guides are Colombian, trained in excellent universities (political science, history, etc.) and have often been involved in organizations linked to the peace process.
An original, alternative guided tour that offers a different way of visiting Candelaria.
CONTACT Camila to take the “Construyendo Paz” tour in Bogota
Guided tour of Bogota in english with a english-speaking Colombian guide (even better than a english guide!)
The classic Candelaria City Tour
BEst Bogota City TOURS IN english
A beautiful, long guided tour of La Candelaria in english that takes all day (about 7 hours) and includes a good traditional lunch.
The tour includes all the classics and the main monuments of Bogota’s historic district, as well as the sublime Gold Museum and the no less interesting Botero Museum! The tour also includes entry to the Monserrate for an end-of-day panoramic view of the Colombian capital.
CONTACT Camila to visit La Candelaria in english
Guided tour of Candelaria in english with a english-speaking Colombian guide (even better than a english guide!)
Bogota Graffiti Tour in english
BEst Bogota City TOURS IN english
There are several Graffiti Tours in Bogota, but from our point of view, this one’s definitely worth the detour!
For this Graffiti Tour, the agency has teamed up with the BogotArt collective, Colombia’s largest community of graffiti artists and street artists, to create a guided tour that captures the essence of street art in Bogota .
With this direct, privileged access to the artists involved, the guides have first-hand information, updated regularly as new works are added.
On this tour, you’ll discover the history of street art in Bogota and the events behind its evolution. We also learn a great deal about the history of the most famous artists, their backgrounds, how to define their style and how it has evolved over time.
Part of the tour focuses on the socio-political context behind graffiti. We discover the messages which, with the explanations linked to the history of Colombia, take on a whole new meaning.
CONTACT Camila to take the Graffiti tour in Bogota
Why take a city tours in english
english-speaking guide in Bogota
As you’ve probably gathered from our post on responsible tourism in Colombia, this type of travel can take many forms, and isn’t confined to a single category. The aim of responsible tourism, beyond its purely economic impact, is to have a positive impact.
Educating the traveller
Here we come to the heart of a key aspect of responsible tourism:educating the traveler. As a bi-national couple who work in Colombia on a daily basis, we can assure you that clichés about the country are hard to dispel! So when a tourism initiative tries to put an end to preconceived ideas by educating travellers, we’re 100% behind it.
You’d think that travellers who decide to go to Colombia would be people who’ve read up on the country’s history, who’ve got over the clichés about drug trafficking and Farc kidnappings. Well,we’ve come a long way!
Transforming the way people look at Colombia
The Construyendo Paz tour, the Bogota Graffiti Tour and the Ciudad Bolivar tour are designed to combat clichés and reveal the complexity of Colombia. By providing a wealth of historical knowledge, we transform the traveller into a conscious traveller, rather than a mere consumer. And one aware traveller is worth two!
Travelling also means respecting, understanding and learning about the country’s culture. And in a country like Colombia, this seems even more important to us, so that every traveler becomes a spokesperson for another reality, different from the image that the world’s media continue to perpetuate.
From our point of view, (good) guided tours of Bogota in english are part of this transformation.
Practical info BOgota
For all practical information on Bogota, please visit our general post and our dedicated posts:
