Ciclismo urbano: La forma divertida de conocer Bogotá

Bogotá is a green city with a passion for sustainability; the metropolis seamlessly combines nature, literature, bike paths, street art, and gastronomy, achieving a masterful harmony ready to delight every visitor. Ecological corridors, excellent food, and striking graffiti views will make you fall in love with the city. Enjoy Bogotá’s streets the best way—on a bicycle!

Arriving in a new city brings a feeling and a desire for freedom. No matter where you are headed, urban cycling lets visitors discover the city in a different way while benefiting their health by boosting fitness and actively taking part in solutions and preventive measures against environmental pollution.

Tourists who arrive in Bogotá are amazed by the number of road corridors designed for bicycle use, which is why many hotels include bike rental in their lodging packages, giving guests the chance to enjoy the city at their own pace and discover how charming Colombians are.

Cycle paths

Cycle paths or bike lanes are exclusive trails for bicycles located along the edge of main vehicle roads. Bogotá has 550 kilometers of permanent bicycle paths created in the 1990s and expanded over time according to users’ needs. These cycle paths are extended on Sundays, taking over not only the exclusive trail but also many vehicle routes so visitors can enjoy the city’s different open-air entertainment areas in a space called “Ciclovía.”

Ciclovía

The Sunday plan is, without a doubt, to ride a bike along the Tourist Ciclovía; you can enjoy the city’s landmarks, have a good coffee, and delight in the best open-air art offered by the capital of the world’s most welcoming country.

The tourist route through Bogotá is a perfect plan to visit the city’s signature parks. The route starts at Parque de la 93, continues to Parque El Virrey, Zona Rosa, Parque Simón Bolívar, and finishes at Parque de Usaquén. This and other routes are designed so visitors and residents can experience the Ciclovía in a different way, discovering and enjoying some of the city’s most emblematic places.

Some of the best routes to fully enjoy the city are:

Parque El Virrey to Parque La Florida

This route stands out for blending nature with the city.

The 40-km route begins at the El Virrey linear park by Carrera 15 and Calle 87, continues to Calle 94 up to the Rionegro neighborhood, then takes Calle 80 to the Juan Amarillo wetland, crossing the Jenny Garzón bridge—better known as the Puente de Guadua—built with more than 3,000 guaduas; it then follows the cycle path that borders the Bolivia Oriental and Ciudadela Colsubsidio neighborhoods, and finally reaches Parque La Florida.

Graffiti District

Bogotá undoubtedly has one of the world’s best open-air art galleries; the city’s graffiti district showcases a harmony full of color, culture, expression, and history. On this route you can enjoy not only the beautiful murals but also a wide array of gastronomy, as the area is filled with excellent restaurants and cafés to enjoy during your ride.

Starting at the Park Way, the route follows the path to the Universidad Nacional, the country’s most important and representative university (founded in 1864), then continues along the cycle path to the Puente Aranda locality, the heart of the Graffiti District, where responsible urban art brought the area back to life, letting residents and visitors experience the giant canvases that immortalized the work of local, national, and international artists.

Literary Tour

Learn a bit of the history of Bogotá by bicycle: head to Librería Lerner, one of the city’s oldest and most traditional bookstores; then pass through Plaza de Lourdes and Librería Casa Tomada in the Palermo neighborhood; keep pedaling to the Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco, in the city’s west. Here you’ll enjoy an impressive collection of 92,735 volumes—books, tablets, e-books, and audiovisual material—along with a beautiful structure surrounded by parks and sports and recreation complexes that blend perfectly with the Cerros Orientales of Bogotá.

Riding through Bogotá lets you get to know, experience, and live the capital in a different way and at your own pace—from grand monuments to small cafés on hidden streets—discovering the stories that build the city.