Bogotáculture & etiquette

Bogotá sits at 2,640 m — higher than any European capital and higher than Quito's centre. Most arrivals get some version of soroche: headache, poor sleep, breathlessness on stairs, and alcohol hitting roughly twice as hard. Drink far more water than feels necessary, skip the gym and the aguardiente for the first few days, and do not book a hike up Monserrate for your first morning. It passes. The UV at this altitude is genuinely fierce even at 14°C, so sunscreen matters on grey days too.

Every dwelling in Colombia carries a socioeconomic stratum from 1 to 6, assigned to the property by the city (not to you), and it sets what you pay for electricity, water, gas and rubbish collection. Estratos 1–3 are subsidised, estrato 4 pays the unsubsidised cost, and estratos 5 and 6 pay a solidarity surcharge on top. How big that surcharge is depends on the service: for electricity and piped gas, Ley 142 de 1994 art. 89.1 holds it to 20% of the service value, but for water, sewerage and rubbish it is far heavier — Ley 1450 de 2011 art. 125 sets floors of 50% for estrato 5 and 60% for estrato 6. Bogotá has large estrato 6 pockets in Chicó, Rosales and northern Usaquén, so a flat that looks fairly priced can carry utility bills two or three times a comparable estrato 3 place. The estrato is printed on any utility bill — ask to see one.

Calles run east–west, numbered upward as you go north; Carreras run north–south, numbered upward as you go west, away from the Cerros Orientales. An address like 'Cra 7 # 72-41' means Carrera 7, 41 metres past Calle 72. Because the mountains are always east, you can orient yourself anywhere in the city by looking up. Newcomers who ignore this spend months confused; those who learn it navigate better than their taxi drivers.

This trips up everyone who has driven elsewhere in Colombia. In Bogotá the restriction runs Monday to Friday 6am–9pm, and the rule is stated the other way round from what you might expect: on odd-numbered calendar days it is plates ending 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 that may circulate, so 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0 are the ones banned; on even-numbered days plates ending 6, 7, 8, 9 or 0 may circulate and 1 to 5 are banned. It is the day of the month that alternates, not the parity of your plate. You can buy your way out with a Pico y Placa Solidario permit, priced from the vehicle's value, model year, fuel and where it is registered — with a higher multiplier for plates registered outside Bogotá.

Bogotá's Día sin carro y sin moto bans private cars and motorcycles city-wide from 5am to 9pm. It is not a campaign or a suggestion — the city voted for it in a 2000 referendum and it is imposed by district decree every year (5 February in 2026). If you have a flight, a removal van or a hospital appointment that day, plan around it. Public transport and taxis run, and the city is oddly wonderful.

Bogotá has no summer or winter, just wetter and drier months — roughly April–May and October–November are the rainy peaks. Days run about 19°C and nights drop to 7–9°C, and almost no building has heating, so an indoor jumper is normal. Tap water comes from the Chingaza páramo and is genuinely good; the 2024–25 rationing was lifted in April 2025 after the reservoirs refilled, but the city is more water-conscious than it used to be.