Arriving in a new city definitely gives you the sense of freedom, and urban cycling allows everyone to explore it in a unique way, while benefiting healthily by enhancing sports performance and participating in solutions and preventive measures taken in the face of environmental pollution.
Tourists arriving in Bogota are amazed by the number of road corridors available for bicycle use, which is why the many hotels in the city offer a bike rental service with their lodging packages, to allow their guests to enjoy de city at their own rhythm and discover the charm that Colombia has to offer.
Bikeways
The bikeways or bike trails are exclusive roads for bicycles located on the sidewalks next to main roads around the city. Bogota has 550 kilometers (about 341.75 miles) of permanent bike trails that were created during the 90s, and that have since then had many expansions to fit the citizen’s transportation needs as they evolved. These bicycle routes are extended on Sundays, taking not only the exclusive path but also many vehicular routes for tourists to enjoy the different outdoor entertainment areas offered by the city in a space called “Ciclovia”.
Ciclovía
One of the most popular plans to do on a Sunday is, without a question, go for a ride on a bicycle through the Ciclovia, an experience that will lead you to enjoy the city’s landmarks, drink a nice cup of authentic Colombian coffee, and feed your eyes with some of the best urban art that the capital of the most welcoming place on earth has to offer.
The tour through Bogota can be the perfect plan to get to know the main parks in the city. The tour starts in 93rd street Park, all the way through the Virrey Park, the “zona rosa”, Simon Bolivar Park to finalize in Usaquen Park. This tour, among many others, is designed so that tourists and locals can enjoy the Ciclovia in a unique way, knowing and enjoying some of the most important places in the city.
Some of the best tours to do and fully enjoy the city are:
Virrey Park to La Florida
This tour’ highlight is the mix between city and nature.
The route reaches 40 kilometers (about 24.85 mi) beginning at Virrey Park, next to the Carrera 15 with 87th street, and continues through the 94th street in the Rionegro neighborhood. Later, you will take the 80th street until Juan Amarillo wetland, going through the Jenny Garzon bridge, known as the bamboo bridge, because it was elaborated with more than 3 thousand bamboo pieces. Then the tour takes the bicycle road bordering the neighborhoods Bolivia Oriental and Ciudadela Colsubsidio to finish at the Florida Park.
Graffiti District
Bogota undoubtedly is one of the best outdoor art galleries in the world, the graffiti district in the city is a sample of harmony and color, culture, expression, and history. Through this tour, you will enjoy not only the beautiful murals but also varied gastronomy due to the zone being full of exquisite restaurants and coffee shops to take a break and enjoy in the middle of your tour.
This route begins at the Park Way Neighborhood, goes to the National University, the most important and representative university in the country, founded in 1864. Continues through the bicycle route until Puente Aranda, the graffiti district heart, in which urban art was responsible to bring the sector back to life, allowing locals and tourists to live an intense and interesting experience as knowing giant canvases that were used to immortalize locals, nationals and international work.
Literary Tour
Know more about Bogota’s history riding your bicycle. Go to Lerner Library, one of the oldest and most traditional libraries in the city, then cross Lourdes Square and Casa Tomada Library located in the Palermo neighborhood, keep rolling and arrive at Virgilio Barco Public Library, located in the city west. Here you will find an amazing collection of 92,735 volumes, including books, tablets, digital books, and audiovisual material, in addition to a beautiful structure surrounded by parks, and sports and recreational facilities, which are perfectly integrated into the eastern hills of Bogota.
Riding around Bogota allows you to know, experience, and live the capital in a different way, at your own pace, from the great monuments to the small cafes in the hidden streets, becoming a part of the stories that built the city.
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