Bogotá

Bogotá is not what most travelers expect. At 2,500 meters above sea level, it runs on cool air, strong coffee, and a creative energy that most people do not associate with Latin America. The city holds more museums per square kilometer than almost any other capital in South America, a culinary scene that competes with anything on the continent, and neighborhoods that shift character completely from one block to the next.

The historic district of La Candelaria sits alongside the Museo del Oro, which houses 55,000 pieces of pre-Columbian gold, the largest collection in the world. Twenty minutes north, Zona G is home to some of the most serious restaurants in the country. Weekend mornings at Paloquemao, one of the largest fruit and flower wholesale markets in South America, are an education in abundance: 32 varieties of banana, flowers sold by the kilo, and breakfasts that Bogotanos have been eating since before the city had roads.

Bogotá is also Colombia's gateway. Every major international flight arrives here, and the city rewards the traveler who gives it two or three days before continuing onward. It changes the frame through which you see everything else in Colombia.