Monserrate: Hours, Prices and How to Go Up Without Picking the Wrong Day

Monserrate is Bogotá's postcard view, and also the visit where most people pick the wrong day and the wrong hour. With the right information, it's one of the best afternoons you can have in the city.

The hill rises to 3,152 metres above sea level, about 500 above the historic centre. From the top you see the full sprawl of the city, which surprises even people who've been here for days.

Three ways up

Cable car

The quickest, around four minutes. Roomy cabins with good views on the way up. It's what most people choose, and therefore where the queue builds at weekends.

Funicular

A rack railway climbing the hillside. It takes a little longer and follows a different route through the vegetation. Many people go up by funicular and come down by cable car to see the hill from both angles.

The walking path

A climb of around 1,500 steps taking between 45 minutes and an hour and a half depending on your fitness and how acclimatised you are.

It's free, and for many people it's the best part of the experience. But don't attempt it on your first day in Bogotá: climbing 500 vertical metres at 3,000 metres of altitude without acclimatising is a reliable way to have a bad time. Wait until day two or three.

Opening hours

• Monday to Saturday: 6:30 am to 10:00 pm.
• Sunday: 5:30 am to 5:00 pm. It opens earlier because it's the busiest day for pilgrims, and closes earlier too.
• Tuesday: the funicular opens later because of religious services.
• Walking path: roughly 5:00 am to 1:00 pm, and closed on Tuesdays for maintenance.

That Tuesday detail

Worth repeating, because it's the most common mistake: if your plan was to walk up and you go on a Tuesday, you won't be able to. The path is closed that day. You can still take the cable car, but if the walk was the point, change the day.

Prices

• Return, Monday to Saturday: around 35,000 COP.
• Return on Sundays: around 21,000 COP.
• One way, weekdays: around 21,000 COP.

Prices are indicative and may vary by season and public holidays.

The one-way ticket makes sense if you ride up and walk down, which plenty of people do — and it also avoids the descent queue, which at sunset can be long.

When to go

Our recommendation is to arrive an hour to ninety minutes before sunset. That way you see the city in daylight, the sunset, and the lights coming on at dusk. Three different postcards in one visit.

The trade-off is that it's the busiest window. On weekdays the difference from the weekend is enormous.

On Sundays the hill fills with Colombian pilgrims: the sanctuary is a place of devotion, not just a viewpoint. It's interesting to see, but if you want quiet, avoid Sunday.

What's at the top

• The Señor Caído sanctuary, from the seventeenth century, still an active place of pilgrimage.
• Two restaurants and several stalls selling traditional food.
• A craft market on the way to the church.
• Viewpoints along the whole esplanade.

Try a canelazo, a hot drink of sugarcane water, cinnamon and aguardiente. At 3,152 metres with the afternoon wind, you'll appreciate it.

Practical tips

• Dress warmer than you think. It's considerably colder up there than downtown, and once the sun drops the difference is sharp.
• Buy your ticket in advance if you're going at the weekend.
• Take it slowly on your first or second day in the city.
• Come down by cable car, not on foot at night. The path isn't lit.
• Bring cash for the stalls at the top.

Getting to the base station

The station sits east of the historic centre, about a twenty-minute walk from Plaza de Bolívar. The route crosses an area that's best not walked after dark: if you come down late, take a car back into town.

Many travellers combine Monserrate with La Candelaria and the Gold Museum on the same day: museums in the morning, the historic centre at midday, and the hill at sunset. It's a natural sequence and saves crossing the city twice.