What's on in Bogotá, Colombia through the year

Peak crowds — Christmas lights, Year-end holidays in Colombia

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Christmas lights (1 Dec – 8 Jan (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in February.

Peak crowds — Semana Santa, Semana Santa recess in Colombia

• Holiday

  Semana Santa

  29 Mar – 5 AprEaster & Holy WeekClosures

  Bogota empties from the Wednesday: offices shut, half the city drives down to warmer ground, and the traffic is briefly bearable. Restaurants and some museums keep short hours. Source ↗

• Season

  First rainy season

  25 Mar – 31 May · usuallyMonsoon

  Bogota runs two wet seasons a year rather than one, and this is the heavier of them: clear mornings, a downpour most afternoons, and the hills above the city in cloud.

Peak crowds — Semana Santa, Feria del Libro de Bogota

• Festival

  Feria del Libro de Bogota

  21 Apr – 4 MayMajor festivalCrowded

  A fortnight of publishers, readings and queues at Corferias, with a guest country and half a million visitors. Hotels near the fairground fill; the rest of the city barely notices. Source ↗

Still on: Semana Santa (29 Mar – 5 Apr), First rainy season (25 Mar – 31 May (usually))

Busy — Feria del Libro de Bogota

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: First rainy season (25 Mar – 31 May (usually)), Feria del Libro de Bogota (21 Apr – 4 May)

Busy — Mid-year recess in Colombia, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in June.

Peak crowds — Festival de Verano, Mid-year recess in Colombia

• Season

  August wind and kites

  20 Jul – 10 Sep · usuallyWind season

  The dry weeks come with a steady wind that every child in the city answers with a kite; the Simon Bolivar park is full of them at weekends. It is also the clearest light of the year.

Busy — Festival de Verano

• Festival

  Festival de Verano

  31 Jul – 31 AugMajor festivalCrowded

  A month of free sport, concerts and open-air events in the parks around the city's birthday, run by the district. The kite festival at Simon Bolivar is the one everyone turns up to. Source ↗

Still on: August wind and kites (20 Jul – 10 Sep (usually))

Busy — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: August wind and kites (20 Jul – 10 Sep (usually))

Busy — October recess week in Colombia

• Season

  Second rainy season

  1 Oct – 30 Nov · usuallyMonsoon

  The rains come back for October and November, shorter and colder than the April round, with grey afternoons and the sabana flooding in the worst years.

Busy — Year-end holidays in Colombia

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Second rainy season (1 Oct – 30 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — Christmas lights, Year-end holidays in Colombia

• Holiday

  Christmas lights

  1 Dec – 8 Jan · usuallyChristmas & New Year

  The city strings the Septima, Monserrate and the main avenues from the start of December and buses run night circuits to look at them. Bogota half-empties for the last fortnight of the year. Source ↗