Colombia · best December-March and July-August (driest months)

Bogotá

Bogotá sits at 8,600 feet where the Andes shrug and let a city sprawl across the shelf, so the light comes in thin and gold and everyone's a little breathless from the altitude. It's graffiti murals bigger than buildings, emerald dealers on Jiménez, and ajiaco steaming in a house that used to belong to a colonial viceroy.