Bogotá Photo Spots: Free and Scenic
Bogotá’s Best Photos Cost Nothing
Most of Bogotá’s most photogenic corners are free to walk through, no ticket or tour required.
La Candelaria’s streets
The colonial core is the obvious starting point: narrow, sloping streets, colorful facades, and balconies overflowing with plants around Calle del Embudo and Chorro de Quevedo, the plaza marking the city’s 1538 founding spot. Early morning light before the crowds arrive is the best time to shoot it.
Plaza de Bolívar
The city’s grand central square, ringed by the Capitolio, the cathedral, and the Palace of Justice, is free and open around the clock. Sunrise gives you the emptiest square and the softest light on the surrounding stone facades.
Street art in La Candelaria and Chapinero
Bogotá’s graffiti scene has been tolerated and even celebrated since a 2011 policy shift, and entire walls of large-scale murals are free to photograph as you walk. A tip-based graffiti tour will take you to the best of them and explain the history behind specific pieces if you want context along with the shot.
Monserrate, without the cable car fee
The paid cable car and funicular reach the summit at about 3,152m, but hiking up (in daylight, with the crowd of other hikers) costs nothing and gets you to the same sweeping view over the city and the savanna beyond, especially striking near sunset.
Museo Botero’s courtyard
Fernando Botero’s rotund bronze sculptures sit outside as well as in, and admission to the museum itself is free every day except Tuesday, making this one of the best free photo stops paired with actual art.
Usaquén’s Sunday flea market
The market itself costs nothing to wander, and the mix of colonial-village architecture, market stalls, and Sunday crowds makes for some of the city’s best street photography, especially candid shots of vendors and browsers.
Paloquemao Market
Stacks of exotic fruit, flowers, and produce make this working market one of the most colorful, least touristy photo stops in the city, and browsing costs nothing (buying a snack while you’re there is optional and cheap).
A courtesy note
Ask before photographing individual vendors or performers up close, and keep your phone or camera put away rather than dangling loose when you’re not actively shooting, the same “no dar papaya” logic that applies to any valuables in Bogotá.
Read more: for more ways to fill a free day around these spots, see our guide to things to do in Bogotá on a budget .