Is Bogota family-friendly?

Do museums in the morning, because rain in Bogotá tends to arrive after 2 pm. The Museo del Oro on Parque Santander charges adults about 5,000 pesos (around US$1.60 at 3,177 pesos to the dollar), is free on Sundays, and shuts on Mondays. With children, head straight to the third-floor Offering room: the lights go black, a chant starts, and gold flares up from a pit in the floor, which holds a 4-year-old for a good ten minutes. The Botero Museum on Calle 11 is a 10-minute walk south, free to enter and closed on Tuesdays. Its round cats and fat horses get giggles at every age. Maloka in Ciudad Salitre is the plan for a rainy day, with hands-on science halls and a dome cinema aimed at ages 5 to 12, and a combined ticket probably costs close to 40,000 pesos.

Lunch is the main meal, served from 12 to 2, and ajiaco is the easy order for cautious eaters: a mild soup of chicken and three kinds of potato with corn on the cob, where capers, cream and avocado arrive in side dishes so kids can leave them out. La Puerta Falsa, beside the Primary Cathedral, has served tamales and hot chocolate with a lump of cheese melting in it since 1816, though it seats about 20 people on wooden stools and has no room for a stroller. Crepes & Waffles, a Colombian chain with branches in Zona T and Usaquén, prints allergy information and sells small portions. Warm pandebono and almojábana cheese breads from any panadería smell of toasted cheese and cost around 2,000 pesos each. For allergies, carry a card that says 'mi hijo es alérgico al maní'. Most families go back to Chicó or Usaquén for the nap, which is about 25 minutes by app taxi outside rush hour.

The north is where afternoons work best with young children. The Jardín Botánico José Celestino Mutis has paved paths a stroller handles easily, and its glass Tropicario is warm and humid enough to fog your glasses, which feels good on a grey 15°C afternoon. Parque Simón Bolívar, next door, adds playgrounds and pedal boats on its lake. On Sundays and public holidays from 7 am to 2 pm, the Ciclovía closes more than 120 km of avenues to cars, and kids on scooters share Carrera Séptima with dogs and juice carts. The centre is harder going: La Candelaria's flagstones are cracked and tilt uphill toward the Andes, some curbs are 30 cm high, so we'd bring a carrier rather than a stroller for under-3s. TransMilenio turnstiles are too narrow for a stroller, and the red buses are packed from 6 to 9 am. Malls such as Andino and El Retiro in Zona T have clean bathrooms with changing tables.

For beds, filter for two-bedroom aparthotels in Chicó, around Parque de la 93, or in Usaquén, and check that the listing says 'dos habitaciones'. 'Cama doble y sofá cama' means one queen bed and a lumpy fold-out. Look for a kitchen and a 'lavadora' (washing machine), because laundry on a drying rack stays damp in this air. Few Bogotá buildings have heating, and at 6 am on 19 October it was 9.5°C with 98% humidity, so ask for a space heater and extra wool blankets. The skip list is short. Skip the footpath up Monserrate, about 1,500 steps to 3,152 m, with anyone under 10: take the cable car or funicular instead and pack a fleece for the cold, windy summit. Skip La Candelaria after dark with children. Skip yellow taxis hailed on the street and book Cabify or DiDi instead. Neither reliably has car seats, so bring a travel booster.