Is Bogota LGBTQ-friendly?

For a couple who want different things, plan the first morning in two halves. Send the history buff to La Candelaria and the Gold Museum, where the gold work sits in dim, cool rooms and the Offering Room goes dark and then lights up. The foodie takes a taxi to Plaza de Paloquemao before 9am: cut flowers stacked waist-high, stalls that smell of wet eucalyptus, and a cup of lulo juice for about COP 4,000, roughly US$1.25. Meet at noon at Plaza de Bolívar, where the pigeons are loud and the cathedral steps are cold to sit on. Bring a layer. At 6am today the city read 9.5°C with 98% humidity, and the drizzle at 2,640 metres feels colder than the number suggests.

Spend the evening together in Chapinero, where queer Bogotá is at ease. For an anniversary-level dinner, Leo is Leonor Espinosa's tasting-menu room in Chapinero Alto. It serves Amazonian and Pacific ingredients you won't find in Europe, so expect a bill of several hundred thousand pesos a head once wine is included, and book weeks ahead. For something quieter, Quinta Camacho, around Calle 70, has small wine bars in brick English-style houses where same-sex couples get the same attention from waiters as anyone else, which is very little. If you want a sunset, the Monserrate cable car rises to 3,152 metres, the wind at the top bites in a T-shirt, and weekend queues often run past 45 minutes, so go on a weekday.

A few honest caveats. Theatron fills up after 1am on Saturdays: it is loud and heaving, straight hen parties have discovered it, and a couple wanting a romantic night may find it a slog. Thursday is calmer. The Pride march usually runs along Carrera Séptima on a Sunday in late June or early July, and it is huge and good-humoured. Hotels in Chapinero Alto and Usaquén suit queer couples better than the old-centre guesthouses: the rooms are larger, the streets feel safer at night, and you are a 10-minute ride from the bars.