Bogotá month by month, at a glance
Hover each month for the summary. Click to pin it.
Summer and winter do not exist here in the sense almost everyone gives them. Average highs move between 18.5 and 20.2 degrees all twelve months, and lows between 6.4 and 9.6. What organises the calendar is rain, and it does so twice a year.
01 A year without seasons
The explanation is geographical. The city sits almost on the equator and at 2,640 metres, so day length barely changes and neither does temperature. The thermometer reads practically the same in January as in July.
What does vary, a lot, is within the day itself. A morning can start at seven degrees, reach twenty at midday under strong sun and fall back to ten in mid-afternoon when the cloud comes in.
Hence the phrase you hear from locals: here there are four seasons in a day. And hence the only packing rule that works all year: layers and something waterproof, always.
Key moments at a glance
32.9 millimetres over barely five rainy days: the year's minimum.
116.7 millimetres over 13.4 days with rain.
44.3 millimetres and wind: the break between the two wet seasons.
108.2 millimetres and closed skies for much of the day.
02 Two rainy seasons, not one
The pattern is called bimodal and follows the passage of the equatorial rain belt, which crosses this latitude twice a year. The result is two wet peaks and two dry spells, alternating.
The first peak comes in April and May, with 116.7 and 109 millimetres and more than thirteen rainy days each. The second, in October and November, with 108.2 and 107.2 millimetres.
In between lie the two dry windows: the long one, December to February, with January at 32.9 millimetres and only five rainy days; and the short one, in July and August, windier but also fairly clear.
03 What the rain is like here
This is not tropical downpour rain. Here the norm is an afternoon shower that can last an hour or two, with low temperatures, plus a fine drizzle that turns up at any hour without warning.
The combination of water and seventeen degrees is more uncomfortable than a warm downpour, so a raincoat matters more in your bag than an umbrella: with the wind off the hills, an umbrella is of little use.
The good news is that mornings usually hold even in the peak months. The general pattern is open sky early and clouds closing in from two or three in the afternoon.
04 Altitude matters more than climate
Before the rain, the variable to plan for is altitude. At 2,640 metres, many visitors feel tired, sleep badly or get headaches in the first forty-eight hours.
Solar radiation is also far stronger than the thermometer suggests. At eighteen degrees with high cloud you can burn without noticing, especially near midday.
The practical advice is the usual one for high cities: for the first two days, go gently and avoid exertion; from the third, the body responds normally.
You do not choose a season here, you choose between two rainy seasons and two pauses.
05 How to choose
The two best windows are December to February and July to August. The first is the driest and brightest of the year, with January the standout; the second is windier but also fairly clear and with fewer people.
If your trip falls in April, May, October or November, do not cancel it: schedule outdoor plans for the morning, leave the afternoon for museums and bring a raincoat. And if you are going up to the páramo, count on it always raining more up there.
