If you follow cycling at all, you’ll know Colombians are famous for being the best climbers. If you didn’t, now you know! It’s honestly no surprise with the amount of mountains we have here. It’s hard to go out for a ride and keep away from steep hills. Now, we’re no pros, but we’ve been on our fair share of extremely fun rides with really enjoyable climbs. These are our favorite and the most enjoyable cycling climbs close to Bogotá! Read to the end for our favorite! I marked all their starting points on the map below.
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The Most Enjoyable Cycling Climbs Close to Bogotá
Club de la Montaña
If you really don’t want to leave the city, this is the climb for you! It is pretty far north (Calle 183), but it’s truly ideal. After entering a pretty nice neighborhood, you get to an unpaved road. The first two curves are the hardest, and then it’s up and up. The climb is a total of 1.1 kilometers at an 8% gradient. It’s not long, so it’s a good way to start biking or start acclimatizing to Bogota’s altitude. We enjoy going when there isn’t much time and do the climb 3 or 4 times.
Alto el Vino
As you head west from Bogotá on Calle 80, it’s mostly flat… for a little while. If you can withstand the traffic getting out of the city, a beautiful climb awaits you about an hour and a half out. The uphill section is 3.9 kilometers at an average 5.5% gradient. Not super tough, but a nice way to cap off the ride! BONUS: now, from the top of Alto del Vino, you can ride down the windy road to La Vega. Quite good cyclists do this, because the climb up back from there is 29 kilometers at a 5.7% average gradient.
Patios
This is probably the best-known cycling climb close to Bogota because it is literally in Bogota. You start right in the middle of the city, on the intersection between Calle 85 and Carrera 7 (I marked it on the map below). The climb is 6.5 kilometers at an average 7% gradient. This road gets really crowded, and it’s shared with cars, so I suggest getting up very early for it (starting the climb at 6 a.m.).
La Valvanera
This climb is in Chia, a town right outside of Bogota headed north. It’s absolutely beautiful, and makes for great exercise. It’s a 3.6 kilometer slope at a 5.4% gradient. What’s great about riding here is the amount of gorgeous routes that connect to each other, like La Valvanera does. If you’re going to do this climb, I suggest you get on Strava or a similar app and make up a route. Do note there are indigenous communities who sometimes block the roads around Chia. If this is the case, simply turn around!
Pionono
Let it be known, this is by far the hardest climb we’ve done yet. At one point, it has a 32% gradient!! It’s incredible though! You have to get to Sopó, a town known for Alpina and being a weekend getaway. Then, you get an insane hill right off the start, and it doesn’t ease up all that much until you get to the Pionono Ecological Park. All in all, it’s about 4 kilometers at an average 14.7% gradient. Not for the faint of heart, but SO worth it!
El Verjón
This is one of the most enjoyable cycling climbs close to Bogota! Actually, it’s Lala’s favorite. It starts off in downtown Bogota, right next to the ticket office to go up to Monserrate. What’s great about this ride is you immediately feel like you’re in nature because, well, you really are. This cycling climb is longer, but not quite as tough: 16 kilometers at a 4% gradient. You can choose to ride another 4 kilometers to Col 86, with some ups and downs, which is where the road down to Choachí begins. BONUS: if you ride all the way down to Choachí to ride back up, you’re in for a treat. That climb is very difficult, at 22.5 kilometers and a 6% gradient, but is truly breathtaking!
Yerbabuena
Now this is my favorite place to ride uphill on a bike close to Bogota! It’s just barely outside of the city headed north, and we enjoy it so much because it’s never as crowded as other popular spots and is simply very green. At just 3.5 kilometers and a 9% gradient, it’s just perfect for a quick ride, or you can pair it with a bunch of other routes north of the city!
Don’t hesitate to do these enjoyable cycling climbs close to Bogota! They’re tough, but with a little bit of grit, anyone can do them. Biking is an incredible way to burn a bunch of calories and get to know new places while you’re at it.
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