Artesanías de Colombia

Every weekend, the sweet little village of Usaquén on the city's edge hosts a flea market. So many beautiful things to decorate your house or to gift to friends back home: blankets, ponchos, pictures, jewellery, antique kitchen stuff, purses, personalised leather bags and famous Colombian mochilas — the list goes on and on. Cash is king. The flea market is a major attraction for tourists and locals. Numerous cafes and restaurants have sprung up in the area, serving traditional Colombian dishes as well as international cuisine.

Artesanías de Colombia is a chain of classy shops that sells higher-end artisanal craft items like decorative home accessories, bags, toys, hammocks and some clothing. A big portion of profits is guaranteed to be received by the artisans who live in village communities all over Colombia.

Pasaje Rivas is an energetic passageway with numerous stalls that sell homewares, clothing, artwork and all sorts of artisanal goods. You are certain to find something to take home with you, be that art or something for your kitchen.

Located along Carrera Séptima in Chapinero, La Valija de Fuego (The Suitcase of Fire) is the kind of bookstore where you’ll find dog-eared Marxist manifestos shelved beside queer Colombian poetry and out-of-print sci-fi anthologies. More than just a shop, it’s a meeting point for Bogotá’s literary dissenters. The carefully curated selection champions voices commercial chains ignore: erotic literature rubs spines with critical theory, while hand-printed zines from local collectives sit alongside translated works. Staff — passionate and prone to pulling hidden gems from behind the counter — treat browsing like an act of collaboration. The attached café, with its mismatched armchairs and soundtrack of jazz or post-punk, encourages lingering. It’s not unusual to see someone scribbling in a notebook beside a stack of rejected titles, or striking up conversation with a stranger over a shared admiration for an obscure novelist. Come for the books (including rare second-hand finds), stay for the sense that you’ve stumbled upon Bogotá’s intellectual underground.