Bogota Botanical Garden

The garden is named for Jose Celestino Mutis, who led the Royal Botanical Expedition of New Granada from 1783 and catalogued an enormous quantity of Andean plants. Its collections concentrate on Colombian high-altitude flora, and the paramo section matters more than it looks: frailejones, the woolly-leaved plants that dominate that ecosystem, grow roughly a centimetre a year, so a plant two metres tall has been there two centuries, and their leaves capture water from cloud that feeds the rivers Bogota drinks from. Orchid collections are substantial - Colombia has more orchid species than any other country. A tropical glasshouse holds lowland species that will not survive at 2,600 metres outdoors.

What you actually see

• Paramo frailejones - growing a centimetre a year, capturing cloud water.
• A large orchid collection - from the country with the most species.
• Andean high-altitude flora - the garden's main focus.
• A tropical glasshouse - for species that cannot live outside at altitude.

When to go

Year round; Bogota is cool and often wet. Two hours.

Honest expectations

Bogota's weather is changeable and often drizzling - bring a layer. Labelling is largely in Spanish. It is in the west of the city, away from the tourist centre. Weekend crowds are heavy.

Nearby

Parque Simon Bolivar is east; central Bogota is beyond.