[QUOTE=PigSavinBoy;2791687]1. Is there any point going to the Santa Fe clubs on Cr 16 a (Venus and others) around 2:30-5 pm on weekdays or is it too early? I'm on a very early work schedule so can't party too much into the night lately.
2. Is there usually a minimum consumption in clubs or can a solo monger just come in, order a drink, take a seat & chill?
3. What are the most pedestrian dense / crowded areas near Santa Fe during daytime? I enjoy hustle and bustle of Medellin Centro and like to walk around and people-watch when in new places. Doesn't necessarily need to be a mongering spot. From google street view it seems like the area around Plaza de Bolivar and Universidad del Rosario might fit the bill and looks relatively safe.
4. Any suggestion about other gringo-walkable, lively areas in other parts of Bogota would be appreciated as well.
5. Santa Fe short-time hotel recommendations (hot water anywhere?[/QUOTE]1. Yes, you can go to the clubs at those times but ultimately I think you'll walk away disappointed and probably disgruntled about your visit. To give you an example when I went the first 2 times to Bogota I went sometimes between 4-6 pm. I was sometimes only 1 of 4-5 guys with 4-6 girls max in some places. If you can swing it and do something like 7/8-10 pm you'd have a better time. Having said that, if those early hours are the only times you can go then you may find that even though there are fewer girls and it's not really a club atmosphere one of the girls may be your type. But you also run the risk of walking in and there potentially being absolutely no one. No worries though as you just walk out. First time I did that I felt awkward but now it's happened a few times it doesn't bother me anymore. My first night here and I accidentally walked into Club Dubai at about 8 pm because I thought I was walking into paisas. Dubai is usually not busy anyways but Walk in and it's this small room with 1 girl sitting at the bar on her phone and no customers. I turn around to leave and the guy tries to convince me to stay but ultimately I leave. As long as you knew that up front then hopefully you shouldn't be disappointed if the pickings of girls in the clubs are slim. On this trip (my 3rd one here) I didn't bother visiting the clubs before 7:30 pm because of this in my previous trips.
2. No minimum. On this trip I would usually just walk into each of the clubs (Troya, paisas, fiebre, Antones, Venus, Texas) and plan that I was going to have 1 drink. Had to pace myself or switch between beer and water / Powerade. A mesero from the street will always follow you in except sometimes at Fiebre when you may end up ordering at the bar so just make sure you have 10 and 20 mil notes as a poker and water are 8-10 k. Usually by the time I finished the drink I had an idea of what girls were there and if that club was going to be a good one for the night. Every club seems to have their night. Antones was great for me on Friday whereas the next night it wasn't and fiebre and Venus were better. Also many of the girls will go back and forth between clubs so you may see a girl from Venus in paisas or a girl from Antones in troya, etc. That was one of the best parts as the clubs are right next door to each other you just end up bouncing from club to club and basically seeing almost every girl that night. On Saturday night fiebre and Antones told me I couldn't go upstairs unless I buy a bottle of liquor or sometimes if a girl couldn't dance for you in the downstairs part because it was crowded she would take you up and use on of the seats up there but you didn't have to buy anything for that apart from the dance and a drink for the girl if you wanted her to stay and talk. But in short there's no minimum. If I knew Spanish more I'the walk into more of the slower ones to say I'm just looking and then leave but I felt awkward doing that.
3. Lots of fun places but anywhere round La Candelaria and the plaza whole area, Zona T, the walk down Carrera 7 from the Ibis to plaza bolivar. Parque 93. There's a few. If you're into certain hobbies or whatever you could also look for shops. For instance I'm into vinyl record collecting and anything coffee so there's a load of vinyl.
Shops around as well as artisanal coffee places, etc.
4. Don't have any info on short term places. As far as a hotel though you'd be hard pressed to not be somewhere like Hotel Ibis Bogota Museo. There are of course a load of nicer ones further north but It's a short walk during the day and early evening hours to SF, a short walk to the Calle 26 T bus to get you straight to Calle 22, across the road from the museo nacional bus station for taking you up north to Zona T, etc, BBC brewing company a couple of blocks up, the perseverencia market, some restaurants, etc. Also many of the taxi drivers in the small yellow cabs outside the clubs knew where the ibis was or at least knew where the Museo Nacional was. I would show it to them on my google maps on my phone but could also just say Carrera 10 then turn left and they were happy.
