It is best to call a taxi if it is an option. After you request the taxi, stay on the line and the operator or a recording will tell you the license plate number of the vehicle that will service you. It is a good idea to take note of the plate number and match it to the taxi that arrives. All phone-requested will require that you tell the driver the "clave", which is the last two digits of the phone number from which you called the taxi. However, it is not always possible to call for a taxi. It is very difficult to call a taxi between the hours of 5pm and 8pm from Thursday to Saturday, or when it is raining heavily. Taxis often have trouble changing large bills. You wonder why? We wonder why, too. At most, try to pay with a $10.000 bill for shorter rides, and a $20.000 bill should be fine for longer rides. Also, try not to slam the doors of the taxi (or any cars for that matter) as Colombians are very sentive and are affraid it will break their car.

If you must take a taxi in the street, be sure to be cautious. Taxi robberies are not frequent but they do happen. There is no sure-fire way to tell if a taxi is counterfeit, but there should be a meter running and it is not normal for a taxi driver to be talking on his phone a lot. A trick is to make a fake phone call from your cell phone and say out loud the plate number and the taxi number you see in the window. Know that there is a small surcharge if you are picked up at night, if you call, if it is Sunday or a holiday. This means if you call a taxi on a Sunday night after 8pm you will pay about $3.000 on top of the base price. Always make sure that their meter starts at 25 as they tent to take advantage of foreigners. It also happened to us a few times where the meter of a taxi was modified to change faster. Unfortunatly, this one is hard to catch as you need to know the usual cost of your destination to make sure you are right.

Here are a few numbers you can call. There are many more to choose from, but these are the main ones. If you are calling from a cell phone, make sure to dial 031 before any land line numbers.

211-1111, 311-1111, 411-1111, 711-1111

Buses cost $1.300 (or $1.350 after 8pm on weekdays, and all day Sundays and holidays). The buses range in quality and are operated by private companies. You might want to wait until you are somewhat familiar with the city before attempting to ride a public bus. In any case, the smaller buses tend to be safer than the larger ones since much can happen out of the view of the driver. The signs on the front will tell you where to go, but you can always ask the driver if the bus will go to your destination. (In Bogota, there really are not bus stops, per se. If you see a bus that looks like it is headed the right way, you can hail it, as you would a taxi. This practice may be on its way out, as the city government attempts to regulate public transportation.) I find the ones that go up Septima that say “Usaquen” or “Unilago” to be most useful. The “Usaquen” bus will stay on Septima past calle 120. The “Unilago” bus runs along Septima until it turns on calle 67, to head north again on carrera 15. It passes below the Zona Rosa. Remember to hop on and off quickly because the bus drivers try to keep it moving.

This is a large connected bus that has its own lane. From the South it runs along the Caracas and then switches to the autopista. It costs $1.500 and is very quick. Make sure that you keep an eye on your belongings since petty theft is not uncommon.  http://www.bogota-dc.com/trans/transmilenio.html

You can catch buses at the terminal that go anywhere from Villa de Leyva to Cartagena. There are a variety of carriers to choose from. For shorter distances make sure to ask if there is a seat for you because they sometimes sell standing room. Make sure you know what direction you are heading to so the cab driver can drop you off at the right terminal. http://www.terminaldetransporte.gov.co/home/

Bogota addresses are usually very simple to follow. Remember that carreras are like avenues, and they run north-south. Calles are like streets and run east-west. Most streets are only named for their numbers, but a few do have names. For example, La Avenida Chile is calle 72. La Circumvalar is carrera 1 (close to the mountain). There are diagonales and transversales, but you can consider them the same as calles.

Addresses start with the street that the place is actually located on, then they give you the intersecting street, to the south or east, depending on whether the place is located on a carrera or calle. The last number is the actual street number. For example, let's look at an address for the superstore, Exito, located at Cra. 7 #32-8.  This means that the Exito is located on carrera 7 (Septima) between calles 32 and 33, at the number 8. Many buildings have the full address written on them. If you are trying to find out which street you are on, don't look for traditional street signs, but rather little green plaques that are actually stuck onto corner buildings.