Church of San Francisco, Bogotá

Where it sits. La Candelaria is Bogotá's colonial core, a compact grid of low houses at the foot of the Cerros Orientales, 2,640 metres above sea level. The mountains rise directly behind it — Monserrate at 3,152 metres with its white sanctuary, and Guadalupe alongside — which means the neighbourhood is always oriented: uphill is east. Streets are narrow and cobbled in places, lined with one- and two-storey houses in ochre, indigo and oxblood with heavy wooden doors, carved balconies and red-tile eaves. The altitude sets the mood: thin, cool air around 8–19°C all year, sudden rain, and a light that shifts fast as cloud pours over the ridge. It is a working neighbourhood as well as a historic one, packed with universities, government buildings, hostels and the offices of the national state.

The story behind it. Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada founded Santa Fe de Bogotá in 1538, and tradition places the first settlement at the Chorro de Quevedo, a small square with a stone water spout where the Muisca had a village and where students now sit drinking chicha on the steps. Everything grew from there down the slope. Plaza de Bolívar became the ceremonial centre, framed by the neoclassical Catedral Primada, completed in 1823 to designs by the Capuchin architect Domingo de Petrés; the Capitolio Nacional, whose construction dragged from 1848 to 1926; the Palacio Liévano, seat of the mayor; and the Palacio de Justicia, rebuilt after the M-19 guerrilla seizure and army assault of November 1985 destroyed it. On 9 April 1948 the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán a few blocks away set off the Bogotazo, a riot that burned much of the centre and opened Colombia's period of civil violence.

On screen. La Candelaria's streetscape has barely changed in a century, and that is precisely why Netflix's Narcos used it. The series was shot in Colombia — Bogotá above all, with work also in Medellín, Cali and Cartagena — but most of what viewers read as 1980s Medellín was in fact filmed here in the capital: the producers wanted a "traditional Colombia" look that Medellín, comprehensively rebuilt and modernised, no longer offers. The kidnapping of Martha Nieves Ochoa, which really took place on the University of Antioquia campus in Medellín, was recreated on these Bogotá streets. It is a useful thing to know before hunting for locations: the neighbourhood you are walking is the set, not the setting, and the events it depicts happened 400 kilometres away.

What you actually see today. Three museums alone justify a day. The Museo del Oro, run by the Banco de la República, holds tens of thousands of pre-Hispanic gold and tumbaga pieces, including the Muisca raft that gave rise to the El Dorado legend. The Museo Botero, in a colonial house near Plaza de Bolívar, shows the artist's 2000 donation — his own work plus Picasso, Monet and Bacon — free of charge. The Casa del Florero on the plaza marks the flowerpot quarrel of 20 July 1810 that triggered independence. Between them the streets carry some of the best political street art in the Americas, much of it produced after the police killing of the young graffiti artist Diego Felipe Becerra in 2011 forced the city to change how it treated muralists.

Life on the street. The neighbourhood is best consumed slowly: tinto from a thermos on a corner, ajiaco — the chicken, potato and guasca soup that is Bogotá's dish — in a lunch spot off Calle 11, canelazo against the cold at night. Chorro de Quevedo and the Callejón del Embudo behind it are where students gather; the Plazoleta del Rosario and Calle del Embudo carry the bars. On Sundays the ciclovía closes Carrera Séptima to traffic and the whole avenue fills with cyclists, skaters and street performers. Above it all, the funicular and cable car from the base of the hill climb to Monserrate for the view down over eight million people spread across the sabana.

Getting there and timing. TransMilenio's trunk line on Avenida Caracas and the Séptima corridor both put you within a short walk; taxis and app cars are cheap. Bogotá has no seasons in the usual sense, but December to February and July to August are drier and sunnier, and it can rain hard in any month, so a shell layer is standard. The altitude is genuinely tiring on arrival. Cobbles, high kerbs and steep short blocks make wheelchair travel difficult. Keep phones out of sight on quiet streets after dark, and stick to the well-lit central blocks at night.