Bogota

Colombia's capital sits at 2,600 metres in the Andes and combines La Candelaria's colonial historic centre -- where Simon Bolivar declared Colombian independence in 1819 -- with a world-class contemporary art scene and the Gold Museum, home to the largest collection of pre-Columbian gold artifacts on Earth with over 55,000 pieces. Its Sunday ciclovía closes 120 kilometres of streets to cars, with 2 million cyclists using them weekly.