Weather in Bogotá in January

Prime time. January is about as good as Bogotá gets. Highs average 19.6 °C, lows 9.4 °C, and rain falls on 10 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

January is the highest-scoring month of the twelve. The nearest rival is February, and the month at the other end of the year is November.

Rain on 10 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average January reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest January day reached 24.6 °C and the coldest night fell to 3.3 °C.

January is moderately variable: 11 mm in the driest year against 94 mm in the wettest, around an average of 44 mm. Roughly two Januarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 4 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 75%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How January sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 18.5 °C in December, 19.6 here, 20.1 in February. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain has already shifted: 6 days fewer than December had.

Daylight in January

Bogotá sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 11.9 hours in January, against a range of just 0.5 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 11.9 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights. At 2582 m, altitude is doing as much work here as latitude: thinner air means fierce sun by day and heat that leaves the moment it sets.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

January in Bogotá versus nearby

If Bogotá is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Medellín is the weaker option in January — 5.2 °C warmer, 10 days more rain. Cali is the weaker option in January — 10.6 °C warmer, 2 days more rain.

So: January is the answer for Bogotá. If it is booked out or priced out, February is the next best thing at 5 points behind, and November is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in Bogotá

See all twelve months in Bogotá, or where else to go in January.