While Bogotá is a cosmopolitan city full of panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and a thumping nightlife scene, I’ll admit I wanted to go for one reason: arepas. I’m fairly obsessed with the discs of corn and all the ways Colombians prepare them. There are the small, fairly dry and simple ones from the País region that serve as vehicles for salsa. Then there are the corn pancakes, sweet and doughy and oozing with cheese.
For those who might also share my passion for arepas, or simply want to check out Colombia’s vibrant capital city, there’s a brand new way to get there: The high-end Emirates Airlines just launched a daily, non-stop route from Miami, and I recently had the opportunity to experience the inaugural flight. Full disclosure: Emirates paid my way as part of its media rollout. Nonetheless, I’ve outlined my unfiltered takeaways below. TLDR: If you’re planning a trip to Colombia anytime soon, you might just want to book yourself a ticket if you can.
1. The only luxe way to reach Colombia
Several airlines fly directly into Bogotá, but Emirates is the only one with a first-class cabin. The good seats on an Emirates plane are as nice as you’ve probably heard. Yes, you could fly economy roundtrip for around $350, but upgrading just might be the best part of your vacation. First class, where each seat is like a little apartment, will cost you the downpayment on a Porsche: $4,859 on average.
A more reasonable option is business class, which will set you back $1,221 for a round trip on the new route. From experience, those business class seats are as nice as a typical first-class cabin: your personal cubby comes with a lay-flat recliner, a huge TV, staff at your beck and call, slippers, blankets, a multi-course meal and all the shaken cocktails your heart desires.
2. A restaurant menu at 35,000 feet
Upgrade to a business or first-class seat and you’ll be handed a multi-page menu that begins with drink options: perhaps a martini is in order, or a glass of French wine, or a few pours of proper Champagne. For the meal, served on Royal Doulton fine bone china, I chose the mezze platter over the poached prawns to start, then went with the ribeye with duck fat potato terrine instead of the snapper with gazpacho dressing or pollo a la brasa with grilled broccolini for my main. The fruit plate seemed like the smart way to end things, but I’ll forever regret not getting the bittersweet mocha cake I saw delivered to the woman in the cocoon next to me.
3. The quickest way to winter weather in the summer
When the oppressive summer heat makes Miami feel as hot as that leftover container I definitely should not have put in the microwave, it’ll generally take a whole day of travel to reach a place with cooler weather. But the high altitude of Bogotá and its reversed-from-Miami seasons means this destination is a cool respite via a flight that’s shorter than the drive to Orlando, clocking in at under four hours. When the “feels-like” in Miami cranks to triple digits, Bogotá’s average temps are hitting half that. And the mountains that surround the city offer even colder breezes, found most easily by taking the cable car up to the Monserrate overlook, where the wind whips above the skyscrapers below.
4. It’s about the looks
I get that it sounds weird to suggest you should take this flight just to gawk at the crew’s outfits. But it’s pretty easy to fawn over all the iterations, captured on countless TikToks and YouTube videos. The crewmembers on my flight were a collection of exceedingly well-groomed humans whose skincare regimens I’d gladly watch YouTube tutorials to replicate. (The airline actually offers a beauty masterclass with shaving and makeup tips.) These perfectly matte-cheeked, mostly young gentlemen and ladies are decked out in several styles of suits, but the best of them are the beige skirt-and-jacket combos meant to recall Arabian dunes.
Some wear red hats with cream chiffon scarves that cascade down their shoulders and blow behind them like the flaps of a Bedouin tent caught in a desert breeze. All of them, men and women, get Corvette-red shoes that are replaced regularly to keep them looking runway-ready. It’s not the degrading sexy flight attendant mini-skirts of early aviation but more a bespoke costume that makes avery Emirates trip feel a bit more special. This is coming from someone who thinks a Vuori t-shirt is high fashion, so trust me when I say you’ll be sneakily taking photos of your favorites.
5. Seriously, arepas
Most Miamians are already clued into Colombian food. For those who still haven’t explored the country’s cuisine, it’s a collection of regional dishes that use corn and potatoes and fried pork in delicious ways. The arepa is a good example of this. The recipe depends on the region or the grandmother making them, sold everywhere from street vendors to fancy restaurants. The best I found were at Andres, a sensory overload of an experience with excellent steaks and fire-breathing dancers. Arepas at Andres come in two styles: the simple discs served with chicharon and then those dessert-like ones stuffed with cheese and sliced like cake, served as a side to cut the salty crust used to char the meats.
