Medellin is a complex city that has grown in popularity for tourists and expats over the years. It has a great nightlife and the Colombian culture and energy is contagious, but it is full of complexities and dichotomies that make this city a fascinating place to explore. It is by understanding the tragedies that occurred in Medellin that we can appreciate the joy and liveliness of the people here today. Below are the top things to do in Medellin to help you understand the beautiful complexities of the city.
A Sample 4 Day Itinerary of the Things to Do in Medellin
This guide is a starting point to exploring the city and the surrounding area. Below you will find some of the most significant things to do in and around Medellin to give you the best idea of local culture and history.
Morning
Afternoon
Day 1
Take a walking tour of Medellin
Get a traditional lunch
End the day at the Museo Casa de la Memoria to finalize your understanding of the impact of the conflict in Medellin and Colombia today
Day 2
Get a guided experience of the history and current culture of Comuna 13
Ride the metrocables above the city to see the expanse from above
Day 3
Take a day tour to visit Guatape
Day 4
Choose from a variety of options for the day including:
Option 1: To Explore Medellin’s Culture…
- Pueblito Paisa
- The Castillo (great for a picnic)
- Visit the Laureles or Poblado neighborhoods
Option 2: To Get Out in Nature…
- Parque Arvi
Option 3: If It’s Raining… or If You Want to Explore Museums (Family Friendly)
- Botanical Garden and Parque Explora
- Museum of Antioquia
One of the Most Important Things to Do in Medellin: The Free Walking Tour
Duration: 3 - 4 Hours
After Tour Treat: A Traditional Lunch of Bandeja Paisa
Discover the Laureles and Poblado Neighborhoods
Duration: 2 Hours
Spend some time walking around either Laurales or Poblado, depending on where your accommodations are. (You will want to walk around the neighborhood you are not currently staying in.)
Laureles: This neighborhood is a peaceful residential neighborhood that is full of cute coffee shops, delicious restaurants, and tree-lined streets. It is a nice place to walk around and people-watch.
Poblado: The Poblado neighborhood is the most popular one for tourists. It is the nightlife hub of the city for travelers and is full of restaurants, bars, and clubs. During the day, it has some nice parks, some with markets, that are great to walk through and explore. At night, the neighborhood completely transforms into a party.
Top Things to Do in Medellin: Tour of Comuna 13
Duration: 3 - 4 Hours
Comuna 13 is a comune made of many different neighborhoods that was uniquely controlled by the paramilitary FARC group in the early 2000s and was part of a few governmental military operations to try and regain control of this part of the city. These operations were found to have violated the human rights of the inhabitants of Comuna 13 but the community is resilient. Today, it has turned the story and their community around, becoming one of the most visited places within the entire city of Medellin.
The best way to visit Comuna 13 and learn about the history and impact of the entire Comuna 13 story is with a guided tour from a member of the community. As the popularity of this comune has increased, so have the number of tours and tourists, with over 10,000 people visiting the community every day, and some tours are no longer run by members of the community. Having someone who has lived through the tragedies of this comune gives a better perspective of the complexities of these conflicts. They are able to explain the nuances of having FARC and ELM members control the area, both the pros and cons, and the complex impact of the government intervention to regain control.
The Insiders Foundation provides tours of the community by local resident, Sergio, who lived through the history of Comuna 13. Today, he has a foundation that helps elevate the future of children of the Comuna 13 region, so doing a tour with him helps support his foundation. The tour starts with a history lesson about the community and continues with a walk through some of the most famous and popular parts of the commune, including taking the famous escalators. He explains how hip hop culture helped lift up the community with the prevalence of mural artwork, dance groups, and rappers all becoming part of the DNA of the future of Comuna 13. Finally, Sergio takes you to the part of Comuna 13 that is not overrun by tourists, showing the real areas where people continue to live today.
After the tour, you can continue to walk through the neighborhoods, focusing on the tourist section which is full of coffee shops, souvenir shops, dance groups, and murals that highlight the evolution of this community.
Ride the Metro-Cables of Medellin
Duration: 2 - 3 Hours
Because Medellin is located in a valley, much of the city has become stacked onto the mountainsides as it has grown over the decades. To help give access to the people living on these mountainsides, the city has built a public transportation system that includes cable cars or metro-cables. While these are true forms of transportation used by the people of Medellin, they also provide a nice way for tourists to see the entire city from an aerial viewpoint. The best way to ride the metrocable is to start from Comuna 13 where you can walk to the Metrocable stop San Javier J. You will want to take the Metrocable to La Aurora and back to get the best views of the city and understand the expanse of the city. It is not recommended to go into the neighborhood at the La Aurora station and you do not even have to get off the Metrocable when you get there. From the San Javier J station, you can take the metro to go back to your accommodations.
To take the Metrocable (or any form of public transportation in Medellin), you can purchase a card and add money on it with cash at the ticket counters of the metro or metrocable stations.
Pueblito Paisa, A Recreation of Old Medellin
Duration: 1 Hour
Pueblito Paisa is a recreation of the original main square in Medellin at the top of a hill. The recreated town is a cute tourist attraction with different shops and restaurants where you can get traditional snacks and souvenirs. There used to be a great viewpoint at Mirador Turistico Cerro Nutibara but it may be blocked off for repairs (October 2024). If the viewpoint is closed, take in the town recreation and order an Uber to take you to your next destination.
Visit the Castillo (Great for a Picnic)
Duration: 2 Hours
The Castillo is a castle built in the center of Medellin. This is a great place for a picnic so pick up some snacks and sandwiches the prior day to be able to really relax and take in these beautiful grounds. At the Castillo, you have the option of purchasing a ticket for just the gardens or for both the gardens and a tour of the home interior. (A tour of the interior is really optional and depends on your interest in seeing the home of a wealthy family. The tour is only given in Spanish.) If you do not get a tour of the home, you can still freely walk around the gardens, which go all around the castle. It is amazing to be in such a peaceful location in the heart of a large city.
Top Things to do in Medellin: A Day Tour to Guatape
Duration: Full Day
Guatape is a small, colorful town outside of Medellin. It is one of the most popular places to visit when coming to Medellin. Through a tour, you will visit the rock of Guatape, the lake adjacent to the rock, and the town of Guatape in a long day tour.
Note:
It is also possible to visit the rock and the town using public transportation. Visiting it independently is the best option if you are comfortable with navigating transportation in Medellin. It will allow you to visit the rock on your own terms, spending as much or as little time as you want and then potentially staying overnight in the town of Guatape so you can experience it without all the tourists. There are also hotels and eco-lodges around the Guatape lake where you can relax for a few days if you are looking to spend even more time in this area - you may need to rent a car for this option.
The Guatape Day Tour From Medellin
For the sake of this itinerary and article, we will go through what is included in a day tour to Guatape. The tour makes the logistics of visiting Guatape very easy because they are all predetermined for you. The key with the tours is to make sure that you get to the rock as early as possible as it can be overrun with tourists. This Guatape tour by Viaja Medellin picks up people from El Poblado and is one of the first, if not the first, tour bus to get to the Guatape rock. Independently, you will climb up the 750+ stairs to the top of the rock where you will get a great view of the surrounding artificial lake.
After climbing the rock, you will go to the town of Guatape where you will get a small tour of the town and have free time to walk around. You also have the option to take a tuk tuk ride to some further landmarks in town where the driver can tell you some more information about the town. After the ride, you will still have time to take in the central iconic streets of the town.
Next, you will go to lunch at a roadside restaurant, although there are some delicious snacks and coffee that you can get in Guatape before lunch. After, you will get the opportunity to take a boat ride on the Guatape lake where you can take in the different mansions around the lake, including the abandoned and destroyed vacation home of Pablo Escobar and famous Colombian soccer player, James Rodriguez. Finally, you will head back to Medellin where you will be dropped off in El Poblado.
Overall, this full day tour is a great comprehensive introduction to the Guatape area, explaining the history and purpose of the lake and showing the current culture of the region.
The Museo Casa de la Memoria
Duration: 2 - 3 Hours
This free museum discusses the effects of the political and social unrest from the drug trade, lack of government control, and guerilla, narco trafficking, and paramilitary fighting that ravaged the country from the 1970s to today. They discuss how this internal conflict has affected the people of Colombia and continues to have detrimental effects on different communities, with many people having gone missing, whole communities having been displaced, and entire generations having been traumatized. This museum is about not letting the memory of these tragedies be forgotten so they are not repeated in the future. The museum has an audio guide in different languages that can be downloaded on your phone, allowing the different panels to be translated into different languages and giving every person a guide to the museum. (They have free wifi at the museum to get the audio guide.)
Museum of Antioquia
Duration: 1 - 4 Hours
This art museum in the historic center of Medellin has some of the most important collections of art for the city of Medellin. In particular, it houses a large collection of paintings by Fernando Botero, the most famous and popular artist from Colombia. He is monumental to the culture of the city and this museum is a great way to explore his work beyond his statues that stand in the plaza outside of the museum, known as Botero Plaza. (You can also see Botero artwork at his museum in Bogota.)
Botanical Garden + Parque Explora
Duration: 1/2 Day - Full Day
If you are traveling with children, these are some nice options within Medellin. The botanical garden and Parque Explora are right next to each other, making them easy to visit and spend a whole day exploring. To get to both of these attractions, you can take the Niquia-La Estrella (A) metro line to Universidad.
Botanical Garden: The Botanical Gardens is a great place to explore the biodiversity of Colombia and the world. (Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world.) It showcases 600 different trees, covers 14 hectares of land, and contains a lake, butterfly garden, and pavilion. It is a nice place to wander through and take in some fresh air within the city.
Parque Explora: Parque Explora is an interactive science museum, located in the same campus area as the botanical gardens. It contains different interactive attractions, the largest freshwater aquarium in South America, a planetarium, and more. The aquarium highlights some of the different species that inhabit Colombia’s rivers and oceans. If you are looking for a place to explore more about Colombia, especially with children, then this museum and the Botanical Garden could be the right place for you.
Parque Arvi
Duration: 1/2 Day - Full Day
Parque Arvi is a nature preserve right outside of Medellin. To get there, you can take the Metrocable K to the Metrocable L to the end of the line where you will arrive at the park. There are hiking routes within the park and areas for picnics and relaxation, making it a nice respite outside of the hustle and bustle of the city. You can spend as much time as you want in this nature park. Getting there and back is an experience in itself with great views over the city on the Metrocable if you are short on time and cannot spend time within the park.
