Our Visit to Medellín, Colombia

Medellín is absolutely gorgeous, and a must visit if you’re planning a trip to Colombia. Anybody who remembers the drug wars or has seen Narcos will be worried about the city’s crime rate. Actually, Medellín crime rate has plummeted, and it’s no more dangerous than Orlando, Florida.

We stayed at the Hotel NH Collection Medellín Royal – the service was excellent, and the lobby and room were gorgeous. With that said, we did our best to not spend much time at the hotel or around the area. The city is spread out, so you’ll need to use the metro and taxis often to enjoy the city.

Medellín Events We Recommend

Botero Plaza

Botero Plaza surrounds the Museum of Antioquia and the Rafael Uribe Uribe Palace of Culture, is a large outdoor park that displays 23 sculptures by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, who donated these for the museum’s renovation in 2004.

Jardin Waterfall Coffee Tour

We can’t say enough about how amazing this tour was. A bilingual guide picked us up at our hotel and drove us 2 hours to the coffee farms outside of Medellín. We learned how the coffee markets work, met some farmers who grow coffee, and rode a horse around the area.

The coffee market was very interesting – the world’s top coffee companies compete on the best beans. Notice how Nespresso is buying the top two highest quality coffee beans.

We also enjoyed spent some time with coffee farmers, and had lunch with them. It’s incredible that this is the farmers’ view everyday.

Our guide taught us how to find high quality coffee beans. The fuller the beans are, and the less parasites inside, the higher quality the bean is.

We also rode on horseback through the farm. The farm is loaded with amazing views, we couldn’t get enough of it.

The tour was capped with a hike through a jungle, which ended at a breathtaking waterfall. This was a fantastic change to the Colombia we saw in Cartagena.

Medellín’s Metrocable

Medellín’s public transit system is one of the city’s best highlights. Incredibly, their metro played a pivotal role in reducing the violence in Medellín. It just so happened that by making commuting to jobs easier, people were less inclined to work for drug dealers. The risks weren’t worth the rewards.

The cable cars, which climb both sides of the valley in Medellín, travel deep into the far-flung and formerly difficult-to-reach favelas (shanty towns) that are located in the surrounding hills.

Medellín’s Metrocable is the most budget friendly way to get incredible views of the city.  If you do take the Metrocable, we recommend visiting Arvi Park as well.

Arví Park

Arvi Park is a massive ecological nature reserve and pre-Hispanic archeological site. As soon as you get off the Metrocable, you’ll find beautiful gardens all around you.

Our only warning about this park is that it does take a long time to arrive at. The scenery is gorgeous, but make sure you have three hours to dedicate to the metro ride and sightseeing.

There are over 57 miles of walking trails in this park, so feel free to walk around and enjoy this beautiful forest in Colombia.