While we visited Cartagena for its beauty and the Rosario Islands for some sunbathing & swimming, we wanted to visit Medellin for its culture & history and Salento for the stunning landscapes. We are amazed by how diverse Colombia is! We decided to stay in Medellin for three nights, but you can easily spend more time in Medellin and do some day trips from there. Read on to see what we did in Medellin.
Medellin
First of all: we did not expect to like Medellin as much as we did. We stayed in the Yolo Hostel (€ 25 per night for a private room) in the Poblado neighborhood, which is one of the richest and most modern parts of Medellin, pretty much all the tourists stay in this area as it is considered most safe to walk around at night. We felt super safe in this area and we were happy that we were able to do some exploring on our own and try out the hipster restaurants at night. Medellin is also trying to be a “green city”; investing in sustainable ways of travel and planting lots of trees. This is one of the reasons that Poblado is quite green and we loved the tropical plants surrounding the modern buildings. Besides this nice neighborhood, you can do many activities in and surrounding Medellin, you do not have to get bored for one second! I expected Medellin to mainly consist of Pablo Escobar tours, but was surprised you could do much more than that. Below you will find our favorite activities in Medellin, of course this list is not exhaustive.
Transformation Tour: We did the Transformation Tour of our “YOLO hostel” and would recommend to do this tour, but many other tour companies offer it too. The Transformation Tour focuses on the nearby history of Medellin and the way the city transformed into the city it is now. Our guide took us to several neighborhoods and explained important historical facts of that area. We went with a van with five other tourists, and by driving in the van you could see a lot of the city. Pablo Escobar is an important part of the history of Medellin and we learnt how he increased his wealth and power, the consequences for the city and how his era ended. I really liked that the tour did not try to glorify or romanticize Pablo Escobar, but really focused on the hardships for the residents of Medellin. Medellin was incredibly unsafe until Pablo Escobar died and the neighborhoods were cleaned up.
Communa 13: Communa 13 is another neighborhood in Medellin, which was a no-go area for tourists until a few years ago. In this area you will find a lot of street art, the street art is supported by the municipality as it stimulates the creativity of the inhabitants, instead of supporting violence. Medellin is incredibly hilly and Communa 13 is located on a hill in the outskirts of Medellin. The government installed escalators so it was more easy for people to get around in this neighborhood and this added to the neighborhood becoming more safe. We visited Communa 13 as a part of our transformation tour, but you can also book a free street art tour online. I would recommend visiting Communa 13 with a guide, as this will be more peaceful and relaxed.
Metro cables: Medellin has a quite advanced metro system, that also includes gondelas/metro cables to connect neighborhoods situated in the hilly outskirts. The cable cars are part of the regular public transport of Medellin and these cable cars significantly decreased the commuting time and costs for the inhabitants of these neighborhoods. This is just another example of how the public transport of Medellin made the city more safe. A metro ride costs under € 1 and also gives you access to the metro cables. The metro cables are a really nice way to see the city from up in the air. We took the metro cable from Acevedo station and liked watching the sunset from our cable car!
Guatape: One of the most touristy things you can do from Medellin is visit Guatape. Guatape is the most colorful town in Colombia and nearby you can also climb a high rock (El Piedra/El Penol) from which you get amazing views of the surrounding Lake District. We visited Guatape by public transport, which was perfectly comfortable, cheap and timely. By public transport the ride takes about 2 hours, we paid € 24 for the two of us for the return trip, including the tuktuk from the rock to Guatape town. As it is low season in October, we pretty much had the whole of Guatape to ourselves and there weren’t any waiting lines at the rock. Even though we loved the Lake District, we did think climbing the rock was a bit overrated/overhyped, but we ascended the stairs of the rock in about twenty minutes and it wasn’t too strenuous.
Zelfs de tuk tuk is kleurrijk….prachtig allemaal…xx