Medellin is one of the best cities to visit. The city offers some of the best restaurants, nightlife, culture, and sight seeing. With spring like weather year around this city should be added to your list of places to visit. Here is some information we found useful when we visited Medellin.
Places to Eat
Before visiting Medellin we had no idea that the city offered so many fantastic places to eat. Medellin has many 4 and 5 star restaurants that will satisfy any dietary preferences. With the currency exchange rate so favorable for Americans (as of writing this), three to four courses at Medellins top restaurants cost less than $50 for two. That’s including wine and coffee! If you are looking to eat at any of the top restaurants in town it is a good idea to make a reservation ahead of time because tables fill up quickly.
three to four courses at Medellins top restaurants cost less than $50 for two.
If spending around $25 a meal is out of your budget, don’t worry, there are many affordable eating options that will satisfy most peoples palate as well. We came across many street vendors selling delicious empanadas ranging from 1,000 to 3000 COP. This is between $0.30 and $1 at the time this was written. You can be well fed on a $3 to $4 food budget a day in Medellin.
Read about our three favorite restaurants in our post
Three Restaurants You Need to Visit While in Medellin
Things to do
Medellin has so many things to do you will have a hard time fitting them all into a single visit to the city. There is truly something for everyone. If your a foodie, Medellin has some of the top restaurants in the country (see above). If you like beer, we came across some delicious craft beer brewed locally. If you like history, architecture, spa days, parks, dancing, music, hiking, you name it, Medellin has something for you to do. Although we weren’t able to check everything off of our to do’s list, here is a list of what we recommend doing if you visit Medellin.
Medellin Beer Factory
The Charlee Hotel
El Poblado
Parque Lleras
Botero Plaza
Coffee Farm
Horseback riding in Santa Elena
Parque Arvi
The Ranch Hotel
Viva Day Spa
Real City Walking Tour
Check out our top five activities to do around Medellin. Click here.
How to get around
First off, if you flew into Medellin international airport, you aren’t actually in Medellin yet. The airport is about a 45 minute drive outside of the city. There are buses that run to the airport, but we opted to take an uber for the cost vs time benefit. An uber to or from the airport is a flat price around $23 or 75,000 pesos.
Once in Medellin you will find that the city has amazing public transportation. You can get to around eight distinct corners of the city using the metro line. At the time of writing this, a single fare to anywhere on the metro line cost 1,800 pesos which is about $0.55. This fare also includes riding the cable line to some of the barrios. If you are interested in going to Parque Arvi, you most likely will need to ride the metro north and get off on the Acevedo stop. From here you can ride the metro cable line to the top of the barrios. You must then get off this line, and pay another fare to ride a different cable line into Parque Arvi. This second fare was around 4,600 pesos (not 100% positive on exact price), which came out to about $1.44. This portion of the line will take you directly into the park.
Although the metro is very fast and convenient, traveling in a crowded space may not be your thing. If so, ubers and cabs are very convenient and affordable. Uber is technically not legal in Colombia (as of writing this), so the drivers will want you to sit in the front passenger seat so that it does not appear that they are driving for Uber. Regardless of the legality of the service, it is super easy to use for non Spanish speaking travelers. You type where you want to go in the app, reducing the confusion between you and the driver. I do not believe the customer has any potential liability for using the service. Most places we wanted to go were close to where we were staying, so the fare charged was just the base fare price, $1.44 or 4600 pesos. The most expensive fare we payed in the city was around 16,000 pesos or $5.
Depending where you are, the city is pretty walkable. For example, El Pablado is a very nice part of town with many restaurants and bars that are easy to get to on foot. The area is pretty safe and we never felt uncomfortable walking around this area day or night. That being said, you should always be mindful of your environment, especially at night, avoid dangerous areas, and try not to walk alone.