Summary
We stayed in Laureles Estadio near the university. Most travelers will stay in El Poblado which is the only neighborhood in Medellin where most of the homes are ranked as a 6 on the Estrato scale.
Laureles is more of a chill / local Brooklyn vibe whereas Poblado is party central and full of expats and travelers.
Full itinerary can be found here: Google Docs
Ā
General Notes
- The public transit is really good. Everything comes frequently, we never had to wait for a train for more than a minute.
- Uber is very cheap and the best way to get around even though it is technically illegal. Everyone sits in the front seat, donāt slam the car door (I guess they donāt have padding.)
- If youāre outside the main areas (Laureles/Poblado) it can be a bit difficult to get a ride, Didi is apparently more reliable but I couldnāt get the card payment to work (it would force me to use cash.)
- If youāre buying
actual stuffthatās taxable, you can get a refund by keeping itemized receipts and filling out a form when you leave. Iām a lazy af human being but it can amount to a lot of $$ since the VAT rate is around 20%.
Ā
Food
El Poblado
Fancy Restaurants
The fanciest restaurants will be in El Poblado. This includesā¦
- Carmen ā Our favorite restaurant that we tried! Cozy ambiance with a creative 7-course tasting menu using all-local ingredients. Enjoyed dinner here at the bar with our server. They have sister restaurants Mushi and X.O next door (X.O. needs to be reserved in advance, itās the newest.)
- Don Diablo ā STEAK. This is also a sister restaurant + next door to Carmen.
- El Cielo ā 3 hour, 18-course meal in a fancy hotel/restaurant. A bit more āartā than āmealā but definitely a fun experience to have with someone else. The only Colombian restaurant that has a Michelin star (awarded to the one in D.C.)
- Idilico ā Nice bridge between ānormalā and āupscaleā, food can be good and fun if you order the right things like the Corn Tentacles.
Didnāt Try
A couple recommendations while we were here from locals:
- Alambique ā recommended a few times, looks like nice tapas
- Restaurante Kai ā fancy, fully vegan menu
- Pesqueira āĀ Seafood!
- Mamba Negra ā New fancy af place to eat with a view on top of a building
Other Notes
- There are local streets in Poblado and āgringoā streets in Poblado. Sex work is an issue especially on the main street (Calle 10). Provenza is where you can party with locals, we went to Teatro Victoria around 10:30pm on a Friday night and had a good time clubbing to reggaeton.
- Hija Mia has really good coffee, fresh acai bowls, + other breakfast/brunch. The original is small and cozy, the Nomada one is a giant coworking space.
- Thereās lots of good food if you look around; some we tried and some we didnāt. Mexican (La Cruda), Peruvian (Uros), etc.
Laureles
Good Meals
Thereās lots of good food in Laureles, both near the university (around Calle 70) and around the two parques.
- Pergamino Cafe ā great open space with tostadas, egg dishes, and good drinks. They have several locations but this is the nicest one by far. The tostadas with brioche are š§āš³Ā š
- Naturalia Cafe ā menu is hit-or-miss tbh but this was our go-to for a nice breakfast around the corner. They have events at night like comedy, jazz, etc.
- Arboro ā enjoyed nice apps (ceviche de chicharron & pulpo) and good drinks
- Saludpan āĀ pretty good vegetarian-focused menu del dia, lots of food
- Masuta Sushi Wok ā nice break from latin am. food. sushi was neutral to decent but the vibe is cute, itās small and fully outdoors.
Other Notes
- Mondongo sucks, itās a ālocal spotā for traditional Colombia meals but the food is no longer good and the restaurant is devoid of personality.
- Thereās a street food tour that runs in Laureles, itās cute and the tour guide is super chill. See more in the Experiences section.
- Thereās a lot of good veg/vegan restaurants and cafes in this area that we didnāt try, like INA, Uno mas Uno, AL ALMA, Delmuri, etc.
- Thereās also meaty places like Voraz and Puerto Inka.
- and thereās a gringo coworking culture here at places like Semilla Cafe, Cafe Revolucion, and Delmuri.
- BBC is a cute place to grab a drink
Ā
Experiences
We did a billion experiences and almost all of them were really nice, either because of the activity or the locals running them.
Enjoyable Activities
Things I enjoyed because of the hosts running them or the activities themselves.
- Cook in Medellin: One of my faves!! Really cute cooking class with a Bogota/Medellin couple in their home. Super chill, you make lots of food, and itās nice to bond with folks by cooking a meal together. We booked Airbnb but they recommend emailing directly since they take 20-30% of the price.
- Horseback Riding: We like horses. This was a great way to see the fancy countryside in Envigado and Ricardo is a super friendly and interesting entrepreneurial guy with a lot of stories to tell.
- Real City Laureles Street Food Tour: Great, down-to-earth tour guide and a nice walk through a neighborhood that is filled with locals and national trees.
- Mi Bunuelos āĀ best bunuelos we had, so good
- Parrilla Dejame Q' Te Cuente ā great arepas de chocolo, quesito, and chicharrone
- Cielo de Tostado ā really good coffee brewed in-house, I think you can do a roastery tour with them too
- Real City Exotic Fruits Tour: popular tour for folks in the Minorista Market. Good to do this at the beginning of your trip since a lot of fruits are used in juices and dishes that youāll have. You also get interesting history about the market, which is still stigmatized as dangerous because of its history in the Pablo Escobar era.
- Comuna 13 Tour: another popular tour. more touristy than I expected but another one that is really interesting historically and surprising to see how much its changed in the last 20 years. Also the graffiti and street dancers are lit
- Guatape Tour: I actually enjoyed taking a tour rather than DIY-ing it. We had a private boat tour with drinks and music and checked out some famous colombian celeb houses lol. The town is super cute for an hour or so, we bought some shoes from a vendor there.
Other Stuff
- Salsa Class: Thereās a lot of places to find salsa classes online, you can also go to clubs like Son Havana which is smaller but good for beginners, or Tibiri which is where more experienced folks go.
- Parque Arvi: The cable car ride is cool but itās also a cable car / public transit ride š¤·āāļøĀ The parque at the top is nice though, we didnāt get to spend a lot of time there.
- Paragliding: This was honestly not as nice as I expected, paragliding is kinda boring imo and my experience was a little sketchy in terms of getting there and landing in a city area (my partner was returned to the paragliding site directly and had to wait 30min for me to get driven back up..)
Shopping
We shopped A LOT. They have great fashion vibes in both Laureles and El Poblado. Apparently lots of folks at the university will open local fashion businesses after graduating.
Best Places We Shopped
- Makeno: Very cool stuff here for men and women. They have their own stuff, as well as clothing from other shops in Colombia (e.g. Loopzu, Pardo, etc.) so you can get a taste of everything and branch out from there.
- Bionica: Super cute clothing store from uni grads, mostly womensā clothing but I bought two menās shirts here.
- Fou Fuera: Funky graphical clothing here! Loved this spot.
- Uppertrip: Fancy caps
- Ironic Clothing: Super new brand, I think theyāre uni grads. They donāt have a store yet but we saw their ākimonosā and bomber jackets at a christmas market and were obsessed. Check if theyāre having a popup when youāre visiting.
Peeked into these stores but it wasnāt Lynneās vibe:
- Pura
- Ocho43
- BORAL
Ā