Colombia
Highlighting Medellin Salento, Guatape
Welcome to Medellín
Medellin has come a long way from the horrors of Pablo Escobar and the Narcos era. While diligence and caution is always necessary when exploring, the violent stain of Medellin’s past has been overcome by the city’s massive investment in attracting tourism, maintaining wild life, developing community, etc.
After living in Medellin for a year, I have a few recommendations for those looking to have an adventure in the heart of Antioquia, Colombia.
In Medellin:
Medellin is known as the City of Eternal Spring, and for good reason. While light afternoon rain showers pass through the city frequently (about once a day), they are normally short lived and comfortably warm. While inside of the city, there are several must-do activities I recommend in order of impact to my own experience living there:
Cerro Tres Cruces — ~45 minute hike with an excellent view of the city
Poblado/Manilla — most popular neighborhood for tourists
San Felix —
Comuna 13
Laureles
Cerro Tres Cruces
[insert pic from hard drive]
I love doing activities during vacation that challenge me physically for several reasons: a) these activities keep me in shape enough to hopefully balance out the partying,
b) I feel most comfortable and social with strangers when I am physically exhausted - there’s no no excess energy left to be nervous with, and
c) and these experiences often come with an excellent view as a reward for my effort.
Cerro Tres Cruces is no exception - I’ve done this hike over 15 times and I’ll do it again next time I’m in Medellin.
The hike will take anywhere from 30 minutes for aggressive hikers to an hour and 15 minutes for those with a leisurely pace. My goal is always to reach the top of Cerro Tres Cruces in time enjoy the sunrise — so I usually arrive at around 5:30 A.M. At sunrise, you will be able to enjoy the mountain with relatively few people crowding the path.
Check the below and video on how to get there and what to expect!
[insert YouTube vid]
Getting There:
Select Your Cab: Cabify, InDriver and DiDi Rider are popular taxi apps with Colombians because the fares tend to be a bit lower than Uber, which is also available in Medellin. I usually used Didi while I was living there.
I recommend taking a cab WITH SOMEONE (especially if you are a woman) to the base of Cerro Tres Cruces for safety reasons and because it’s more fun in a group.
Do NOT just type in Cerro Tres Cruces and expect to arrive at the base of the hill. Doing that is unpredicatable as people have been dropped off at the opposite side of the mountain or in some cases, drivers have attempted to actually DRIVE UP the back of the mountain.
To avoid such pitfalls, you should type: “Berry Nice Bowls” as your drop off location which will pull up the correct location (screen recording below):
San Félix - you should go here and go paragliding!
Laureles - great nice neighborhood to checkout with great restaurants and coworking areas.
Poblado/Manila - the most gringo neighborhood in Medellin - great place to party (i have hella recs for places here - let me know where you are staying!)
Manila - great place to stay. Nice restaurants and within walking distance of the neighboring Poblado barrio (mentioned abov)
Comuna 13 - you gotta take the tour and learn about the battles and transformation that occurred there. The most educational
Outside of Medellin:
Guatape - about 3 hours away. It’s a must visit! Gotta climb up La Pierda/El Peñol (enough stairs so that - then do a biking tour from Guatape to San Rafael (waterfall)
Jardín - beautiful small town in the coffee región - great hikes - great coffee tour. Really cool and creepy boxcar trip
Salento - this will take a short flight or a long bus ride but it’s absolutely beautiful (Valle de Cócora and Carbonera - palm tree forest)
Santa Rosa del Cabal / Manizales - both of these places are great for aguas termales!
Las Amazonas - if you have time you should absolutely visit the Amazon.
