Antioquia · Colombia
Medellín travel guide
Medellín is a city in Antioquia, Colombia, home to about 2,529,000 people.
- Nearest airport
- EOH4 km · Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport
- Currency
- COPColombian peso
- Time zone
- America/Bogota
- Language
- Spanish
About
About Medellín
Medellín, officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (Spanish: Distrito Especial de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de Medellín), is the capital of the department of Antioquia, and the second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central region of the Andes Mountains, in northwestern South America.
Let's just get it out of the way up front: throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Medellín was considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world for its size, and had a highly disproportional homicide and kidnapping rate. It was the home of the drug lord Pablo Escobar and the so-called Medellín Cartel, who virtually took over the city during that time. Since his demise in the mid-1990s, the cartel was disbanded and the city rebounded tremendously. In 1991 there were 6,500 murders in the city, by 2009 the murder rate decreased to 2,900.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Medellín
See
- Museo de Antioquia
- Museo Universidad de Antioquia
- Casa Museo Fernando González
- Museo Pedro Nel Gómez
- Museo Interactivo EPM
- Museo Etnográfico Miguel Angel Builes
- Parque de los Deseos
- Plaza de Cisneros
- Jardín Botánico
- Zoo
Do
- Metrocables
- GTOPIK Paragliding Medellin San Felix
- Biblioteca España
- Planetario Municipal
- Full moon night
- Parque Norte Medellín
- Camino al Sol
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Which part of Medellín to stay in
Most of the inexpensive hotels in Medellín are in El Centro. Although the area is vibrant at day, going out at night is dangerous and should be avoided.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
When to go
The best time to visit Medellín
Medellín has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. March is the warmest month, with average highs of 26 °C; May is the wettest, with about 260 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Medellín: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport (EOH), about 4.2 km from the city centre in a straight line; Jose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE, 19 km) and El Caraño Airport (UIB, 134 km) are also within reach.
Getting around
Uber and Cabify serve the city. Rideshare apps are officially illegal in the country but appear to be widely used. However, some drivers may be reluctant to travel to places where they may be harassed by police (e.g. bus stations, major tourist areas, the airport terminal). Moovit and Google Maps find you a way through the city. Moovit has more local bus lines included.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
EOH · Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport
MDE · Jose Maria Córdova International Airport
UIB · El Caraño Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Medellín
Eat
Colombian cuisine is varied and regional. The more typical dishes are referred to as comida criolla. Some examples are: sancocho de gallina (chicken soup), carne molida (ground beef), arepas de choclo (fresh corn tortillas), empanadas (meat-filled fried turnovers), ají (hot sauce), ajiaco (Bogota's chicken and potato soup), bandeja paisa, natilla, buñuelos (fried cheese puffs), hojuelas (fried puff squares), rice with coconut, Antioquian beans, sobrebarriga (flank steak) mantecada (bun made with lard), papas chorreadas, pandeyuca (yucca bread) and carne desmechada (shredded meat).
Stay safe
Medellín is generally a safe city for tourism, depending on the part of town you visit and the hours and is much safer than in previous years. In 2022, the homicide rate in Medellín was its lowest since the 1970s, at 15 per 100,000, which is a little lower than Dallas, Texas. According to the US State Department, murders have involved tourists and U.S citizens, and there remains a risk of "terrorist" actions in the urban area. Much of the violence is concentrated within the city's hillside slums and among known drug traffickers, although richer parts of town have also been afflicted by the latest surge in crime.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Questions
Medellín: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Medellín?
Medellín has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. March is the warmest month, with average highs of 26 °C; May is the wettest, with about 260 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Medellín?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport (EOH), about 4.2 km from the city centre in a straight line; Jose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE, 19 km) and El Caraño Airport (UIB, 134 km) are also within reach.
What currency is used in Medellín?
Colombian peso (COP).
Nearby
Destinations near Medellín
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.