I Love Medellín: An independent travel guide to Medellín, Colombia

El Centro, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Plaza Botero

Plaza Botero is a public square in downtown Medellín with 23 monumental bronze sculptures by Fernando Botero, the city's most famous artist.

Guide

Comuna 13

Comuna 13, also called San Javier, is a hillside district in western Medellín that went from one of the city's most violent areas in the early 2000s to one of its most visited, thanks to…

Read the guide

Guatapé, Guatapé, Antioquia, Colombia

La Piedra del Peñol (El Peñón de Guatapé)

La Piedra del Peñol is a granite dome about 200 meters tall that rises beside the Peñol-Guatapé reservoir, roughly 2 hours east of Medellín.

Santa Elena, Santa Elena, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Parque Ecoturístico Arví

Parque Arví is a vast protected forest park on the mountains east of Medellín, in the rural district of Santa Elena, and the cable car ride up is half the fun.

North Medellín, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Jardín Botánico

The Jardín Botánico de Medellín is a free, 13-hectare botanical garden next to Universidad metro station, with more than 1,000 plant species, a butterfly house, a lake and the Orquideorama…

01 / 05

Photo: Medellín, Plaza Botero, 2023-07 CN-01 by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Explore Medellín

All 9 places

Guatapé and El Peñol: a day trip from Medellín

Guatapé is a small, colorful lakeside town about 2 hours east of Medellín, next to the giant rock of La Piedra del Peñol. In one day you can climb the rock's 740 steps for the view over the reservoir, wander streets lined with painted zócalos and take a boat out on the lake. Buses leave Medellín's Terminal del Norte about every hour, so you don't need a tour.

Read the guide