There is a lot more to Medellin than Pablo Escobar so I would strongly recommend adding this city to your itinerary if you want to visit Colombia. It is a little bit off the beaten track and I can say this because I did not see any Chinese or Indian tourists. I loved the charming colonial cobblestone streets and the rich Latin American culture.
Medellin is a city waiting to be discovered, I met a few people in Cartagena who skipped this city but I personally loved this city the most. Almost everybody chooses Cartagena and Bogota over Medellin so if you want to avoid the crowds, you must go to Medellin. Having said that, tourism is picking up in Medellin now so I am not really sure how long it will remain the way it was when I visited. There are also many day tours you can do from Medellin so it is a perfect city to stay and explore the nearby areas.
GUATAPE and EL PENON de GUATAPE
One of the best parts about Medellin is the breathtaking countryside and beautiful houses which are 2 hours away by road. In Colombia, one of the most common cultural traditions for the affluent people is to own a second home in the countryside. You can do a day trip to Guatape and see these homes and the famous rock. Aside from how gorgeous this colorful town is, the climb up to the “Rock of Guatape” was one of the highlights really worth the day trip. There are 600 vertical steps and the rock weighs 10 million tons and overlooks the gorgeous lakes of Guatape. The attraction was created after a group of friends scaled the rock in the 1950s using nothing but a wooden plank and someone decided to build a staircase. The fresh mango micheladas at the top are highly recommended.
COFFEE PLANTATIONS
There are many coffee farms near Medellin. Some offer over night stays too, if you are a coffee lover, you must visit these farms. We did half a day at a farm near Medellin, the coffee plucking was fun for the kids but my daughter had done it before in Chiang Mai which has similar coffee farms so it wasn’t exciting for us.
JARDIN
A little further away from Guatape lies an adorable pueblo in the Andes mountains called Jardin but I did not go there due to time constraints. I heard its beautiful and still undiscovered, you can find coffee farms and waterfalls there but if you are pressed for time like me, you could do the farms closer to Medellin because this is almost 4 hours drive one way.
