The Best Places in Medellín
The highest rated spots and places in the catalog, by score and real reviews.
- 178 places
- 49 zones
- 18 categories
- average
RecommendedNemoratto RooftopEl PobladoAn urban oasis on the 6th floor of the 4 Sur Hotel, ideal for escaping the noise of the city. It stands out for its abundant vegetation, 360-degree panoramic views of Medellín and a food offer that fuses high Italian cuisine with local ingredients. Its casual, modern atmosphere is complemented by live music and a select signature cocktail list.
Top ratedCerro de las Tres Cruces MedellínBelén / AltavistaCerro de las Tres Cruces is Medellín's default walk: a short but demanding climb in the south-west of the city, inside the Altavista district.
Top ratedTeatro MatacandelasBostonFounded in 1979 and designated Living Cultural Heritage of Medellín in 1991, Teatro Matacandelas is one of Latin America's premier independent theater ensembles. Housed in a charming historic republican mansion downtown, it stages world-class repertory theater, musical poetry, acoustic concerts, and puppetry.
Top ratedBiblioteca Pública PilotoLaurelesThe Biblioteca Pública Piloto de Medellín para América Latina was signed in Paris on 10 November 1952, in a document subscribed by the Colombian delegate José Manuel Mora Vásquez and UNESCO director general Jaime Torres Bodet. It was the second pilot library in the world, after India's, and was conceived as a model public library for the whole continent.
Teatro Pablo Tobón UribeLa CandelariaThe Pablo Tobón Uribe opened in 1967 thanks to the bequest of the businessman it is named after, and has since been one of Medellín's reference venues.
Top ratedJardín Botánico de MedellínAranjuezThe Joaquín Antonio Uribe Botanical Garden occupies fifteen hectares in the north of Medellín, facing Parque Explora and a step from the Universidad metro station. It is one of the few large botanical gardens in Latin America with free entry.
Top ratedCentro de Convenciones Plaza MayorLa CandelariaPlaza Mayor is Medellín's convention and exhibition venue, downtown, next to Parque de los Pies Descalzos and the Teatro Metropolitano.
Top ratedMuseo El CastilloEl PobladoEl Castillo was raised in 1930 as a country house for the doctor José Tobón Uribe, designed by the firm H. M. Rodríguez — Medellín's first significant architecture office — in a medieval Gothic inspired by the châteaux of the Loire valley: towers finished in spires and ogival windows.
Top ratedParque Natural Cerro El VoladorRobledo / San GermánCerro El Volador is the largest metropolitan regional nature park inside Medellín's urban area: 103 hectares rising to 1,628 metres in the centre-west of the city, in Comuna 7.
Top ratedCafé VersallesLa CandelariaOpened in 1961 by Argentine native Leonardo Nieto, Salón Versalles is one of Medellín's most cherished living cultural landmarks. The historic gathering hub for Nadaísta poets, writers, journalists, and tango aficionados, renowned for authentic Argentine empanadas, milanesas, and fresh mandarin juice.
Top ratedRepostería El AstorLa CandelariaFounded in 1930 by Swiss master baker Enrique Baer on the Junín pedestrian boulevard, El Astor is Medellín's most iconic heritage bakery and tea salon. Famous for its handmade marzipan frogs ('sapitos'), chocolate moritos, Swiss nougat, and timeless pastries enjoyed across generations.
Top ratedCasa Museo Pedro Nel GómezAranjuezThe private residence, studio, and permanent museum of master Colombian muralist and polymath Pedro Nel Gómez (1899-1984). Set in the northern neighborhood of Aranjuez, it preserves over 3,000 artworks and 160 square meters of breathtaking original wall and ceiling frescos exploring social struggles and mythology.
Top ratedUrbania Café PobladoEl PobladoPioneering specialty coffee roaster dedicated to sustainability and peacebuilding in Colombia. Sourcing directly from smallholder farmers in conflict-impacted regions and roasted using solar energy, featuring single-origin pour-overs, artisanal brunch, and a serene green patio.
Top ratedCatedral Nuestra Señora de las MercedesCaldasThe heart of the town: an eclectic-style cathedral with a crypt, facing Parque Santander with its bandstand and the Fuente de los Amantes.
Parques del RíoEl Chagualo / LaurelesParques del Río gave the city back a piece of its river. The project buried a stretch of motorway and covered the slab with a linear park integrating both banks: some 72,000 square metres, more than half of it green, with 280 trees planted.
Mirador Cerro El PicachoEl PicachoOne of the most dramatic guardian hills overlooking Medellín, rising above 2,100 meters above sea level in the northwestern mountains. Crowned by the Christ the Savior monument, it provides the most comprehensive 360-degree vista of the Aburrá Valley, accessible via the Metrocable Line P.
Cementerio Museo San PedroAranjuezThe San Pedro Cemetery was founded on 22 September 1842 as the burial ground of the families who built modern Medellín, and its mausoleums are at once a catalogue of funerary sculpture and a map of the city's social history.
Parroquia Santa Gertrudis, EnvigadoEnvigadoSanta Gertrudis is not merely Envigado's main church: it is the reason Envigado exists as a town. The urban settlement appears after 1776, following the creation of the parish of Santa Gertrudis la Magna, a process that ran between 1773 and 1776 and fixed where the square would be and around what the town would grow.
RecommendedParque ArvíSanta ElenaParque Arví is the reserve crowning the Aburrá valley, in the Piedras Blancas hamlet of the Santa Elena district. You get there by metro and then the Cable Arví, and that ride over the cloud forest is already part of the plan.
Parque de los DeseosAranjuezParque de los Deseos is an open, freely accessible square facing Medellín's Planetarium, on the cultural corridor that runs up from the Universidad metro station.
Centro Comercial Puerta del NorteBelloPuerta del Norte is the largest shopping centre in Bello and absorbs much of the retail traffic of the northern valley.
Parque Principal de BelloBelloThe Parque Principal is the centre of Bello in every sense. It was a market square until 1937, when it became a park, and it keeps the feel of an Antioquian town plaza: cobble and tile paving, concrete benches and big trees.
Estadio de Fútbol Atanasio GirardotEstadioThe Atanasio Girardot opened in 1953 and is the oldest venue in the sports complex that bears its name, a set of 18 sporting and recreational facilities in Comuna 11, Laureles.
Escalas eléctricas de la Comuna 13Las Independencias, San JavierThe Comuna 13 escalators opened in December 2011 as the first public and free ones in the country: six outdoor flights totalling 384 metres up the Las Independencias hillside. For anyone living at the top the change was concrete — the climb went from about thirty-five minutes on foot to around six — and that mobility project ended up changing the neighbourhood's relationship with the rest of the city.
Before you go
We did not build this selection on personal taste: it ranks the catalog's places by their rating and the number of reviews behind it. That is why a café in Envigado, a viewpoint in Comuna 13, a grill in Itagüí and a botanical garden appear side by side, regardless of category or area. It is the quickest way to see which places have consistently pleased a lot of people.
To read it well, look at both figures together. A perfect score from a handful of reviews tells you less than a slightly lower one backed by thousands, like those gathered by the Botanical Garden or the Comuna 13 lookout. And a good score does not tell you everything: a place can be excellent and still be packed at the time you plan to go, or sit on the far side of the valley. Before deciding, check the area, the price range and the description on each listing.
Use it as a starting point when you are short on time or do not know where to begin, then narrow things down with categories and zones. The most popular places are usually calmer on weekdays and early in the day; at weekends, especially for restaurants and rooftops, it is worth booking.
