How Many Days in Medellin?
When traveling to Medellin, how many days do you really need in this city?
Forever a favorite for travelers heading around Colombia, Medellin is a really memorable city to visit.
Here we can enjoy the electric atmosphere, as well as head on various day trips into the wider Antioquia region.
How Many Days in Medellin?
In this guide, we’ll look at why you should visit Medellin, how many days are needed here, the best time to visit and much more.
Quick Answer: We recommend spending 3-7 days in Medellin.
Is Medellin Worth Visiting?
First of all, let’s take a look at some of the best reasons why you should visit Medellin.
- Get to know its Gripping History – Medellin wasn’t always known as a popular tourist city. In fact just a few decades ago, it was considered one of the most dangerous cities on earth when Pablo Escobar and his cartel ruled these lands. Nowadays it’s much safer, and today we can learn about his reign by heading on a sobering tour around Comuna 13. There’s also plenty of worthy museums to visit too, such as La Casa de la Memoria.
- Highly Memorable Day Trips – One of the best things about this city is that it’s the gateway to the surrounding Antioquia region, which is home to many awesome day trips. These include a visit to the postcard-perfect town of Guatapé with its stunning murals, as well as hiking up the Piedra del Peñol. Those who love adrenaline can also find lots of activities too, such as Paragliding over the Andean mountains or heading on a food tour through the streets of Medellin.
- A Colombian City with Tonnes of Flair – Not only has the safety situation improved considerably since the fall of Escobar, now we can find many buzzing areas that are perfect for travelers to stay in. This includes El Poblado, which has a range of great accommodation, buzzing nightlife and some really memorable Colombian nightlife. If it’s your first time heading here, then we highly recommend staying at the Rango Hostel Boutique or Selina if you want a dorm room.
See even more reasons to visit Medellin if you are still not convinced.
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How many Days to spend in Medellin: Our recommendation
For any travelers visiting Medellin, we recommend spending between 3-7 days here.
This is plenty of time to get to know the history of the city, see the best attractions as well as head on some memorable day trips.
The exact number of days you will pick depends on you, your time-frame as well as your personal travel style.
You could break down 5 Days in the following way (our recommended itinerary):
- Day 1: Explore El Poblado Highlights
- Day 2: Day Trip to Guatapé & Piedra del Peñol
- Day 3: Parque Arví & Jardín Botánico
- Day 4: Go Paragliding in the Mountains
- Day 5: Comuna 13 Tour
Is Medellin cheap or expensive?
Generally speaking, Medellin can be a cheap city to explore (but expensive compared to the rest of Colombia) with the exception of cities such as Cartagena and Bogota.
Those on the usual backpacking budget can plan for $20-25 a day here, where you can stay in a nice hostel within El Poblado. You’ll mostly stick to local meals (although you can head to a restaurant every now and then), and will use public transport to get around.
Those after a more comfortable experience in a private room and eating at nicer establishments will want to budget for $35-45 a day here in Medellin.
Is 3 Days enough in Medellin?
Usually travelers will spend anywhere from 4-6 days in Medellin. However you may only have 3 days available if you’re on a stricter time-schedule.
We think that Medellin is definitely doable with just 3 days, although you’ll want to plan your itinerary in advance and make the very most of each day here.
Your first day is best used seeing all of the top highlights in Medellin. This includes El Poblado, where a city walking tour is a great way of ticking-off different highlights.
You can then head on a tour to Comuna 13 to see how history has shaped one of Colombia’s most notorious barrios.
During your second day, we will see the very best landscapes in the wider Antioquia region. We highly recommend heading on this combined day tour, where you’ll visit both Guatapé and the Piedra del Peñol (as well as having breakfast, lunch and the boat ride all included).
On your last day you can enjoy the novel Paisa culture at a much slower rate (depending on how long your final day is in Medellin).
This includes trying classic food such as the Bandeja Paisa, or even better heading on a memorable food tour around the city. The Parque Arví is another great option for those who love heading outdoors into nature without leaving the city.
We recommend reading this comprehensive guide on how to spend 3 days in Medellin.
Is Medellin Safe?
Although its past reputation was pretty grimy (to say the least), nowadays Medellin is a safe city for travelers to explore.
This is especially so in the neighborhood of El Poblado, and you can also use the public transport to get around the city too with no hassle.
Of course you’ll want to practice our usual safety tips, which include not walking with your phone out as well as not heading into an unknown area alone at night.
We recommend that you read our guide that covers travel safety in Medellin for tips.
How to get from Bogotá to Medellin?
Although Medellin has a widely-connected airport with the rest of Latin America (and some parts of the globe), you may find yourself heading to Bogotá first.
The bus is the best option for those who want to keep costs low. A one-way ticket costs around $25, and takes around 10 hours to arrive. For this reason it’s best to use a night-bus, where you can rest as well as save your daylight hours for exploring.
Another popular way is to fly between the cities, which is relatively straightforward given they both have large airports (and multiple flights leaving daily).
The price for a flight starts at around $35, however this doesn’t include baggage fees. The benefit of flying, however, is that it will only take 1 hour to arrive.
Best time to visit Medellin?
Known as the city of Eternal Spring, Medellin has quite a unique climate with temperatures very consistent throughout the year. Average daily temperatures hover from 69-70°F, with daytime highs of 78°F and evening lows of down to 62°F.
Where Medellin does vary (and wildly to say the least) is with its levels of rain. It’s quite wet most of the year, with the heaviest seasons running from April to May as well as September until November (between 9-10 inches falling throughout each of these months).
The drier seasons run from late December until March, as well as from June until August which sees between 4-7 inches per month.
Overall the best time to visit Medellin would be between the months of January and March, where rainfall it’s at its overall lowest in the year (although June until August is a great alternative). You’ll still need a good jacket regardless of when you visit though!
How Many Days in Medellin? Final Words
We’d like to thank you for reading our Medellin itinerary.
There’s a reason why this Colombian city remains one of the most popular for travelers to visit. Here we can find heated nightlife scenes, incredible day trips as well as some really great local food.
When deciding how long to spend in Medellin, we personally recommend between 3-7 days.
In this guide we’ve explored why you should visit Medellin, our top safety tips, the best time to visit as well anything else you’ll need to know.
Be sure to read more about backpacking Medellin through the eyes of Dan for more solid travel ideas and advice.
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