​MEDELLIN

Hello, ​Medellin.

Situated in a beautiful valley, Medellin is a bustling city of 3 million people and is the second largest city in Colombia. The city is suffused with an undefinable but distinctive charm, which will immediately grab you.

Most people know Medellin as the most dangerous city in the world back in the 80s and 90s, back when 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-1990's, the cartel was disbanded and the city rebounded tremendously.

In the last 20 years, Medellín has undergone a huge transformation. In addition to big improvements in public safety, there’s been a huge surge in urban development projects and public transportation.

Women digital nomads should know that as Colombia is still a country with a "macho" mindset, women might be the subject of lewd comments, cat-calling, or whistling.

Medellin has a thriving digital nomad community and is considered the "Chiang Mai" of South America. The city is full of free wifi - all the malls, restaurants, cafes etc offer a free service, even public spaces are being given the free wifi treatment.

El Poblado ​is still the most popular place to live for foreigners, but this means that it is also the most expensive place to live. You should expect to pay anywhere from 2 million COP ($780/€700) for a small apartment or around 800.000 COP ($313/€280) for your own double room.

Medellin is generally a safe city for tourism, depending on the part of town you visit and the hours (like most other cities) and is much safer than in previous years.

The well-protected hillside neighborhood of El Poblado and Envigado​ and Laureles ​are safer neighborhoods with many expats. 

The poorer neighborhoods in the north-east and north-west of the city should be avoided at both day and night to avoid trouble. Most of the downtown area (or centro) is best avoided at night.

Medellin weather is famous for being spring-like year around. April to November are the winter months and produce the most rainfall.