Medellin with Kids

After spending four days in Medellin, Colombia with kids, our family can officially agree that its transformation is inspiring!  What was once the most dangerous city in the world has become amazingly innovative, safe, and family-friendly.  Medellin has worked HARD to clean up the city and image, while still proudly holding onto both culture and history.  Before we dive into our top five things to do in Medellin with kids, we wanted to first share why this city is so unique and inspiring! 

– The city recognized that poverty and the drug problem went hand in hand.  So they did a massive overhaul of their public transportation system, making it more accessible for old slums on the mountainside to have work opportunities in the city.

– This includes multiple metro cable cars that run up the mountains.  These are not expensive tourist attractions, but the way thousands of people get to work every day for the price of a bus ticket.

– This also includes outdoor escalators that run up the mountain in Comuna 13.  There are six of them in all which replaced 28 stories of steps!  This area was once Pablo Escobar’s adopted home and known as the most dangerous neighborhood in Medellin.  Today it’s filled with amazing graffiti and overlooks the city center below.  Our family toured with our guide in the evening, and the atmosphere was incredible!

– Medellin is nicknamed “the City of Eternal Spring”.  Because of its elevation and location it stays in the 70s year-round, and cools slightly in the evenings.  It does rain quite a bit (this also makes it green and constantly in bloom), but the  temperature doesn’t get much better! There is zero need for air conditioning or heat in any of the buildings in the city!

– Nearly all of the city’s power comes from hydroelectricity, as well as the majority of the country, making it extremely clean and efficient.

– Medellin has its own incredible water treatment system that supplies clean water throughout the city.  You can drink water from the public water fountains with no problem, which is almost unheard of outside the U.S. and Europe.

– The city is almost completely self-sustaining, supplying its own factories, food, energy, water, etc.

These are just a few reasons why international tourism is growing in Medellin.  It’s far from a “typical big city”.  This makes it a perfect jumping-off point to other destinations in the country while still making it worthwhile to stop and spend some time here. 

So what to do in Medellin with kids?  Read on!

1. Paragliding over the city

Our #1 goal for our time in Medellin was seeing the city from the sky!  We always love when all four of us get to experience “a first” together, and paragliding has been on our list for years!  We loved that Paragliding Medellin let kids participate, and they said that they’d actually taken kids as young as two!  With an expert guide strapped to you, there is no skill needed.  You just do as you’re told.  They all even know the English words for “walk, run, and sit” 😂… That’s basically all there is to it! 

We would suggest planning for this on your first morning in Medellin.  The mornings tend to work better weather-wise, but the wind, rain, etc. still have to all line up.  If this is a must-do for your family, plan it towards the beginning so you have some backup options.  As the flights all go out of San Felix, make sure to also allow at least an hour to get there.  

2. Spend the day at Parque Arvi

This beautiful area to the east of Medellin is huge and easily takes up a full day!  The park system is free to enter, but there are two paid areas that include different activities.  We chose to spend the day at Comfama.  You can access this area by taking a free shuttle (the pink one) at the entrance of the main park near the road.  We would highly recommend this as it was an amazing value!  For the equivalent of $15 for our whole family, we took a guided hike (in Spanish), mined for gold, played on obstacle courses, AND did a full, legit canopy/zipline tour!!!  

The entire park system is fairly new and built beautifully!  All the facilities, trails, etc. are extremely nice, and it’s a perfect outing to spend with your family.  The metro cable takes you all the way up to the park, and the views are stunning along the ride.

3. Take a tour of the city that includes Comuna 13

A unique challenge of Colombia specifically is that, if you don’t speak Spanish, the language barrier can feel especially high for even seasoned travelers.  A smile, some effort, and Google translate do wonders for just getting around.  However, especially for kids, sometimes it’s a wonderful luxury to have an English-speaking guide show you the city.  The kids can ask questions, parents don’t have to worry about transportation and parking, and you get a good overview of the city in a short period of time.  We visited all the main sites in just a few hours with Wingman Tours, including adding on Comuna 13 by request.    

4. Live like a local

Because we stayed in Bello (at this amazing Airbnb with the BEST views), we got to experience the area more as a resident.  Staying in Bello does add about a 15 minutes drive or metro ride to most everything, so take this into consideration.  However, this gave us a unique opportunity to frequent the local park, enjoy street food, and stroll around the malls with the locals.  Puerta del Norte and Parque Fabricado were both huge shopping centers in Bello that had amazing areas for kids.  These were definitely priced higher than most things we found in Colombia, but it was a highlight for the kids between tours.

If you are staying in Medellin when the Athletico National Futbol team is playing, do yourself a favor and be a part of it in some way.  The atmosphere of the whole city on game day is incredible!  From 24 floors up inside our apartment, we could hear the shouts, car honks, and fireworks going off with every goal!  You could opt to see the game in person at the stadium or just find any restaurant with the game on.  On almost every corner, fans were there, ready, and excited over an hour before game time!

Our view from the apartment!

5. Explore more of Colombia using Medellin as a jumping-off point

Next to Bogota, Medellin is the second biggest city in Colombia.  This makes it incredibly easy and affordable to drive, bus, or fly all over the country.  Our family bought plane tickets for around $100 pp roundtrip to the Colombian Amazon and had an amazing three days in the rainforest.  You can also do Gautape as a day trip from Medellin and ride around the beautiful lakes there.  

Our family took a direct bus to Salento which was supposed to take 6 hours (it actually took 10.5), so make sure you plan enough days to make the trip worthwhile.  During our stay, we hiked the Cocora Valley, toured a coffee plantation, and enjoyed the scenic colorful town of Salento.

To see all our travel adventures during a year-long trip around the world, head over to our Instagram page.

If you have questions or tips for a trip to Medellin with kids, let us know!  Happy Travels!