Itineraries for Your Trip to Medellín
3 Days in Medellín for Foodies
Just like the city itself, Medellin’s food culture has undergone a radical transformation over the last decade. While you'll encounter plenty of rustic Antioquian staples such as mondongo (a hearty tripe and vegetable soup) and bandeja paisa (a veritable meat feast), Medellin’s restaurant scene is also exciting and boundary pushing.
I spent a month in Colombia’s second city and ate a glorious mix of Medellin staples—I’m talking crispy pork skin, freshly fried arepas, and fruit so fresh the juice covers your hands—and cosmopolitan cuisine such as sushi, spaghetti, and steak. Here’s how to find the best eats in just three days.
The City of Eternal Spring's sunny climate means it's always an iced coffee kinda day.
If you only have time for one thing, make it bandeja paisa, the city’s signature dish and a meat feast.
Kick off your tasting tour of Medellin with classic Colombian street food in Comuna 13, a street art-smothered district that was formerly one of the most dangerous barrios in South America. Sample patacon con hogao (fried plantain with tomato sauce) and spicy Colombian sausages from some of the many vendors.
No visit to Medellin would be complete without sampling the city’s signature dish, bandeja paisa. One of the best places to try the dish—a plate of white rice, beans, chicharron (pork crackling), sausage, beef, fried egg, and avocado—is Hacienda Origen, just a few minutes from Parque Berrio.
Spend your second day sampling Colombia’s most famous export on a visit to a coffee farm in the Colombian countryside. Opt for a tour so you can sit back and soak up emerald-green coffee plantations along the way, before tracing coffee’s journey from bean to cup at a traditional hacienda.
This afternoon, satisfy your sweet tooth by feasting on some of Medellin’s fruit at Placita de Florez in La Candelaria—the tropical climates of Colombia’s Caribbean coast means the country has access to sweet delight such as guanábana (soursop) and granadilla (type of passion fruit).
Today you'll sample the rest of Medellin’s street food staples in Plaza Botero, a bustling square in Medellin’s Old Quarter. Visit vendors selling empanadas (filled pastries with meat or vegetables), arepas (cornmeal cakes), and sugar-coated buñuelos (sugar-coated fried balls).
Toast your final night in the City of Eternal Spring on some of Medellin’s swankiest bars—the majority of which you’ll find in the chic and cosmopolitan El Poblado neighborhood. For a view, try Panorama rooftop bar, which serves top-shelf cocktails and the famous Colombian sugar cane spirit, aguardiente.
