Medellín · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
A metro, cable cars up the hillsides and spring weather all year — cheap to be in, hard to leave.
Laureles over El Poblado
El Poblado is the party zone and prices show it. Laureles, flat and tree-lined with its own metro stops, gives better beds for less.
What a day costs
Roughly 90,000–170,000 pesos, about $22–42: a dorm 45,000–75,000, a menú del día 15,000–25,000, metro rides around 3,000.
Cívica card and metrocables
One rechargeable card covers the metro, the tram and the cable cars that climb to the hillside barrios. The Comuna 13 escalators are free.
Free by day
The Comuna 13 escalators and murals, the Botero sculptures in the Plaza Botero, and the Sunday Ciclovía cost nothing.
Parque Lleras and Provenza
The bars around Parque Lleras are where travellers find each other, for better and worse; the streets of Provenza above it are calmer and pricier.