Routes, costs and travel times for Antioquia, Colombia, written by someone who lived in Medellín.
Antioquia is the Colombian department that surrounds Medellín. It covers the coffee farms of the southwest, the reservoir towns of the east, the colonial streets of Santa Fe de Antioquia and a lot of mountain road in between. This site covers that region for English-speaking travelers: how to reach each place, how long the trip actually takes with traffic, what a day there costs, and what is worth your time once you arrive.
Most guides to this part of Colombia are written from a distance. The point of this one is the opposite: fewer destinations, covered properly, with the logistics you need to book a trip rather than the adjectives you need to daydream about one.
Start here
The site is built one route at a time, and each guide goes live when it is complete rather than when it is started. Right now:
- Guatapé Day Trip from Medellín: getting there by bus, private driver or organized tour, the climb up El Peñón, how long to spend in the town itself, and what the full day costs.
More routes across Antioquia are in progress and get added here as they go live.
Who writes this
I’m Abdiel. I’m Colombian-Venezuelan and I lived in El Poblado, Medellín, so that’s where my first-hand knowledge comes from directly. As this guide covers more of Antioquia, each destination is researched carefully, and I’m upfront about which guides come from a trip I’ve taken myself and which are built from local sources and research.
Either way, the goal is the same: the details you actually need to plan a trip, checked carefully, not copied from a booking page. More about how this guide is built.
What this site covers
- Day trips from Medellín. Places you can reach and return from in a single day.
- Tours in Medellín. What is worth booking inside the city and what you can walk yourself.
- Destinations across Antioquia. Towns and regions that deserve an overnight stay or more.
- Practical travel tips. Safety, transport, money, altitude, weather and the questions that come up before a first trip to Colombia.