Medellin Neighborhoods to Explore Beyond the Tourist Zone

Parque Lleras is in Poblado neighborhood the place vacationers and well-heeled locals in Medellin come to play. It’s surrounded by hostels, eating places, and bars and has been a magnet for vacationers for years.

In addition to residing there, I’ve traveled to Medellin, Colombia, dozens of occasions. So, one in all my favourite issues to do is get out of the tourism zone in Poblado and go to the metropolis’s extra working-class areas.

If you need to discover extra of what Medellin has to provide, then you definitely want to journey additional out to the extra localized neighborhoods in Medellin.

Best Medellin neighborhoods to discover

If you need to get out of the vacationer zone of Medellin however nonetheless hold it protected, a wonderful place to come is the barrio of Santo Domingo. It’s accessible by Metro Cable (gondola carry system) from the metropolis’s easy-to-manage practice (metro) stops.

It will give a traveler perception right into a working-class Medellin neighborhood. It’s up in the hills of Medellin, to the north of the metropolis, and might present vacationers with some actual perception is how folks reside in Medellin. As you search for the hills, you will note that the homes are actually colourful. A number of them are self-built.

Use the Metro Cable to get round the metropolis

The Metro Cable helped reworked Santo Domingo. Today it’s nonetheless primarily poor and working-class, however with a safer current and a brighter future to aspire to.

What I like about Medellin is that the authorities was very progressive by way of placing the Metro Cable up. It serves as potential transportation for the individuals who reside right here, however it’s additionally a vacationer attraction. So, you will note some vacationers right here from time to time. There’s a big police presence throughout the day, so it’s no downside to simply hang around with the folks of Santo Domingo. I believe it’ll actually improve your journey.

Neighborhoods additional up the Metro Cable

Parque Arvi

If you need a fast break from the hustle and bustle of Medellin, simply proceed on the metro cable a bit additional up the mountain to the beautiful Parque Arvi.

Parque Arvi is only a brief Metro Cable experience up from Santo Domingo, however you’re a world away from Medellin.

Parque Arvi is a marvel of city planning and a credit score to Medellin’s progressive, socially aware authorities initiatives.

Comuna 13 (aka Comuna Trece)

Another advice is to take a look at the as soon as harmful however now crowded space of Comuna 13. Perhaps no group suffered extra throughout Pablo Escobar’s reign than Community 13 (Comuna Trece in Spanish).

This barrio was as soon as floor zero in the conflict between the authorities and narco-traffickers.

Today, Comuna Trece has made a exceptional comeback and is a shining instance of social inclusion tourism’s potential.

Over 1,000 guests a day trek to this former “no man’s land” to expertise the beautiful views, colourful murals, artwork, native taste, and out of doors escalators.

What I actually favored about my tour of Comuna Thirteen was the proven fact that I used to be in a position to see this space and at the similar time assist the folks there.

And if you concentrate on it, that’s a improbable turnaround as a result of only a few years in the past, nobody would even enterprise in there. Now, over a thousand vacationers a day are visiting, spending their cash, and getting to know the folks. And doing it in a accountable, sustainable method.

I believe one in all the causes it really works is social inclusion. They’re together with the folks there. The income stream can also be giving them some extent of delight about the place they reside. Because it’s beautiful.

I believe it could function a mannequin for communities worldwide to develop tourism and how tourism may also help impoverished communities flip issues round whereas serving to out the locals residing there. While helping the traveler in getting an concept of what it’s like, what folks reside like, in most of the world.

To me, it’s a win-win scenario. And I believe as long as it’s executed sustainably and responsibly, I actually don’t see a draw back to doing it. I’m glad I did it. I actually advocate it to different vacationers as effectively.

Join this Comuna 13 Graffiti Tour with an area information. You’ll get to study the troubled historical past of Medellín whereas testing superb road artwork and assembly artists and native residents in the group.