Medellin Adventure Tour

• Unique cultural tours in Medellín and Guatapé, El Peñol
• Tour a traditional Spanish-style estate and coffee farm by foot or by horseback
• Hike through desert paramo ecosystem, or paraglide over the city of Medellín
• Experience Colombia’s intriguing river culture by rafting the Río Buey
• Free day in Medellín to explore as you wish with the advice of our expert guides

You will be picked-up at Medellín’s José María Córdoba International Airport. Enjoy an hour-long drive into the impressive Medellín Valley. Spend the night at a boutique hotel located in the heart of Medellín’s hippest and cosmopolitan neighbourhood: El Poblado. Welcome to Colombia!

Meet your local guide for the afternoon and  explore the safe and walkable neighborhood. Let him show you the way this city works, the good places to eat, rest, and dance.

After breakfast at your hotel, meet your guide for a scenic drive through the Andean mountains of Colombia’s coffee region. After driving for 1.5 hours, arrive at our traditional coffee farm. Explore the plantation with a coffee grower and partake in a hands-on learning experience of the process from planting to roasting. You will learn how coffee is linked to every Colombian family and how its history is a source of pride for Antioqueños.

Return to the Hacienda for a delicious Colombian lunch. Spend the rest of the afternoon by the private swimming pool or arrange to go horseback riding in the nearby mountains. By late afternoon, return to your hotel in the Poblado neighborhood of Medellín.

What to Bring for Today:

• Appropriate clothing: shorts, long lightweight pants and a breathable shirt
• Sturdy walking shoes
• Bathing suit
• Repellent
• Sunscreen
• Camera
• Refillable water bottle.
• Change of clothes (end of activity)

After breakfast at your hotel, go on a tandem paragliding flight or enjoy an intermediate hike:

To Paraglide:

Your guide will meet  you at your hotel at 9:00 a.m. to drive 20 minutes from Medellín to the small town of San Felix, settled on a mountainside overlooking the entire city of Medellin. Take a tandem paragliding flight over a waterfall and the city of Medellín with a highly experienced paragliding instructor. Depending on weather conditions, you’ll enjoy a 20-minute minimum flight and land within a designated area. Enjoy a direct pick-up from the landing strip to return to your hotel in Poblado by lunch.

In the afternoon, enjoy free time to relax or explore Medellin with advice from your expert guides.

To Hike:

Meet your guide at your hotel after breakfast and drive 2 hours to the town village of Belmira, a Spanish-style town located at an altitude of 2,500 m. From the Belmira, embark on your intermediate day hike and climb nearly 700 meters in elevation. As you hike, encounter rare and strange endemic plants that can only be found in one of Colombia’s rarest ecosystems: the Páramo. Páramo deserts exist only in high alpine zones just above the forest line and below the permanent snow-line. According to scientists, they are “evolutionary hot spots” with some of the fastest evolving plant and bird species in the world. There are mountainsides of cacti circling alpine lakes, coral-like plants growing from marshes, and blossoming flowers on succulent plants.

Once you reach the mountain top, enjoy a picnic lunch while you soak in the natural beauty of the mountain range. After your hike, drive two hours back to Medellín and return to your hotel by 8 p.m.

What to bring for today:

• Appropriate clothing: long lightweight pants, breathable shirt, hiking poles (optional), warm layer, rain jacket
• Sturdy hiking shoes
• Repellent
• Sunscreen & hat
• Refillable water bottle
• Change of clothes (end of the activity)

Your walking city tour of Medellín starts with a visit to the illustrious Jardin Botanico, (botanical garden). The garden thrives in a city already lush with diverse flora. Next, stroll through the iconic collection of bronze sculptures at Plaza Botero and then board Medellin’s ultramodern Metro system, one of the best in the world. The network includes the world’s first gondola designed for public transport. Not only does the ‘MetroCable’ enable mass transportation over the mountainous terrain but also provides for stunning views.

Take the Metro to San Javier where you will visit the Comuna 13 community art project. Once the most dangerous neighborhood in Medellin it is now experiencing an incredible transformation. After an installation of a series of escalators, the community responded with a massive mural project that now covers many of the walls in the neighborhood.  

Return to Poblado by a guided metro tour. Enjoy a relaxed evening and stay overnight at your boutique hotel.

What to Bring Today:

• Sunscreen
• Walking shoes
• Camera
• Refillable water bottle

After breakfast at your hotel, meet your professional guides and safety kayaker at 8 a.m. Start a scenic drive for 1.5 hours east and enter the jungle of the Samana region. Colombian rivers are unique ways to experience the country’s biodiversity and local communities and this day trip takes you to the Río Calderas, a tributary of the mighty Rio Samana!

Begin an adventurous descent on class 3-3+ intermediate whitewater in the mountainous jungle canyons.  Enjoy relaxing on a secluded beach with a freshly prepared picnic lunch. Unwind with the sounds of birds and learn about the incredible bio-diversity. 

After lunch the river picks up! Enjoy tall waves, and thrilling drops! No previous experience is required, yet even experts will get a kick out of these rapids! Whitewater rafting is a full body physical activity.  You will be paddling actively, raising your heart beat, and potentially swimming in fast moving water!

After the river, enjoy a cold drink and head back to Medellin for the evening! 

* Optional paraglider flight on the way back! 

What to Bring Today:

• Appropriate clothing: shorts or bathing suit, long lightweight pants and breathable shirt
• Sunglasses, hat
• Closed toe sandals or tennis shoes (No flip flop sandals)
• Sunscreen
• Extra clothes (End of the activity)
• Refillable water bottle

After your adventurous day on the river, enjoy a relaxing day in Medellín. We have many suggestions for how you can recharge today including pleasant walks in nearby parks in Envigado, or a visit to Medellín’s Parque Arví. Straight from the city’s metro, you can hop on the cable car that brings you up the slopes of the city to a beautiful nature preserve with walking trails. Enjoy incredible views of the city of Medellín, or explore Santa Elena, a rural town close to Medellín famous for its flower growing tradition.

Meet your guide in the hotel lobby to begin a 2-hour drive to the iconic sites of El Penol and Guatapé. Take a walking tour through the countryside for 2 hours as you learn about the original town of Guatapé and the armed conflict surrounding the building of the dam that was renamed to Guatapé Lake. Take the road less traveled to gain an insider’s perspective on the real story of Guatapé as few tourists do and learn about local efforts to pressure the government to address the reservoir’s encroaching blue-green algae.

As you walk towards the town of El Penol, take in stunning vistas of the dazzling granite La Piedra Rock. Climb the 700 steps of El Penol Rock to admire the classic view of Guatape Lake reservoir.  Return to relax in Guatape, the most colorful town in Colombia, and admire the town’s beautiful artwork along the lower half of its buildings. The town is known as the most colorful in all of Colombia. Enjoy a typical dish of freshwater fish, or other local delicacies. Return to your hotel in Poblado, Medellín by 7 p.m.

Don’t want to walk? Ask your guide in advance about the biking option!

What to Bring for Today:

• Walking shoes, hat, sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Notebook and camera
• Refillable water bottle

Depart from your hotel in Poblado and drive the 50 minutes from the Medellin valley to arrive at Medellín’s José María Córdoba International Airport for your flight. Thank you for visiting!

Extend your trip by 1 night and 2 days to enjoy a visit to the typical colonial town of Jardin (2 hour 45 minute drive from Medellín). Jardin ranks as one of the Colombia’s most historic and charming coffee towns. It sits in a beautiful mountainous, green valley overlooking traditional coffee farms managed by warm, hard-working families. The best views of this striking landscape can be seen from the town’s cable car. Cultural traditions are maintained in the colonial architecture of the Basílica de la Inmaculada Concepción, or in the strong regional food movement. Do as local cowboys do, and take a horseback ride to La Cueva del Esplendor, or simply enjoy a coffee in the town’s plaza. On weekend nights make sure to witness the cowboys show off their horses as they trot circles around the town plaza.

What to Bring for Today:

• Walking shoes
• Refillable water bottle
• Lightweight clothing for the day
• Light jacket for the night
• Sun-hat, sunglasses, sunscreen
• Notebook and camera