Living in Laureles, Medellín: a local's guide
Time Out named Laureles the world's coolest neighborhood in 2023, and most residents wish they hadn't. This is the Medellín where locals actually live: flat, green, walkable, and full of everyday life. Here's what you need to know before making it home for a season.
Why Laureles and not El Poblado?
Most first-time visitors land in El Poblado, the hilly district of high-rises, hostels and nightlife. It's fun for a weekend and exhausting for a month: steep streets, tourist prices, and more English than Spanish. Laureles is the opposite. It was designed in the 1940s around tree-lined, curving streets made for walking, and it stayed residential. You'll pay local prices, hear Spanish at the bakery, and actually meet your neighbors.
Getting around
Laureles is one of the flattest, most walkable parts of Medellín, and it has something El Poblado doesn't: a truly useful metro connection. From El Estadio station you can reach the city center in about 10 minutes or connect to the Metrocable lines up the mountains. Our houses are 200 meters from the station. For everything else there are inexpensive taxis and ride apps, but many residents go weeks without needing one.
Working remotely
The neighborhood runs on coffee, and the café-with-laptop culture is strong. Wifi is generally excellent across the city; at Casa Verde we have 900 Mb fiber, and Tángara Café downstairs serves specialty coffee from morning to evening if you'd rather work with a cappuccino at your elbow. Medellín's time zone (GMT-5, same as US Eastern most of the year) makes it painless to work with teams in the Americas and workable with Europe.
Eating, coffee and going out
The two parks of Laureles, Primer Parque and Segundo Parque, are ringed with cafés, bakeries and restaurants, and the blocks between them hide dozens more. For nightlife, Carrera 70 ("La 70") is the classic strip of salsa bars and fútbol crowds, loud on weekends and best in small doses. The everyday pleasure is simpler: menú del día lunches for a few dollars, fruit stands, and bakeries that know your order by week two.
Sports and green space
The Atanasio Girardot sports complex next to El Estadio station is one of Medellín's best free amenities: running track, pools, courts and outdoor gyms open to everyone. On match days the whole neighborhood turns green and white for Atlético Nacional or red and blue for DIM, and watching a game with the café crowd is a rite of passage.
Weather, safety and practicalities
Medellín is called the city of eternal spring for a reason: expect 18–28°C (65–82°F) every day of the year, with rain showers that pass quickly. Pack layers, forget the winter coat. On safety: Laureles is a residential neighborhood with normal big-city rules — keep your phone off the curbside table at night, use ride apps after midnight, and you'll almost certainly have an uneventful stay. Get a local SIM or eSIM (Claro and Tigo have the best coverage) and you're set.
Where to stay
We're biased, but we built our houses here for exactly the reasons above. Both are 200 meters from El Estadio metro, attached to our own café, and run by people who live the neighborhood daily.