Plaza Botero and Downtown Medellín: Guided Walk or On Your Own?
5 min read
Short answer: you can see Plaza Botero on your own in a short stop. A guide is worth it for the rest of the centre, where the history sits. The plaza is the easy part, so the question is how much you want of everything around it.
What Plaza Botero is
It is a public square in central Medellín holding 23 bronze sculptures by the Colombian artist Fernando Botero, set between the Museo de Antioquia and the Palacio de la Cultura Rafael Uribe Uribe. Botero donated the works to the city, as RCN reported in 2023. The sculptures are in the open air, so looking at them needs no booking. The museum is a separate visit; the historic walking tour lists museum entry as not included. Check the museum’s own site for hours and prices.
What a guide adds
The sculptures speak for themselves. The streets around them are where context helps, and the historic walking tour shows what that means in practice. Its booking page lists the stops: the old Antioquia railway station, the Monumento a la Raza, Plaza de las Luces, the El Hueco market streets, the Palacio Nacional, the Ermita de la Veracruz, Plaza Botero, Parque Berrío and finally San Antonio Park. That is the centre in one walk, with someone explaining how its past fits together.
The car tours spend less time there. The private tour with the Metrocable at Juan XXIII gives Plaza Botero 30 minutes, the nine-hour day tour 30 to 40, before they move on to Comuna 13 and Pueblito Paisa.
Eight tours that include the centre
| Tour | Length | From | Rating | What the booking page says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medellín historic walking tour | 3.5 hours | €14.30 | 4.9 (184) | On foot through the centre, ends at San Antonio Park; English only; metro tickets, lunch and museum entry not included |
| City bike tour with Colombian drinks and snacks | 3 hours | €28.32 | 4.9 (1,316) | Morning ride through parks, the centre and historic squares, ends at Pueblito Paisa; helmet, snacks, beer, juice and coffee; e-bike as an upgrade |
| E-bike city tour with local beer and snacks | 4 hours | €41.47 | 4.9 (70) | From Laureles: Pueblito Paisa, river parks, La Alpujarra, 30 minutes at Plaza Botero; water, a snack, juice or beer |
| Comuna 13, cable cars and Botero statues tour | 4 hours | €79.26 | 4.8 (66) | Private, hotel pickup, a walk through El Centro with its churches, Comuna 13; metro and cable fares included |
| Private city tour with Metrocable and Comuna 13 | 5 hours | €65 | 4.9 (345) | Private, hotel pickup, Pueblito Paisa, Comuna 13, Plaza Botero, Parques del Río; lunch not included |
| City tour: Pueblito Paisa, Botero Square, Comuna 13, viewpoints | 5 hours | €109.41 | 4.7 (35) | Private, from your accommodation, Plaza Botero, Parque Berrío, La Alpujarra, the old railway station; audio guide in French and Portuguese |
| Private city tour: Comuna 13, Metro Cable, Botero, Pueblito Paisa | 6 hours | €99.83 | 4.9 (52) | Private, pickup in El Poblado, Laureles or Envigado, 30 minutes at Plaza Botero, Metrocable at Juan XXIII; food and drinks not included |
| Medellín in a day: Comuna 13, Botero, Metrocable, lunch | 9 hours | €65.22 | 4.6 (80) | Pickup in El Poblado or Laureles from 8 am, about 40 minutes at Plaza Botero, lunch included |
Prices are per person, also for the private tours; the booking calendar shows the total for your group. Apart from the historic walking tour, all of these have guides who speak Spanish and English.
Which format suits you
You want history and a low price: the historic walking tour. It is the one tour here that spends its whole time in the centre, and it ends in San Antonio Park. There, Botero’s “Bird”, half destroyed by a bomb in June 1995, stands next to the new one he donated in 2000, as El Colombiano recounts.
You would rather ride than walk: one of the two bike tours. The city bike tour has 1,316 reviews. Its booking page lists children under 10, pregnant women and people with mobility impairments as not suitable and says the tour suits anyone who can ride a bike; the last stretch up to Pueblito Paisa is a small hill. The listing gives three hours, its own description four. The e-bike tour starts in Laureles and is the one that names a stop at Plaza Botero.
You want the centre plus Comuna 13 in one outing: a private city tour, or our Comuna 13 guide if you would rather go to that neighbourhood alone. The private tour with Juan XXIII lists people with back problems and wheelchair users as not suitable. The city tours page lists the rest.
You have one day in Medellín: the nine-hour tour.
Our recommendation
For most visitors who are happy with an English-speaking guide: the Medellín historic walking tour. At €14.30 per person and 4.9 stars from 184 reviews, it is a guided walk through the whole centre without the commitment of a private tour. If you want a Spanish-speaking guide, choose one of the private tours. Spend your own half hour in the plaza afterwards.
