BJJ in Medellin

November, 2022

Comuna 13, Pablo and BJJ

Duration: 14 days, 13 nights

Location: Medellin, COL

Costs: Flight 75$, Hotels 700$

Second stop on Colombia, Medellín.

Long time on my bucket list and finally I made it.

First time after a lot of travel that I stayed in a city longer and could relax a bit.

Thanks to Christian Graugard I had the number of Carlos Barretto from Gracie Barra Medellin.

My accommodations were Airbnb`s located in El Poblado.

Getting here

I took the airplane to safe time. The flight takes about an hour.

The bus is the cheaper version but it takes around 12 hours.

BJJ

Gracie Barra Medellin is located in the north of El Poblado. The academy is around 100m2 big with 2 rooms of mats.

The academy offers BJJ classes for different levels, kids classes and woman`s class. Classes are holden Monday to Saturday. Monday to Thursday they have morning, lunch and evening classes. Friday in the evening kids and openmat, Saturdays moring classes.

The level is mixed, you find all sorts of belts on the mat. Also a lot of visitors and expads train there.

I stayed 2 weeks in Medellin and trained mostly in the evening. Carlos welcomed me like I`m one of his students.

Other gyms in Medellin:

Checkmat, ATLAB, Gracie BJJ, MMA Colombia and Klaveras.

Food and drinks

Medellin`s kitchen is quite heavy. Next to the things like Empanadas, Sancocho, street food and tropical fruits you will find a local specialty named Bandeja Paisa.

Bandeja Paisa is a grill plate with Chorizo (spicy sausage), Chicharron (pig rind), Carne Molida (beef hack), red beans, rice, avocado, egg, plantain and Arepas (corn flatbread).

Make sure you are very hungry when you order Pandeja Paisa, the plate is more than enough for two persons.

Bunuelos another specialty, are fried dough balls with cheese in it.

And of course Colombian coffee. The Colombian says it’s the best in the world, compared to the European coffee, the beans are not so well roosted and the coffee tasted a bit sweet.

Last but not least, Colombia has also a good variety of beers, my favorite is Aguila.

What to do

Medellin is the 2nd biggest city in Colombia and has a lot to offer.

I can highly recommend the free walking tours in the Comuna13 and the old city tour. The Comuna13 tour brings you in to one of the most dangerous parts of Medellin from the past. Nowadays it’s a colorful place with street art. The tour will explain you all the meaning of the graffiti’s. The city tour will show you the most important places in the center, the center is not the safest place in Medellin so I really recommend the tour. Main thing to see is the Plaza Botero.

Medellin is full of museums, I went to Museo Arte Moderno Medellin, Museo de Antioquia, Museo el Castillo and Museo Casa de la Memoria.

Other nice things to see, the botanic garden and Pueblito Paisa (small village on a hill).

One last thing, a day trip to Guatape. I don’t recommend to stay more; I took the 6am bus which arrives around 8am. Went straight to the top of the rock after climbing the 700 stair steps I had a perfect view over the area. After that I went to the town and walked around. There are many bout tours to discover the waterside of Guatape.

My Google Maps list of Medellin

Nightlife

El Poblado has one road full of clubs and bars. They are located at the Cerrera 35. The most people heading to this area around 8pm to have dinner and some drinks before entering a club.

The other place where you find a lot of bar is Parque Lleras. The park is surrounded by bars and you find people dancing and drinking in the park.

While walking in the area of el Poblados going out area you should be very careful. A lot of street sellers are trying to sell you drugs on the street. You will also see a lot of beautiful woman’s here, believe me they are not for free…

Good to know

You need to show a proof how you leave the country when you enter.

They can also ask for a proof of a yellow fiver vaccination.

El Poblado is the safest place to stay in Medellin.

UBER is available everywhere in the city and most of the time the fastest way to travel. But if there is traffic in Medellin, the better solution can be the Metro. Medellin is the only Colombian city with a Metro system and it`s super easy to use and cheaper than taxis.

The currency is Colombian Peso (COP).

to the capital