How to Visit Comuna 13: Alone + Best Tours

You’ve heard that Comuna 13 is one of the top things to do in Medellín, and now you’re trying to work out how to visit Comuna 13.

You’re in the right place.

I spent 4 days in Medellin on my month long trip around Colombia. And Comuna 13 was by far my top highlight of everything I did in Medellin. (It also completely took me by surprise).

I visited la Comuna 13 as a guided tour because I wanted the history. It used to be one of the most dangerous cities in South America and now it’s a thriving tourist hub, all since the 90s.

I wanted to learn about it from someone who actually lived through it.

But a guide is only one option. You can absolutely wander in on your own, day or evening.

This guide covers both. What Comuna 13 actually is, whether it’s safe, how to get there, what to do once you’re in, and the best Comuna 13 tours if you decide you want a local guide walking you through it.

My Quick Answer – Can You Visit Comuna 13 Without A Guide?

Yes, you can visit Comuna 13 Medellín completely alone, and plenty of people do.

But I super recommend doing a tour, at least for your first visit. There is so much history packed into this small pocket of the city, over such a short span of time, that wandering around without context means you’re basically looking at very pretty walls.

The tours are also cheap. Most sit between US$13 and US$25 per person, which is not a lot of money for the difference it makes.

My move: do a guided tour in the late afternoon, then stay behind afterwards to shop, eat, and watch the neighbourhood light up.

⭐ Check out: My favourite Medellin Comuna 13 Graffiti and Street Food

A Cheat Sheet to Comuna 13

Where it is	Comuna 13 Medellin Colombia, on the city’s western hillside
Time needed	2 to 3 hours minimum, longer if you want to shop and eat
Getting there	Uber or taxi to “las escaleras eléctricas,” or Metro Line B to San Javier
Tour cost	Around US$13 to US$25 per person for a group tour
Best time to go	Mornings are quietest, late afternoon is prettiest, Sundays are packed
Cash needed	Yes, there are no ATMs inside. Bring small notes
Guide needed?	Not required, but strongly recommended for your first visit to learn the history. Totally fine without though.
What to wear	Comfortable shoes. There are a lot of stairs and hills

What Is Comuna 13?

Comuna 13 is one of Medellín’s hillside barrios, closer to what you’d picture as a favela than a neighbourhood.

It’s one of 16 comunas in Medellin. A comuna is a big administrative district, so Comuna 13 isn’t one neighbourhood at all. It’s actually 20 barrios stacked up a mountainside, home to around 140,000 people.

The strip you visit as a tourist is a small slice of that, mostly the barrios Las Independencias and Veinte de Julio.

A Brief Look at Why Comuna 13 is So Famous – It’s History:

For a while, this was considered one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in South America.

You’ll hear about Pablo Escobar a bit because he founded and ran the Medellin Cartel. But Comuna 13’s story isn’t really an Escobar story anyway. Its worst years came after he died with war between paramilitary, guerillas, cartels, and the government.

The heavy military violence ended back in the early 2000s. The turning point was Operación Orión in 2002 and was the largest urban military operation in Colombia’s armed conflict.

Today it’s the opposite. It’s covered in art and music and colour, and the local economy has completely popped off with tourism.

There are families here who have lived in these houses for generations, who watched their community go from a war zone to a place where they can make a real living off the visitors.

What to Expect of Comuna 13 Now:

The Comuna is stacked into the hillsides of Medellin, so it’s a lot of stairs and windy alleys leading upwards to the top. Yes, that means lots of stair climbing but this was part of what I found made it so charming.

They also have these open air covered escalators. I loved riding up them, seeing the colourful buildings and street art pass me by with greenery hanging over the top of the cover.

Over 10,000 people use them every day, and most of them are people who live there and are just going home.

Around them, the whole comuna is narrow stairs and alleyways winding between painted houses. It’s one of the most unusual places I’ve ever walked around.

⭐ Check out: My favourite Medellin Comuna 13 Graffiti and Street Food

Can You Visit Comuna 13 Without a Guide?

Yes. You can easily visit Comuna 13 without a guide.

There’s no gate or ticket or anything, it’s just a neighbourhood. I found it very comfortable to walk around alone for an hour after my tour ended.

There are tons of other tourists around and lots of activity.

Is Comuna 13 Safe to Visit?

Yes, Comuna 13 is safe to visit, including without a guide.

It’s actually one of the most touristy parts of the city. Souvenir stalls, restaurants, cafés, street performers, and artists selling street art prints.

Medellín’s own official tourism board says the neighbourhood “has a history of violence” but “it’s now a safe, welcoming space for respectful visitors,” and asks people to remember that this is somewhere people actually live.

Tip: Like any touristy place, you have to watch out for pickpocketing and theft. Just keep a close eye on your belongings and don’t wave around valuables.

Can You Walk Around Comuna 13 After Dark?

Yes, and I’d actually recommend it.

Not really late, but shortly after dark when it’s still full of people and all the restaurants and shops are open.

I walked around for an hour after my tour ended at 6:30 when the sun had set. The whole comuna was lit up.

I asked my guide directly whether it was safe for me to stay and shop and go back to a few spots on my own. He said yes, no hesitation. There are people everywhere, there are other tourists, and the main strip stays busy.

Tip: The smart move is just not wandering down empty side alleys by yourself after dark.

But sticking to the main streets after dark is completely fine, and seeing the hillside light up is one of the most beautiful things I did in Medellín.

⭐ Check out: My favourite Medellin Comuna 13 Graffiti and Street Food

How to Get to Comuna 13

Getting to Comuna 13 Colombia’s most photographed neighbourhood is really easy.

The simplest option is an Uber. I took Ubers to get around everywhere in Medellin, it’s by far the easiest way to get around. Also sooo cheap!

I don’t think I paid over $10 for an Uber the entire time I was in the city. Even on a 30 minute drive through traffic.

Set your destination to “las escaleras eléctricas de la Comuna 13”. It drops you right at the base of the escalators, around Carrera 108 with Calle 38 in the barrio Veinte de Julio, which is where most tour groups meet too.

What Is There to Do in Comuna 13?

The main thing to do is wander.

The whole barrio climbs a hill, so there are stairs everywhere, and the escalators carry you up section by section until you’re looking out over the entire city.

The point of visiting Comuna 13 is to get lost in it. The street art is the reason most people come to Comuna 13 in the first place, and I found it everywhere! It feels like every wall and corner has a new beautiful art piece to admire.

I’d give yourself two full hours just for wandering, before you factor in eating or shopping.

Souvenir shopping and lookout points:

I loved stopping at the souvenir stalls and little street food vendors to sample empanadas and chorizo. There are also lookout points as you get higher to look over the barrio and the rest of Medellin.

A lot of the stalls and performers cluster along the Viaducto Media Ladera, an elevated pedestrian walkway the city built partly to extend the graffiti tour route.

Casa Neón

There’s also a tiny glow-in-the-dark art room called Casa Neón, where you put on 3D glasses and walk through a small space painted floor to ceiling in neon. It’s free to go in and you leave a tip on your way out.

Music and Dance Performances

The music is what surprised me most.

You’ll find breakdance crews putting on performances. You’ll find kids who come up to you with their own boombox and rap about the city at you.

We sat down with one guy doing freestyle, and the whole group threw him about twenty random words in English and Spanish, and he built a rap out of all of them on the spot.

The heart and soul of Comuna 13 now lives in its art, its music, and its creativity.

If you want to understand where that came from, look up Casa Kolacho, the hip-hop and graffiti collective founded by local residents that created the original Graffitour. They’re the reason this whole thing exists in the form it does.

⭐ Check out: My favourite Medellin Comuna 13 Graffiti and Street Food

Food to Try in Comuna 13

Empanadas are the obvious starting point and you’ll find them at half a dozen stalls. Most of them are made with potato fillings and corn breading.

Chorizo and butifarras, which are small local sausages, are sold hot off the grills along the walkway.

Patacón con hogao is my other pick. It’s smashed fried plantain topped with a tomato and onion sofrito.

Arepas are everywhere. The everyday Antioquian one is thin, plain and lightly toasted, but look for arepa de choclo, made with sweet young corn and served with cheese.

I also really liked the frozen mango treat with salt and lime. It’s a Comuna 13 staple and simply delicious. You’ll also see fresh mango biche, green unripe mango sliced with salt, lime and chilli, sold from carts.

Then there are the ants. You’ll see signs advertising “big ass ants,” which is a very literal translation of hormigas culonas, roasted leafcutter ant queens that taste salty and nutty. I did not try these haha.

Things to Know Before Going to Comuna 13

These tips are specific to Comuna 13, but I also have a complete list of Medellín travel tips I wish I knew before visiting that covers the rest of the city.

• Bring cash. There are no ATMs or banks inside Comuna 13, and the stalls, performers, and galleries are cash only. Bring small notes, because vendors often can’t break a big one.
• Watch your phone. This applies to most of Medellín, but especially in the crowded touristy sections. My friend got her phone taken out of her purse on a night out in Medellin so it does happen.
• Wear comfortable shoes. So many stairs. So many hills.
• Bring water. You can buy bottles up there, but you’re climbing a lot.
• Escalator sections close for maintenance. The city runs them roughly 6am to 10pm and has been doing phased maintenance work section by section. The concrete stairs alongside always stay open, so you can still get up either way.
• It’s not accessible. If you have mobility issues, this is a tough one. It’s steep, narrow, and stair-heavy, and it’s not stroller friendly either. Kids who can walk it, though, will have a brilliant time.
• Avoid Sunday if you can. It’s the busiest day by a long way.

⭐ Check out: My favourite Medellin Comuna 13 Graffiti and Street Food

Should You Visit Comuna 13 With a Tour?

I strongly believe you should.

If you’re someone who likes exploring alone, doesn’t want to pay for a tour, and wants to move at your own pace, that’s completely valid and you’ll still have a great day.

But a local guide is one of the most worthwhile twenty dollars I spent in Medellin.

There is so much history steeped into this tiny part of the city, and so much of it happened in such a compressed window of time, that without someone explaining it you’re missing about 80% of what you’re looking at.

Standing on a viewpoint while your guide points across the valley to a mass grave where they were still recovering bodies recently changes how you see everything around you.

My guide walked us into a basketball court at the heart of the comuna where kids were playing, and told us they had used it as an execution site only a few decades ago.

Recent History – so these guides often lived through it. The other thing is that this is recent history, so a lot of guides carry actual living memory of it. Mine was somewhere in his fifties and had grown up in Medellín, so he was very much around for all of it.

They know the best secret spots. Guides also just know the place.

They know which route takes you past the breakdancers at the right time, which stall does the best empanadas, and which viewpoint is worth the extra climb.

You can find all of that yourself. But hitting the highlights with someone who knows them, and then wandering on your own afterwards, is the best of both.

And they’re cheap.

⭐ Check out: My favourite Medellin Comuna 13 Graffiti and Street Food

What Are the Best Comuna 13 Tours?

I personally went with the Medellin Comuna 13 Graffiti and Street Food Half-Day Tour.

It specifically highlights stopping at the best street art spots and you get food samples included in the day.

I was super happy with it. The group wasn’t too large, only about 10 of us. The guide was fantastic. The whole tour lasted about 2.5 hours which was perfect to have some energy left to wander independently after.

⭐ Check out: My favourite Medellin Comuna 13 Graffiti and Street Food

Some of the other best options:

• Comuna 13 Graffiti Tour, Cable Car and Street Food Do this one if you want to combine a cable car ride too. They do small groups capped at 10, and it includes your metro, bus, and cable car tickets, an arepa, and a drink at a bar with city views.
• Comuna 13 Tour with Snacks and Your Own Graffiti Guides are Comuna 13 residents, you get empanadas, ice cream and patacones, and you get to spray-paint your own graffiti at the end.
• Comuna 13 Graffiti Tour with a Local and Artisan Ice Cream This one meets you at San Javier metro station itself, which makes it the easiest pick if you’re coming in on the metro rather than by Uber. Look for the guide with the green umbrella.
• Pablo Escobar and Comuna 13 Private Tour If you want the cartel history alongside the neighbourhood, this is a private tour with transport that covers Inflexión Park, built on the site of Escobar’s demolished Mónaco building, plus Comuna 13. It deliberately avoids glorifying him.

Tips to Know If You Are Going With a Guide

• Book an afternoon slot. I did the 4:30pm tour so I could explore in daylight but see it light up as the sun set. Those tiered viewpoints over Medellín at dusk are magic.

• Check the cancellation window. Most Comuna 13 tour Medellin listings on Viator and GetYourGuide let you cancel free up to 24 hours ahead, so there’s no risk in booking a few days out.

• Show up early. Ten minutes ideally. Medellín traffic is unpredictable and if you’re coming from El Poblado it can crawl. I meant to be early and arrived exactly on time. It was fine because my guide waited for the full group anyway, but don’t count on that. (Your travel time will depend heavily on which neighbourhood you choose, so check my guide to where to stay in Medellín before booking your accommodation).
  
• Tip your guide, but don’t stress about it. It’s kind of a grey area when you’re paying for the tour, not doing a free walking tour. I’d say half the group tipped and half didn’t. I gave about $10. They definitely don’t get everyone’s booking fee, so the tips probably make a big difference.

• Stay behind afterwards. This is my biggest tip. When the tour ends, go back to the spots you liked, eat something, and shop the main strip while it’s lit up.

• On shopping. My guide told us bartering is normal practice in the souvenir stalls here and gave us rough price guides for things like clothing. I’d add my own note to that: most of these are local artists and small family stalls, so in the end what is a couple dollars.

You can find cheaper souvenirs in downtown Medellín and Centro, but the price gap honestly isn’t big. I found way better clothing options in the comuna.

If a price feels too high, walk. You’ll almost always find something near identical at another stall two minutes up the hill.

⭐ Check out: My favourite Medellin Comuna 13 Graffiti and Street Food

FAQs About Visiting Comuna 13

Final Verdict

If you take one thing from this guide on how to visit Comuna 13, make it this: go, and go with a guide the first time.

La Comuna 13 Medellín gave me the single best afternoon of my four days in the city, and I’m not usually the person who ranks a city neighbourhood above a mountain or a coastline.

Getting there is easy. Doing it alone is safe. But the reason a tour Comuna 13 Medellín operator is worth booking is the story, and the story is the entire point of this place.

Go in the late afternoon. Bring cash and comfortable shoes. Eat the mango ice cream with salt and lime.

Then stay after your guide leaves, and watch the hillside light up.

Once you’ve planned your visit here, use my complete Medellín travel guide to organize the rest of your time in the city, including where to stay, how to get around, and what else to do.

⭐ Check out: My favourite Medellin Comuna 13 Graffiti and Street Food