Medellin Cable Car
Medellin which has the only metro system in Colombia also has a cable car. The cable car while designed as public transport for locals has become a major tourist attraction as its has scenic views both of nature and the city and takes you to Park Arvi. You can get to the cable car to the park from Santo Domingo Station. If your Spanish is not great, hold up one or more fingers to indicate the number of tickets you need.
Park Arvi
At the top of the Cable Car is Park Arvi a very large ecological nature reserve.
The Park is 39,500 acres and has 33 miles of hiking trails. Here you can enjoy the views, eat, hike, cycle and horseback ride. There is an information center here where you can book a guided tour for a fee or rent a bicycle or book horse riding.
Parque Arví is generally quite safe to visit, however, there have been robberies in the park so it’s best to take a guided tour or stick to areas of the park where there are other people. The Park website is https://parquearvi.org/en/ and phone is +57 4 444 2979. Hours: Tuesday to Sunday: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm; normally closed on Monday. If Monday is a holiday the park is open on Monday and closed on Tuesday.
Park Arvi Market
Park Arvi Market is located next to the Arví cable car station. Here the local farmers and vendors sell coffee, sweets, food, jewelry, clothes, crafts and other souvenirs. There are normally about 30 stands open although not as many during the weekdays.
Restaurants & Cafes
At the top, there is a cafe and a minute walk on the road there are three small restaurants to get some food and drink, we stopped at Cable a Tiera which had some nice comfort food.
Getting There
The best way to get to the park is using the Medellín Metro. From Poblado you can take the A Line to the Acevedo metro station. At the Acevedo metro station walk upstairs and to the right to transfer to the K Line (cable car) to Santo Domingo station. At Santo Domingo station transfer to Line L Metrocable to Parque Arví which takes about 20 minutes.
The Metrocable line to Park Arví (Line L) has a separate fare of 10,000 COP
When you leave make sure to arrive at the Arví station no later than 5:30 pm as there are normally lines for the return trip. The Cable car closes at 6 pm after that there are buses that can take you back to Medellín.
Taxis are another option to get to the park but will be more expensive.
Comments
For a nice relaxing day, I recommend taking the cable car up to Park Arvi for the views, some local food and a little stroll in n nature. Hope you enjoy, let me know how your experience is and any comments or questions
