About us
We didn’t learn the city from a script: we studied it. Pitahaya Travel is a team of historians and journalists from the University of Antioquia who have spent years telling Medellín’s story on foot, from Parque Berrío to the hillside neighborhoods.
We started where almost everyone starts: with a walking tour of downtown, one that grew out of a master’s research in history. There were hundreds of walks and hundreds of conversations with travelers who arrived with one question and left with ten new, better ones. Everything else grew out of that tour.
Today that same team is a licensed tour operator registered in Medellín, with insurance for every traveler and online booking. The format changed; who is speaking, and from where, did not.
How we tell it
Every stop on the tour is backed by sources: archives, newspapers, the city’s historiography and fieldwork in the neighborhoods. When historians disagree about something, we say so instead of picking the most marketable version.
Medellín doesn’t end at Plaza Botero. We ride up by tram and Metrocable because the valley’s history only makes sense from above: who arrived, when, fleeing what, and what was built afterwards.
The years of armed conflict are part of Medellín’s history, and we tell them with context, with sources and with the names of those who lived through them. Never as entertainment.
We’re guides, not announcers. Groups are small so the tour can be a conversation: you can interrupt, doubt, ask about what you read online and check it against someone who studies the city.
The team
Every route is discussed by the whole team: what is told at each stop, with which sources and why. None of them is one person’s script.
She’s the Lola mentioned by name in the reviews: the one who takes groups up the hillside and insists that the city is explained by walking it. Registered cultural agent with Colombia’s Ministry of Culture.
A guide and also the one who keeps the operation running: the schedule, the late-night WhatsApp messages, the suppliers and the signature before the National Tourism Registry. Also a registered cultural agent with the Ministry of Culture.
His research produced the tour that is now our own product: the idea of telling Medellín through its contrasts, from the historic center to the hillside neighborhoods.
The other guide travelers name in their reviews. Trained at the University of Antioquia, she researches the city she guides.
Want to know who will guide you on your date? Message us and we’ll tell you before you book.
What travelers say
★★★★★
“The tour with Lola was a lot of fun and very enriching. We learned so much about Medellín. Lola is a great conversationalist and offers a fresh, interesting take on the city. We recommend her to everyone.”
★★★★★
“An excellent experience. Lola knows a lot and makes the tour really interesting.”
★★★★★
“Our guide was the best part of the tour. She knows exactly what she’s talking about, with facts, stories and history. We found it really thorough and interesting, and Lola is an absolute delight.”
★★★★★
“Paula met us at the meeting point and we walked around the city and its most unique corners, and also rode the tram and the Metrocable. We ended in the Buenos Aires neighborhood, walking along Ayacucho avenue to the little market hall. Paula was wonderful and I highly recommend her: amazing!”
★★★★★
“Paula was an excellent guide; she enriched our trip with her perspective on the culture and the many contrasts of this important city in our beloved Colombia.”
★★★★★
“We did the tour with our guide Paula in Medellín and it was very good. The route shows you different sides of Medellín and takes you to places with fewer tourists, but no less important. Highly recommended, also to support this project by history students from the local university.”
Reviews from travelers who took the tour, published on FreeTour.com and sent through this site. FreeTour reviews are shown here in English translation.
What you’ll find
Bring whatever questions you like: we answer all of them, with what the sources say and with what you see as you walk. No question is out of place.
What we tell is a whole city: the 1675 town, gold and the textile industry, the migration that filled the hillsides, the hard years of armed conflict, the urban planning that came afterwards and the people who held the neighborhoods together all that time. With context, with dates and with real names.
By the end of the tour, almost everyone leaves with a bigger idea of Medellín than the one they arrived with. That’s the point.
Legal commitment
Pitahaya Travel does not promote, facilitate or tolerate sex tourism, let alone the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (known in Colombia as ESCNNA). None of our services —guiding, transport, booked accommodation or recommendations— may be used for that purpose. If we detect such a situation, we end the service immediately and report it to the authorities.
It’s an ethical position and also a legal obligation. As a travel agency registered in the National Tourism Registry, we comply with Law 679 of 2001 and Law 1336 of 2009, which require tourism providers to adopt a code of conduct to prevent the sexual exploitation of minors and to inform their clients about it.
In Colombia, the sexual abuse and exploitation of anyone under 18 are crimes. Article 217A of the Penal Code punishes with 14 to 25 years in prison anyone who solicits or demands any sexual act with a person under 18 in exchange for money or any other compensation; the penalty is not reduced for not knowing the victim’s age or for their consent.
If you see or suspect the sexual exploitation of children or adolescents in Colombia, report it: ICBF hotline 141 (free, 24 hours), the 123 emergency line, the Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General de la Nación) or the anonymous form at teprotejo.org. We do it too.
City of Contrasts runs several times a week, in Spanish and in English. We also run Guatapé, a coffee tour, Comuna 13, Río Claro and the viewpoints by night.
Hi! Which tour are you interested in? Message us and we’ll help with dates, pickup and booking.