Yes, we plan a group’s whole stay in Medellín or Bogotá: the villa or hotel, airport transfers, day trips, restaurant tables and guides. At Colombia Desk, our Medellín concierge books the villa, the transport and the day trips, and we stay reachable while you are here.
We plan Medellín trips around three must-dos: Guatapé and the rock of El Peñol, the street art of Comuna 13, and the cable car to Parque Arví. The work is fitting them around a dozen people’s flights, a wedding or a party night without anyone stuck in traffic. Tell us your dates, group size and the occasion through our contact form.
What Our Medellín Concierge Books for a Group
Our Medellín concierge books everything a group needs between landing and flying home, and keeps one person on call for changes. A group trip has more moving parts than a couple’s holiday, and most of them depend on a head count that changes the week before.
- The stay. A villa, a finca (a country house outside the city) or a block of hotel rooms, matched to the group’s size and the plan for each night.
- Airport transfers. Vans sized for the group and its bags. José María Córdova airport sits in Rionegro, outside the city. The fixed taxi fare from there to Medellín was COP 132,000 in 2026, per the Alcaldía de Medellín. A van keeps the group and the luggage together in one trip.
- Day trips. Guatapé, coffee farms, Parque Arví or a day at a finca with a pool, with a driver who waits.
- Tables and dinners. Reservations at licensed restaurants and bars, or a private chef at the villa.
- Guides. Bilingual guides for Comuna 13, the city center or Bogotá’s La Candelaria.
- Events. A wedding dinner, a birthday, a rehearsal, or seats and timing for Feria de las Flores.
- Someone reachable. One contact for the whole stay who can move a booking when a flight is late.
In Bogotá we book the same pieces, with Monserrate, the Museo del Oro and Usaquén’s Sunday market in place of the Medellín day trips. Where to stay in Bogotá covers the areas we book there.
The Trips We Plan by Occasion
Each kind of group trip has one thing that decides whether it goes well. The table names it.
| Occasion | What we book | What we watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Bachelor or bachelorette party | Villa or finca, chef, boat day in Guatapé, tables, cars home | A legal rental and safe rides after midnight |
| Wedding | Venue, guest rooms, transport, notary appointment | Documents apostilled and translated in time |
| Family trip | Apartment or hotel near parks, drivers, kid-friendly days | Short drives and an early finish |
| Feria de las Flores | Stay near the parade routes, seats, timing | Road closures on parade days |
| Christmas and New Year | Stay near the lights, dinners, day trips | December crowds and fireworks rules |
Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties
A good Medellín bachelor weekend is a villa, a long lunch, a boat on the Guatapé reservoir and a table somewhere loud, with a car waiting at the end. We plan exactly that, and Colombia bachelor party: Medellín vs Cartagena compares the two cities. What we will not arrange is covered further down.
Weddings
A legal wedding in Colombia is a civil ceremony before a notary, and the paperwork takes longer than the party. Foreign partners need birth and single-status certificates that are apostilled, translated into Spanish and usually issued within about three months, according to Expat.com. A Catholic wedding means contacting the parish about six months ahead. We line up the notary or parish, the venue and the guests’ rooms, and getting married in Medellín lists the venues.
Family Trips
Families get shorter drives, earlier days and stops built around children. Parque Explora, Medellín’s science museum with an aquarium, is closed on Mondays, so we plan it for later in the week. For Bogotá, at about 2,600 meters, we keep the first two days light because children feel altitude like adults do, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes. Medellín with kids and Bogotá with kids have full plans.
Feria de las Flores and Christmas
Feria de las Flores and the Christmas lights are Medellín’s two big annual events, so book them earliest. The 2026 Feria de las Flores ran from July 31 to August 9, ending with the Desfile de Silleteros parade on Sunday, August 9, per Canal Trece. The 2025 Christmas lights (alumbrados) ran from November 28 to January 12, from 6 pm to midnight, with the main route along Parques del Río. Fireworks are banned in Medellín under a 2025 decree, so New Year plans should not count on setting any off.
How We Check a Villa or Finca Before You Pay
We check the rental’s paperwork before any deposit leaves your account. In Colombia, renting a home for less than 30 days counts as a tourism service under Ley 2068 de 2020. The host must hold an active Registro Nacional de Turismo (RNT) number.
- The RNT number. We confirm the host has one and that it is active, because a listing without it can be shut down mid-stay.
- Building permission. For an apartment in a building, the bylaws must allow short stays, or the building’s administration can report the unit.
- The real capacity. Beds, bathrooms and the guest limit in writing, so 14 people are not sharing a house licensed for 8.
- A live walk-through. A video call through the actual house, including the pool, the road in and the noise from neighbors.
- The terms. Deposit, cancellation rules and what happens if the power or water fails.
Medellín has been suspending unlicensed tourist homes, so these checks protect the trip and the deposit. The rules are explained in buying property in Medellín for anyone weighing a rental investment of their own.
Planning the Guatapé Day Trip for a Group
Guatapé is about 81 km from Medellín, roughly 1 hour 50 minutes by car, according to El Espectador. The climb up El Peñol rock is about 650 to 740 steps, with 740 the most cited count, and entry cost COP 30,000 in 2025. In 2025 the rock was open daily from 8 am to 6 pm.
For a group, we leave early to climb before the midday heat and the tour buses. Then comes lunch in Guatapé’s painted streets and a boat on the reservoir, with the driver taking everyone back before evening traffic. Anyone who skips the climb gets a slower morning in town, and the group meets for the boat.
What We Will Not Arrange
We do not arrange sex work, escorts, “companions” or drugs, for any group or any price. We decline those requests, and we do not refer them elsewhere.
Medellín has moved against this directly. In April 2024 the Alcaldía de Medellín announced decrees against commercial sexual exploitation in El Poblado, after a foreign visitor was found with two minors in a hotel. El Colombiano reported 92 foreigners arrested in four months of operations around Parque Lleras in early 2024.
The real risks for a group night out are drugging and robbery. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) warns that criminals use dating apps to target foreign travelers and drug victims, including with scopolamine. So we book rides through vetted drivers, keep the group together after dark and tell everyone to skip dating-app meetups on the trip.
Who This Service Is Not For
Group planning pays off for groups with a date to hit. Three kinds of trip need less from us.
- Solo travelers and couples on a budget. Book a hotel in El Poblado or Laureles and use the Medellín itinerary to plan the days yourself.
- Groups who want to improvise every night. We can book only the villa and the airport vans, and leave the nights open.
- Anyone whose plan centers on what we do not arrange. We are the wrong concierge for that trip.
A wedding, children, a festival date or a group over about ten people changes the answer. Each adds bookings that have to line up. One missed van or double-booked villa costs the whole group a day.
How to Start Planning
Tell us the city, dates, number of people, the occasion and a rough budget per person. We reply with a first plan: where you would stay, how the days would run and what to book first.
Send those details through the contact form, and our Medellín concierge team will come back with a first plan for your group.