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Best Luxury Hotel in Medellin: the Intercontinental


We just spent a couple of weeks traveling in Colombia and some of that was in a city that has become a hotspot for remote workers in the past decade: Medellin. It’s the closest thing to a digital nomad hotspot in South America, with a few thousand foreigners living there. It’s nowhere close to Bogota when it comes to upscale properties to choose from though and we doubled our number of reviews there from one to two. We’ve just added a detailed review of the best full-service luxury hotel in Medellin: the Intercontinental.

This is no new kid on the block though. This was one of the city’s first full-service hotels, back in the days 40 years ago when the safety situation in the city was a lot different than it is today–as was the amount of wealth. The advantage of coming in that early, and hanging on through the ups and downs, is that this property has a luxurious amount of land in El Poblado, the most upscale neighborhood in Medellin.

Most of the other hotels in Poblado are quite different in two ways: they are geared to a young and hip crowd that’s here to party and they are mostly skinny high-rises that are short on public space. They have a roof deck pool not just because of the views: it was the only place they could put one. That’s true for the other property we have reviewed, the Charlee Hotel, and it’s true for most of the others that will come up in searches when you’re on sites like Expedia.

Check out our video tour of the Intercontinental to get a sense of how spacious this property is:

Poblado hotels that have a pool anywhere near as large as the Intercontinental’s are generally 3- and 4-star chain options that don’t provide the smooth, bilingual service you’ll find at this one. “It’s nice to be at a hotel where you can always find someone when you need something,” I overheard one American say, probably comparing the small army of staffers at this property to what you find in the USA right now, where the DIY ethic that existed before the latest labor crunch has gotten even worse.

There are two full restaurants here. The first is an open-air one by the pool that’s covered with a thatched palapa, making this feel more like a resort than a city hotel. The second is in the main building nearby on the same level, with a terrace area and an indoor one. This is where the excellent breakfast buffet happens, complete with a wide range of all the fruit that Colombia is able to grow. Then on the lobby level is a large lounge space that served baked goods and coffee most of the day until teatime and then cocktail time.

There’s a large gym with a good array of equipment plus a full spa if you could use a massage. You could get by without leaving here since there’s room service, two shops, a business center, and meeting space. You don’t have to go far to explore though since El Poblado’s main restaurant and nightlife area is less than 10 minutes away by taxi. (You can walk down to it fairly easily, but getting back is like climbing a mountain.)

Rooms are some of the best-equipped in the city, with all you’d expect from an Intercontinental, including nightly turndown service. There are a few suite options that are worth the upgrade, especially right now when the dollar is so strong against the local currency.

If you want a large hotel with plenty of staffers who can speak English, this is the best luxury hotel in Medellin. Go here to see our full review of Intercontinental Medellin Hotel in Colombia.

Article by Timothy

Timothy Scott is the founder and editor of Luxury Latin America and has been covering the region as a travel journalist since the mid-2000s. He has visited each country we cover multiple times and is based in a UNESCO World Heritage city in central Mexico, where he owns a home. See contact information here.





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