What's on in Medellín, Colombia through the year

Peak crowds — The Monday puentes, Alumbrados navidenos

• Holiday

  The Monday puentes

  1 Jan – 31 DecNational holidayCrowded

  Colombia moves most of its public holidays onto a Monday, so the country takes a long weekend roughly every month. Guatape, Jardin and the road out of the valley are solid on every one of them. Source ↗

Still on: Alumbrados navidenos (28 Nov – 14 Jan (usually)), The drier weeks between the rains (15 Dec – 10 Mar), Novenas and the December break (16 Dec – 6 Jan)

Busy — The Monday puentes, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec), The drier weeks between the rains (15 Dec – 10 Mar)

Peak crowds — The Monday puentes, Semana Santa

• Holiday

  Semana Santa

  29 Mar – 5 AprEaster & Holy WeekCrowdedClosures

  Antioquia empties towards the coast and the pueblos, so the city itself is quieter than usual while Guatape and Jardin are solid. Thursday and Friday are effectively shut in the centre. Source ↗

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec), The drier weeks between the rains (15 Dec – 10 Mar)

Peak crowds — The Monday puentes, Semana Santa

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Semana Santa (29 Mar – 5 Apr)

Busy — The Monday puentes

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Peak crowds — The Monday puentes, Mid-year recess in Colombia

• Festival

  Festival Internacional de Tango

  8–14 JunMajor festival

  A week of milongas, contests and free concerts, most of it municipal and free to walk into. Gardel died here in 1935 and the city has never let go of it, which is why this festival is not a novelty act. Source ↗

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Peak crowds — The Monday puentes, Feria de las Flores

• Festival

  Feria de las Flores

  31 Jul – 9 AugMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Ten days and two hundred-odd events: classic car parade, horse fair, open-air concerts and the whole city out on the street. The single busiest stretch of the Medellin year, and rooms go months ahead. Source ↗

• Festival

  Colombiamoda

  28 Jul – 5 Aug · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Latin America's largest fashion trade week fills Plaza Mayor and the Poblado hotels for four days in late July, and it runs straight into the start of the flower fair. Together they are the year's tightest fortnight. Source ↗

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Peak crowds — The Monday puentes, Feria de las Flores

• Festival

  Desfile de Silleteros

  9 AugMajor festivalCrowdedClosures

  Five hundred growers from Santa Elena carry flower arrangements the size of doors on their backs along the river corridor, on the last afternoon of the fair. Grandstand seats are sold; the free stretches fill by lunchtime. Source ↗

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Feria de las Flores (31 Jul – 9 Aug), Colombiamoda (28 Jul – 5 Aug (usually))

Busy — The Monday puentes, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Fiesta del Libro y la Cultura

  11–20 Sep · usuallyMajor festival

  Ten days of stalls, readings and free concerts through the botanical garden and the science park in September, and one of the best-attended book fairs on the continent. Free to walk into. Source ↗

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Peak crowds — The Monday puentes, October recess week in Colombia

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Peak crowds — The Monday puentes, Alumbrados navidenos

• Opening

  Alumbrados navidenos

  28 Nov – 14 Jan · usuallyChristmas & New YearCrowded

  The utility company strings millions of lights along the river and the main avenues and switches them on at the end of November, then leaves them up into mid-January. Weekend evenings on the river walk are shoulder to shoulder. Source ↗

• Festival

  La Alborada

  30 Nov – 1 DecChristmas & New YearRisk

  At midnight on the last night of November the whole valley sets off fireworks at once for hours, an unofficial start to Christmas with an ugly history behind it. Nobody in Medellin sleeps through it. Source ↗

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Peak crowds — The Monday puentes, Alumbrados navidenos

• Season

  The drier weeks between the rains

  15 Dec – 10 MarDry season

  Rain here runs on two cycles rather than one wet season, and the gaps are roughly late December to early March and again through July and August. Those are the weeks the pueblos day trip actually works.

• Holiday

  Novenas and the December break

  16 Dec – 6 JanChristmas & New YearCrowdedBook early

  Nine nights of neighbourhood novenas from the sixteenth, then a fortnight in which Colombians who live abroad come home. Flights into Rionegro and city apartments both price like a peak season, because it is one. Source ↗

Still on: The Monday puentes (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Alumbrados navidenos (28 Nov – 14 Jan (usually)), La Alborada (30 Nov – 1 Dec)