Living in Medellín: What 1,093 Days and 30 Airbnbs Teach You
One founder spent 1,093 days across 30 Airbnbs in Medellín. Six lessons on neighborhoods, cost and community that almost nobody tells you.
Equipo Mister Fox
August 3, 2026 · 5 min read
Most of what you read about Medellín online falls into two camps: either the city is paradise on 2,000 dollars a month, or it is a place you should never set foot in. Neither version survives contact with someone who actually stayed a while. A foreign founder recently published a video about his three years in the city: 1,093 days spread across roughly 30 Airbnbs, in nearly every corner of the valley. The video has passed 23,000 views, and his conclusions line up almost point for point with what we hear from our students in Laureles.
Everyone starts in El Poblado. Almost nobody stays.
His first observation is one every long-termer ends up repeating: everyone lands in El Poblado, and almost everyone leaves it. The blocks around Provenza are fun for a weekend, with the rooftop bars and the restaurant scene. Then you try to sleep on a Tuesday and discover the party does not care what day it is.
The typical progression goes like this: El Poblado first, then Laureles, then somewhere calmer like Envigado, Las Palmas or El Retiro once you actually know the city. His personal favorite turned out to be Sabaneta, a small municipality at the southern end of the valley: safe, friendly, very few foreigners, and rents that make Poblado pricing look silly.
The Aburrá Valley: every area moves at its own pace.
We watch the same migration happen from the other side. A big share of our students book their first month in Poblado and move to Laureles soon after, usually for the flat, walkable streets and the feeling of living in a real neighborhood instead of a set staged for visitors.
Area
Vibe
Best for
Price level
El Poblado
Recent articles
Nightlife, restaurants, lots of English
First weeks, tourism
High
Laureles
Residential, flat, neighborhood cafés
Students and multi-month stays
Mid
Envigado
Quiet, family-oriented, very local
People looking for routine and calm
Mid
Sabaneta
A small town inside the valley, almost no foreigners
Tight budgets, full immersion
Low
A quick comparison of the areas mentioned in the video.
The everyday convenience spoils you
A licensed physiotherapist comes to his apartment with her own table and equipment for about 25 dollars. Rappi couriers deliver nearly anything to the door in minutes. Miami is a three hour direct flight, and Colombia shares a time zone with the US East Coast for most of the year, which matters more than people expect when your clients or family are up north.
His point is simple: you stop noticing how much daily friction you used to carry until it is gone. Anyone who has tried to get a same-week medical appointment in the US or Canada will feel this one.
Acceptance letter, requirements and step-by-step support.
A full-time bilingual assistant for about 1,000 dollars a month
This is the lesson that gets quoted the most. For roughly 1,000 dollars a month, you can hire a full-time, bilingual personal assistant: someone who grew up here, knows how everything works, and clears problems before they ever reach you. For someone running a company remotely, he describes it as the best money you can spend in the country.
Nobody warns you about the loneliness
This is the most honest part of the video. He originally came for a mastermind event. Within a week, 95 percent of the attendees had flown home, and he was alone in a nice apartment with a laptop and a calendar full of video calls.
Paradise without people is just isolation with a view.
His answer was to build the rooms himself: run clubs, men's circles, investor meetups and a private community of founders, over three years. Whatever you think of the founder-community aesthetic, the underlying point applies to anyone who moves here. The people who thrive in Medellín commit to showing up somewhere on a schedule, whether that is a running group, a language exchange, a fútbol game or a Tuesday night class.
What you lead with is what you attract
The fifth lesson sounds like a fortune cookie until you live it. Show up flashing money and you will meet people who want your money. Show up with genuine intentions and you will slowly find the real ones. He applies this to dating, business and friendship equally. Ask anyone who has spent serious time here and you will hear some version of the same rule.
The secret is getting out
The last lesson is the simplest: the city rewards people who leave their bubble, whether that means trying another neighborhood or spending a weekend outside the valley. Guatapé, Jardín and Jericó are only a few hours away and completely change the idea you have of Antioquia.
Guatapé, about two hours from Medellín: the classic weekend trip.
His full video walks through the city area by area, and it is worth watching if a move is on your mind.
The full breakdown, neighborhood by neighborhood.
There is one practical detail the video does not cover: you do not get to 1,093 days on tourist stamps. As a visitor, most nationalities receive 90 days on arrival, extendable to 180 per calendar year. Beyond that, staying in the country means getting a visa, and for many people the most natural route is the student visa: you study Spanish formally, your stay is fully legal, and you make progress on the one thing that actually opens the city up.
He closes with a question aimed at everyone still watching from a desk somewhere cold: what is actually stopping you from spending a month here? For a lot of people, the honest answer is the language. Of everything on the list of obstacles, that is the one with the most straightforward fix. And Laureles happens to be a very good place to work on it.
What if one month turns into six?
Mister Fox is a school authorized to issue the acceptance letter required for the student visa, and we walk you through the process from start to finish. And if you already live here or plan to settle in, our team also helps expats with the paperwork and the practical side of life in the city, in English or in Spanish.
