10 Surprisingly Cheap Things in MedellÃn (2016 Update)
February 15, 2016 By
Jeff
The exchange rate for the Colombian peso has hit an all time high so it’s time to revisit one of the most popular posts from
last year to see the impact on surprisingly cheap things in MedellÃn.
I get asked about the cost of living in MedellÃn frequently as I have been living in the city now for over five years.
The recent changes in the exchange rate with the Colombian Peso hitting an all time low against the U.S. dollar has made the
cost of living for my wife and I in MedellÃn now about 47 percent cheaper than two years ago.
Even with inflation in Colombia that hit a
seven-year high
last year at 6.77 percent, if you have an income in US dollars you
won’t notice the inflation due to the improved exchange rate.
This post takes an updated look at 10 surprisingly cheap things in
MedellÃn, which contribute to the low-cost of living in the city. Note
the list is in no particular order.
Note the exchange rate used in this post is 3,454 pesos to the USD.
Kitchen inside our apartment
1. Apartment Rent
Apartment rent is our biggest expense but the cost to rent an apartment in MedellÃn is surprisingly cheap.
I have been renting unfurnished apartments while living MedellÃn for
over five years. My initial experience in renting apartments in MedellÃn
was documented in a four part series:
first part is here,
second part is here,
third part is here and
fourth part is here.
We currently live in a three-bedroom apartment in
Sabaneta, which we
moved into
in July last year. It is located within walking distance to Parque
Sabaneta. Our current apartment specifications include:
- Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, about 110 square meters (1,184 square feet)
- Kitchen with granite countertops, oven, and gas cooktop
- Gas water heater (tankless)
- 10th floor in a high-rise building, with two balconies
- Pool, sauna and small gym in building
- 24×7 security
- Estrato 4 neighborhood
Our rent for an unfurnished apartment is only 1,350,000 pesos ($391)
per month. If we lived in ritzy El Poblado a similar apartment would
rent for about 1,800,000 pesos ($521) per month.
We looked at
unfurnished apartment rental costs in MedellÃn in five different neighborhoods in the city.
Claro store inside Los Molinos mall
2. Triple Play Internet/TV/Phone
Triple Play Internet/TV/Phone services in MedellÃn are much lower
cost than what you will find in the US. There are two major TV and
Internet providers in MedellÃn that offer triple play Internet, TV and
phone services: Claro and UNE.
We currently have Claro’s basic Triple-Play Service with 10 Mbps
Internet, TV and phone services and I am very happy with it. The cost is
only 137,474 pesos per month ($39.80) in an estrato four neighborhood.
Internet service with Claro has been more reliable than my Verizon
FiOS service was in the United States and of course it is much less
expensive. The cost of triple play from Claro is less expensive than
just Internet services from Verizon in the US.
Taxis in front of Premium Plaza mall
3. Taxis
Taxis in MedellÃn are plentiful and surprisingly cheap by Western
standards. All taxis in MedellÃn use meters. A taxi meter will start at
2,700 pesos and the minimum fare is 4,600 pesos ($1.33).
The taxi fare so far hasn’t been increased in 2016 in the city. There
is also no need to tip the driver. But don’t expect a taxi driver to
necessarily have change for a 50,000-peso note.
In my experience, you can go most places in MedellÃn for less than
15,000 pesos. I use taxis frequently and my fares typically range from
4,600 pesos to 12,000 pesos, with an average of about 7,500 pesos
($2.22).
Hailing a yellow taxi on the street in MedellÃn is as simple as
holding up your arm. During the daytime, you should be fairly safe
picking up taxis from the street, however exercise caution in the
evenings.
Throughout the city, and often near points of interest, shopping
malls and local landmarks, you’ll see taxi stands where taxis queue up
for customers. If you see one of these, it makes the process even
easier.
You can also call a taxi and in my experience they typically show up
quickly – in less than five minutes in many parts of the city. A few
numbers for taxis in MedellÃn include 444-4444, 444-1000, 444-1111.
Mobile apps for connecting with taxis include
EasyTaxi, Colombia-made
Tappsi and the latest entrant,
Uber.
Pharmacy near Los Molinos mall
4. Medication in Pharmacies
In MedellÃn (and the rest of Colombia), medication is often purchased
at pharmacies (farmacias), which are easy to find, as they seem to be
every few blocks.
They are also found in many malls as well as many supermarkets like Exito and Jumbo.
In my experience, the staff in Colombian pharmacies seems
knowledgeable. If you ask the question, “What should I take if I am
experiencing this problem?” they will normally have something to
suggest.
Of course, exercise caution when taking advice from anyone other than
your doctor. Many drugs that would require a prescription in the U.S.
you can get without a prescription in the pharmacies in MedellÃn.
Pharmacies are technically supposed to require a prescription for
many drugs but I have never been asked for one. Years after passage of a
regulation in Colombia to halt the unrestricted sales of antibiotics,
there is minimal compliance.
You can get things like antibiotics, birth control pills,
anti-depressants, erectile dysfunction pills and many other types of
drugs without a prescription.
The generics in Colombia are typically very inexpensive. For example a
10-pack of 500 mg generic tablets of Ciprofloxacino (Cipro), which I
found is good to treat traveler’s diarrhea, can cost only 4,500 pesos
($1.30).
Amoxicilina (Amoxicillin), a commonly used antibiotic for ailments
such as ear infections, can cost 9,500 pesos ($2.75) for a 30-pack of
500 mg generic capsules.
Sildenofil (generic Viagra) can cost 3,000 pesos ($0.87) for a 2-pack of 50 mg pills.
New Metro MedellÃn TranvÃa (cable car)
5. The Metro and Buses
No list of things that are cheap in MedellÃn would be complete
without including the public transportation system, which includes the
MedellÃn metro and buses. The metro in Medellin is the only rail-based mass transportation service in Colombia.
The metro in MedellÃn is well maintained, squeaky clean and uses
electrical energy. It opened in 1995 and has two train lines (Lines A
and B) and a new TranvÃa (street car) T-A line that
opened last year.
The A metro line runs north and south and has 21 stations. The B line
runs from the center of the city to the west and has seven stations.
The new T-A line runs east from the center of the city and has nine
stations.
The metro also has three integrated cable car lines (Lines J and K
and L) plus two integrated bus lines (Metroplus lines L1 and L2).
Note that the Line L cable car to Parque Arvà has an extra fare. Two additional cable car lines are under construction.
The metro fare is cheaper with a metro card (Civica), so it is highly
recommended to get one. The fare is only 1,880 pesos (54 cents) with a
Civica card/
The fare with the Civica card fare is about 10 percent cheaper than
the regular fare and permits you to go through turn-styles to avoid the
ticket window lines.
The Civica card is easy to sign up for and can be recharged with
funds at any station’s ticket window. Civica cards can be obtained in
the PAC offices located at the NiquÃa, San Antonio, Itagüà and San
Javier metro stations.
Beside the metro, MedellÃn has an extensive bus system. The fare for the buses typically ranges from 1,800 pesos to 2,000 pesos.
The lowest fare buses are typically connections to the metro and they
have started adding Civica card support on some of these metro
connection buses.
The bottom line is that between the metro and buses as well as cheap
taxies in MedellÃn I have found a car is not really needed for living in
MedellÃn, which avoids a major expense typically required for living in
the states.
Neighborhood tienda in Sabaneta, with delivery service
6. Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are plentiful and inexpensive in MedellÃn. Out
of all the typical grocery items, fruits and vegetables are typically
some of the cheapest ones found in MedellÃn.
The farmers’ markets in MedellÃn like
Plaza Minorista or
small neighborhood tiendas typically have much better prices for
produce than the large grocery stores such as Exito or Jumbo.
As an example of the price difference, a red onion at a tienda or
farmers market that costs 200 pesos (about 6 cents) may cost about 900
pesos (26 cents) at a major grocery store.
Colombia is considered the second most bio-diverse country in the
world (after Brazil) and Colombia likely has a number fruits you’ve
never heard of, or look like nothing you’ve ever seen.
One of the things I like about Colombia is the fruit: delicious,
cheap and plentiful. I made it a mission when I first starting living in
MedellÃn to try as many Colombian fruits as I could.
This site previously covered
11 exotic tropical fruits of Colombia but
the country has many more fruits available including anona, borojo,
feijoa, mangostino plus all the fruits you can find in the United
States.
I like the pitahaya (dragon fruit) but unfortunately they are a bit
expensive and harder to find. It’s difficult to find them for less than
2,000 pesos. It’s tasty and sweet and can be eaten scooped out with a
spoon.
I also like several of the fruits in juices including lulo, maracuyá and tomato de árbol.
7. Electricity
Utility services are provided by
EPM, the local utility in MedellÃn. EPM derives much of the power delivered in the city from hydroelectric sources.
MedellÃn is located at about 5,000 feet above sea level. It is known
as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’ with an average annual temperature of 72
degrees, and that ranges from 59 to 86 degrees.
There is really no need for heating or cooling with the climate in
MedellÃn, which results in inexpensive utility bills. A few apartments
in ritzy El Poblado have air conditioning but I use a fan, which is
sufficient for me during the day.
The electricity rate from EPM currently runs about 437 pesos (13
cents) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in the Estrato 4 neighborhood in
Sabaneta where I currently live.
The rate per kWh is relatively high but you don’t need to use much electricity due to the climate.
Electric rates also vary by estrato in MedellÃn with the highest
rates in estratos 5 and 6. The lower rates in lower estrato
neighborhoods are subsidized by the higher rates in the wealthier
neighborhoods.
Our electric bill in a three-bedroom apartment over the past six
months has averaged only 68,523 pesos ($19.83) per month since we don’t
use that much electricity without the need for heating or cooling in the
city.
We have averaged using only 125 kWh per month over the past six months.
The average home in the states uses 911 kWh per month (in 2014),
which is over seven times what I currently use in MedellÃn –
demonstrating a big benefit of the climate in MedellÃn.
Water and gas is also inexpensive and our total utility bill for
electricity, water and gas has averaged 113,051 pesos ($32.73) per month
in an estrato four neighborhood in Sabaneta.
VivaColombia
8. Domestic Airfare
Domestic airfare can be inexpensive in Colombia, which makes it
relatively cheap to travel between the major cities in Colombia. To get
the cheapest domestic flights make sure to book at least two weeks in
advance.
While buses can be even cheaper in Colombia, it’s a tradeoff. Buses
take a long time, for example, up to 10 hours to go from MedellÃn to
Bogotá, or about 12 hours to go from MedellÃn to Cartagena.
By plane, the flight from MedellÃn to Bogotá is about 40 minutes and from MedellÃn to Cartagena is about an hour.
Domestic airfare in Colombia used to be more expensive. But when discount airline
VivaColombia started service in 2012 in Colombia, domestic airfare prices in Colombia have dropped dramatically.
On VivaColombia it is possible to fly from MedellÃn to Bogotá for
less than $65 round-trip and from MedellÃn to Cartagena for less than
$100 round-trip.
A quick tip on VivaColombia – if you’re taking anything more than
hand luggage, you can pay just as much for the flight for your luggage
so travel light if you want it to be inexpensive. Traveling light can
mean a ticket cheaper than bus fare.
If you use
Avianca for
domestic flights in Colombia, you can book as if you are in Colombia in
pesos and you will get a much better price versus booking in the United
States in dollars.
It is easy to choose the country on Avianca’s website at the top of
their website. You can normally save up to 50 percent with the country
chosen as Colombia and paying in pesos for domestic flights on Avianca.
Using this method on Avianca I have flown from MedellÃn to Bogotá
several times for less than $70 round-trip and from MedellÃn to
Cartagena for less than $100 round-trip.
ClÃnica las Américas, one the top rated in MedellÃn and Latin America
9. Medical Services
MedellÃn has eight hospitals and clinics ranked as eight of the best
42 hospitals and clinics in Latin America, according to a recent study
by América Economia.
Colombia is also starting to experience an increase in medical tourism with low costs for medical services.
As an example, a heart bypass surgery in the states that may cost $80,000 or more costs can cost less then $25,000 in Colombia.
Another example is a knee replacement surgery in the United States
that costs about $40,000 and costs only about $15,000 in Colombia.
The salaries of MedellÃn doctors are typically a fraction of those in
the states, even though they are in many cases required to have to same
level of internationally recognized education and job skills.
MedellÃn is probably best known for Lasik (corrective eye surgery),
cosmetic surgery and dentistry. Colombia is home to many of the best
cosmetic surgeons in the world.
I dropped my dental insurance in the states several years ago as I
found the dentists in MedellÃn could be about as cheap as my
out-of-pocket costs with my dental insurance in the United States.
The bottom line is that if you live in MedellÃn you can have access
to world-class health care in several hospitals and clinics in the city
at a much lower cost than in the US.
Levi’s Outlet in Mayorca mall in Sabaneta
10. Clothing
There are many places in MedellÃn where you can find inexpensive clothing if you venture outside of
El Poblado. The shops located in El Poblado typically have the most expensive prices in the city.
MedellÃn has a reputation as the fashion capital of Colombia. Two of
the most famous annual fashion shows take place in the city: Colombiatex
and Colombiamoda. Also many companies in the city manufacture clothing.
Places I have found some of the best deals for clothing include El Centro and the
Mayorca and
Puerta del Norte malls.
An example is that I recently found men’s Rifle jeans on sale in a
Rifle outlet store in the Mayorca mall and I was able to buy two pairs
of jeans for only 60,000 pesos ($17.37) each.
The Bottom Line
Based on my experience living in MedellÃn for over five years, you
can find many things in the city that are definitely cheaper than in the
United States.
These surprisingly cheap things in MedellÃn have become even cheaper recently in terms of US dollars with the new exchange rate.
However, there are also some things that are more expensive, such as
cars, cell phones and higher end computers. Last year we looked at
eight expensive things in MedellÃn.
Imported cars can be quite expensive due to the import duty and taxes
but it is also very feasible to live without a car in MedellÃn with the
inexpensive taxis, metro and buses in the city.
I don’t have a car and have met only a few foreigners living in MedellÃn with cars.
