Co-Working in Medellin, Colombia
Embark’s Guide to Co-working in the City of Eternal Spring
Medellin, Colombia is gaining traction as a digital nomad hub. The city has great year-round weather, friendly locals and an awesome standard of living — especially if you’re earning dollars rather than pesos. There is also a certain edginess to the city that gives it a cool vibe that separates it from the more developed digital nomad hubs like Chiang Mai and Ubud. If you have clients in North America, it’s also nice to be in the same time zone as NYC and only 3 hours ahead of California.
Because Medellin is fairly new on the digital nomad scene, finding a great place to work from can take a bit of searching. We’ve spent the past few days visiting and working from the spaces and we hope this article will help you choose a co-working space that is right for you.
Pick a Neighbourhood First
There are new co-working spaces popping up all over Medellin. When deciding on what space to join, the first consideration is what area of town you want to live in. Although cabs and Uber are really inexpensive in Medellin, the traffic can be bad, so you’ll probably want to live in the neighbourhood you work.
There are three neighbourhoods that we recommend for Digital Nomads:
· El Poblado
· Laureles
· Envigado
We think there are three factors to consider when deciding which neighbourhood is best for you, your: budget; Spanish fluency; and desire to be close to high-end restaurants, shops and nightlife.
EL POBLADO
El Poblado is the wealthiest neighbourhood in Medellin. It’s located on a lush hillside full of trees and of high-rise condos. Poblado is home to the majority of the city’s expats and wealthy Colombians. It is by far the most expensive choice, but it also has the most options for great restaurants, bars and shopping.
It’s also easy to get by in El Poblado with minimal Spanish, and people are very receptive to foreigners who make an attempt to speak Spanish. The main “touristy” areas of El Poblado are Parque Lleras and Provenza. There are 4 Coworking spots that we recommend in El Poblado:
English: 5 stars
Area: 5 stars
Pros: Fast Internet, very clean, very new, very modern
Cons: Feels sterile and lacks community
Perfectly situated next to the best area in Poblado (right below all the restaurants and shops of Provenza), The Office Coworking is by far the cleanest and most polished co-working space in Medellin. It has lightning-fast wifi and several individual offices created by floor to ceiling glass partitions. They also have a couple of very cool chill out spaces and a kitchen with coffee and water.
This is the place to go if you need to get some serious work done. It was also the co-working space that Embark chose to call home for the month of February, 2017, and we loved it!
Address: Carrera 37 #10–24, Medellin, Colombia
Weekly Cost: COP 150,000 + VAT
Hours: 7:00 AM till 7:00 PM
English: 4 stars
Area: 4 stars
Pros: Big space
Cons: It’s busy and showing a bit of wear
This is the biggest of the co-working spaces, and you’ll find people from all over the world working here. Epicentro is essentially a large house that has been converted into office space. It’s pretty funky with lots of cool art around and it has a great vibe. Epicentro hosts digital nomad and entrepreneurial events for its members. The staff speak English and you can work here 24/7 if you want. It’s located in a nice area but it is quite an up-hill walk to get to the heart of the restaurant district in El Poblado.
Address: Carrera 45 # 5A — 37 Patio Bonito, Medellin
Weekly Cost: COP $ 115,000 + VAT (5-days)
Hours: 24/7
**Check out this youtube video for a clip of the Siembra patio!**
English: 5 stars
Area: 5 stars
Pros: Great community feel, great deck and location, free beers on Friday!
Cons: Small, still working on some spaces, nowhere to take calls
Siembra is a new co-working space started by European expats and it’s located in one of the most convenient areas in El Poblado. It’s steps away from the city’s best restaurants, bars and shops and the owners are on site to make you feel at home. The space is open from 8 until 6, although you can work later if you don’t mind that its rooftop patio becomes a digital nomad event space in the evening. Siembra is very forward thinking and its all about community here. We LOVE their stated purpose:
We create dynamic, innovative work environments you don’t want to leave. Our varied spaces mean you can work both on your own or collaboratively. Siembra is where great minds and ideas can meet and become greater.
If you’re travelling alone, don’t speak Spanish and want to connect with the expat community, Siembra is a great option.
Address: Calle 10 #36–44 Officina 302, Medellin, Colombia
Weekly Cost: COP $ 115,000 + VAT (5-days)
Hours: 7:00 AM until 6:00 PM
English: 3 stars
Area: 5 stars
Pros: Ping pong table
Cons: Minimal attention to aesthetics
Atomhouse is located in a nice area of El Poblado close to restaurants and coffee shops. Atomhouse looks less like a house and more like a retail space turned into an office. It’s not as hip as some of the other spaces, but it has great outdoor areas, including a rooftop deck with a Ping-Pong table. The staff speak English and Atomhouse has a ton of events for local entrepreneurs and digital Nomads alike.
Address: Calle 8 # 43a-49, Medellin Colombia
Weekly Cost: USD$33 + VAT
Hours: 7:00 AM till 9:00 PM
LAURELES
Laureles is a residential neighbourhood in Medellin that blends typical Colombia with a bit of upscale atmosphere. It’s on the flats, so its easy to walk everywhere. There are some great restaurants and nightlife — though nothing like Poblado. Speaking a bit of Spanish would definitely be an asset here, though you can definitely get by with Spanglish. It seems like of lot of Digital Nomads choose Laureles over Poblado…especially if they plan on spending a significant amount of time in Medellin.
English: 5 stars
Area: 5 stars
Pros: Big space
Cons: Less open space compared to other co-working spaces
La Casa Redonda is three-story house with lots of smaller spaces like nooks, offices and patios to get your work done. The top floor is a large space that is used for meetings, yoga, dance, etc. If you are living in Laureles, La Casa Redonda is a very community focused space for Digital Nomads. They have all types of activities like
Yoga Classes every day, artistic performances, creative cooking workshops, movies, talks and meditation.
Address: Circular 72 #39A-32, Medellin, Colombia
Weekly Cost: Not listed
Hours: 8:00 AM till 8:00 PM
English: 4 stars
Area: 5 stars
Pros: Very business focused with many services provided
Cons: No weekly membership and less of a digital nomad feel
Workamp is a cool co-working space in Laureles with shared or private offices and open co-working spaces. Workamp prides itself on it’s ability to connect and create professional and personal opportunities between and its members. If you’re in Laureles, it’s a good spot to check out!
Address: Calle 40 #65–42, Medellin
Weekly Cost: no weekly cost, COP280,000 monthly
Hours: 8:00 AM — 7:00 PM
ENVIGADO
Envigado is a quiet and affluent neighbourhood that is actually a separate town from Medellin…but located right next to Poblado. Envigado has it’s own vibe and there are tons of great place to live, eat, drink and be merry. This part of town doesn’t have the same size of expat community as El Poblado and has less entertainment options — some people may find this to be a plus!
English: 5 stars
Area: 4 stars
Pros: Community focused and friendly
Cons: Limited number of people mean a smaller network to tap into
Casa 98 is a house that has been converted to a coworking space. It’s quite cozy and there are offices spread out over 3 floors. The owners of Casa 98 speak English and are really friendly. Casa 98 is very clean and cozy with perhaps a little less hustle and bustle.
Address: Calle 25 sur # 46–203, Envigado, Colombia
Weekly Cost: 100,000 + VAT
Hours: 7:00 AM till 7:00 PM
English: 2 stars
Area: 3 stars
Pros: Connection to local community
Cons: Minimal attention to aesthetics
Nodo Co-working is a large house that has been converted into a co-working space. There are some cool murals on the walls and it looked like it had a variety of folks working there — from young freelancers to what looked like permanent offices. The vibe that we got from this place is that it mostly catered to Colombian freelancers and entrepreneurs with less of a Digital Nomad scene. If you speak Spanish and are interested in getting involved in the local scene, this looks like a pretty interesting space.
Address: Cra 46 #19SUR-130, Zuniga, Envigado
Weekly Cost: COP 120,000
Hours: 7:30 AM to 7:00 PM
Interested in co-working with a group of friends? Check out Embark at
And add us on IG: @embarktogether