Being in Medellin, Metro System is the best way to know the contrasts on Aburra Valley, the geographical area the city shares with nine other cities. Looking out the large train, bus, cable car, and streetcar windows is just perfect to enjoy the city and region’s diversity, and looking in you would experiment the Metro Culture and get closer to the Paisa mindset. Paisa is an abbreviated form of paisano [from the same town]; that's how a person born in Antioquia is called.
Start your trip at the closest station from where you are staying. Remember there is a number of EnCicla public bicycle parking racks close by Metro stations so you will be able to use this free service to get to the station. Itagui, Envigado, Poblado, Bello, Niquia, Estadio, Floresta, and Santa Lucia stations have free bicycle parking racks where you can leave your own bicycle; however, if your trip is Monday through Friday 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm, Saturday 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm, or Sunday 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm. You may travel with your bicycle on designated areas, but just on A and B lines. You may travel with your foldable bicycles at all times in every line of the System.
Get off at San Antonio station, the core of the System and crossing point of the four cardinal points, where lines go north, south, east, and west. Physical, operative, institutional, and pricing policies allows commuters going anywhere quickly paying just once.
If you arrived to San Antonio station riding Ayacucho streetcar, you would know by now T-A Line is much more than a means of transportation: It is a landscape transformer. If you did not, take it and go through Buenos Aires neighborhood enjoying your trip west to Oriente station looking out the streetcar windows at the artwork on facades, part of Ayacucho Integral Plan. Once at Oriente, the last station, ride again back to San Antonio station and transfer there to A Line going north.
Next stop would be Acevedo station, where you transfer to K Line, the first cable car system in the world to be used as public transportation solution.
Climbing up to Santo Domingo station, nearby España Library Park, the cable car flies over the roofs of the houses in the northeast area of the city. In the past, this neighborhood was marked with a violence blot but today, thanks to the cable car and other complementary urbanistic infrastructure, their future is way brighter.
At Santo Domingo station, you now transfer to L Line, also known as Arvi tourist cable car. Houses and other urban setting elements are left behind once the cable car gets deeper into Arvi Park woods, a 16,000 square hectare natural park that made possible for Aburra Valley to go from four to 12 square meters of public space per resident. At the park, a local peasants’ market there gives you the opportunity to enjoy some local delicacies before climbing back down to Medellin.
At Acevedo station, go south again to Hospital station and transfer to 1 Line bus going to Medellin University. This is an articulated-bus system riding on exclusive lanes, known as busway or BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) operated by Metro System, where you can enjoy the Metro Culture, as well. Once on the bus, you need to decide the closest station to your destination: Industriales, with the possibility to transfer to A Line; or Cisneros, with the possibility to transfer to B Line, to come to the end of your trip.