Jardín is one of the most colorful and beautiful towns in Antioquia. With a wide range of places to visit and tourist attractions, Jardín is one of the main towns to visit in the department of Antioquia.
Index:
- Best places to eat in Jardín
- Best places to visit in Jardín
- How to get to Jardín
- Where to stay in Jardín
Best places to eat in Jardín
⭐️ Café Macanas / $$ / Google Maps
Colorful café on the left side of the church, in the central park. Recognized as one of the main places to visit if you are in Jardín. This popularity has its reasons: good service, quality products and a beautiful colonial building. What dazzled us the most here were the cakes, such as the chicken with vegetables, but especially the bacon with basil. In addition to the cakes, we also loved the coffee and chai tea.
Also, a house specialty recommended by the locals but not on the menu, is the gulupa milkshake. Gulupa is a fruit similar to passion fruit, but purple on the outside and sweeter. This milkshake is made with gulupa jam and passion fruit ice cream.
In addition to having delicious options to taste, the place itself is very photogenic. At the back there is a patio with a beautiful view of the church, and there are flower pots on the walls where you can take very colorful photos.
If you are looking to work from this café, you will be able to find plugs on several tables and an internet connection with download speeds of 10 mb and upload speeds of 3 mb, although the speed may fluctuate a bit at times.
Hours: Monday to Sunday: 7:00 AM – 8:00 PM
⭐️ Bella Italia / $$ / Google Maps
This restaurant is owned by Italians and is managed by Fabio La Barbera, originally from Sicily. Here, they serve Neapolitan-style pizza with Sicilian influences, with a thin center and a delicious crunch. The dough is rested between 24 and 72 hours to achieve these characteristics.
You can enjoy your pizza with a Peroni beer or other national brands. During our visit, we observed a couple of Italians visiting the place, which for us is a good sign of authenticity in the recipes and preparation of their dishes.
Hours: Monday to Friday: 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM. Saturday and Sunday: 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
⭐️ Restaurante Doña Hilda / $ / Google Maps
If you are looking for a traditional and affordable lunch option, Restaurante Doña Hilda is the ideal place. Their daily menu offers a variety of options with generous portions and good seasoning. When we visited this place, we ordered the daily menu with ground beef and found it delicious. The daily menu costs less than $20,000 pesos.
Hours: Monday to Sunday: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
⭐️ El Jardin de Jardin / $$ / Google Maps
In Café Jardín de Jardín you can enjoy good music, vegetarian food and beautiful plants everywhere. This café, which is also a nursery, offers vegan and vegetarian dishes, drinks and desserts. What most captivated us were the plants and decorative details on every wall and corner, which add to the cozy atmosphere.
The avocado dessert and organic origin coffee are some of the specialties they offer. In addition, we found that this café is the best place to work from in Jardín, as it has the fastest wifi of all the places we visited, with download and upload speeds of 40 mb. The atmosphere is also quiet and there are tables with plugs available, making it ideal to work from in Jardín.
Hours: Monday to Sunday: 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Cafe Europa / $$ / Google Maps
This place is known for its delicious pizzas and for its beautiful location in front of the main park, where you can enjoy a spectacular view of the park while you dine. Before, this restaurant was located on the corner of a street below the park, and was owned by a German. Currently, its owners are Colombians and it is located on the left side of the church in the main park. Here you can find pizzas for an approximate price of between 30,000 and 40,000 pesos.
Hours: Monday to Sunday: 5:00 – 9:30 PM
Panaderia de los Ibaru / $ / Google Maps
This is a delicious place to try the region’s bakery. They offer different types of cakes, breads and desserts, and everything looks delicious. In particular, we recommend the arequipe and guava cakes, although they also have savory cakes. One of our favorite products is the mille-feuille dessert.
When we asked about the name of the bakery, they told us that they were known in the town for being from the same family as the owners of the Ibaru company, a recognized bakery brand in Ciudad Bolivar.
Hours: Monday to Sunday: 6:00 AM – 8:00 PM, Thursday: Closed
Otra Cocina / $ / Google Maps
Otra Cocina offers lunches and traditional Colombian cuisine dishes at very good prices. For lunch, the daily menu includes a choice of different meats, rice, side dish, salad, soup and juice. This is a great choice not only for its good price (less than 20,000 pesos), but also for its good size and seasoning. In addition, the staff is very attentive and friendly, and the place is small and pleasant. Accompany your dish with the delicious spicy sauce they prepare here.
Hours: Monday to Friday: 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday: 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Cafe Latte / $ / Google Maps
Café with an excellent view of the park from the second floor. This place is ideal for all types of people due to its simplicity, good coffee and other products. Although we did not try the desserts, they all looked delicious. If you are looking for a place to work, in this café you can find plugs on some tables and wifi connection, but it is somewhat unstable.
Although this café is known in some places as Café de los Andes, its current name is Café Latte, and the coffee they use is from the Café de los Andes Cooperativa brand. According to what they explained to us, this café belongs to the same cooperative company.
Hours: Monday to Saturday: 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM, Sunday: 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Dulces De Jardin / $$ / Google Maps
Since 1996, this traditional candy store has been famous in Jardín and Antioquia for its delicious fruit candies and arequipe. Arequipe, also known as cajeta, manjar or dulce de leche, is a creamy candy made from milk and caramelized sugar.
One of the most famous candies that can be tasted here is the arracacha arequipe (a tuber native to the Andes), an unusual and delicious combination. They also have other arequipe options to try, such as ahuyama, banana and coffee. Each arequipe costs around 10,000 pesos.
At Dulces de Jardín, they say their sweets have even been approved in the Vatican, with the blessing of Pope Benedict XVI. They proudly display a couple of scrolls in the name of the Pope, commemorating these delicious sweets.
Hours: Monday to Sunday: 8:00AM-6:00PM
Donde Andres / $ / Google Maps
This typical restaurant offers good options for the daily menu, with abundant portions, delicious taste, and economical prices. It is mainly frequented by locals looking for a delicious and affordable place to eat. The space is large and simple. We recommend sitting at the back of the restaurant, as you can feel the noise of traffic on the street at tables near the entrance. The daily menu costs less than 20,000 pesos.
Hours: Monday to Sunday: 8:00AM-6:00PM
La Argelia Restaurante / $$ / Google Maps
Trucheras are farms and restaurants specialized in the breeding and sale of trout. In Jardín, it is very popular to eat at a truchera, and one of the most recommended is La Argelia Restaurante y Truchera. If you’re interested, you can also fish your own trout here, then have it prepared by the kitchen staff and enjoy it in the restaurant.
Hours: Monday to Sunday: 9:00AM-6:00PM
Best Places to Visit in Jardín
⭐️ Main Park El Libertador / Free / Google Maps
Jardín’s Main Park is the ideal place to enjoy the atmosphere of the town. In the park, you can find benches, as well as tables and chairs from the different establishments around the park, where you can have a drink or eat something while watching people pass by and enjoying the view.
The park honors the name of Jardín with its plants and gardens. Around the square, you can find rose gardens, guayacanes (tree with yellow flowers), ceibas (tree with pink flowers), and francesinas (shrub with white, purple, and pink flowers). The park was declared a national monument in 1985.
Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception / Free / Google Maps
Neo-Gothic church built between 1918 and 1942. This impressive church was designed by the Italian architect Giovanni Buscaglione, who also designed other churches in Colombia, such as the Church of Carmen in Bogotá. Inside the church, the blue and gold colors of its ceilings and walls stand out. In 2003, by order of Pope John Paul II, the church was declared a minor basilica.
⭐️ La Garrucha / $ / Google Maps
La Garrucha is an artisanal cable air transport, whose main purpose was the transportation of people and products, but now it has become one of the main tourist attractions of Jardín.
Although it is one of the most fun and beautiful plans in Jardín, it may not be suitable for people who get nervous easily, since due to its appearance and artisanal construction, it may not inspire the greatest confidence. However, it is one of the plans that you cannot miss in Jardín.
The ascent is made in a box, which used to be made of wood but is now made of metal. After traveling 1 km by cable and approximately 5 minutes, passing through Quebrada Volcanes, you reach the top, where you can find the viewpoint and bar Estadero La Garrucha. The sunset with a view of Jardín is highly recommended here.
La Garrucha has an approximate value of 10,000 pesos per person, round trip. It is also possible to reach La Garrucha by walking through a very pleasant natural trail that passes through Camino de la Herrera, Cascada del Amor, and Río Volcanes.
Schedule: Monday to Friday: 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM, 1:30 – 6:00 PM. Saturday and Sunday: 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM
⭐️ Casa Montes / Free / Google Maps
This coffee and cultural space offers different artistic and cultural activities and events every week. In the place, you can find local products, exhibitions, and a nice patio in the back where you can eat or have a drink.
Schedule: Monday to Sunday: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, 2:00 – 8:00 PM
Río Volcanes / Free / Google Maps
For a hiking and nature plan, Río Volcanes is an excellent place to visit. Once at the river, which can be reached by the same road where Camino de La Herrera ends and after passing the Cascada del Amor, you can swim if you wish, although the water can be somewhat cold. If you prefer not to get into the river, it is still a pleasant place to sit for a while and admire nature. If you continue the same path that took you to the river, you can reach La Garrucha.
Camino de la Herrera / Free / Google Maps
Cobbled road of historical interest to Jardín, surrounded by vegetation and beautiful landscapes. As one of the first roads leading to Jardín, it was opened in 1858, 5 years before the official foundation of the municipality. In 1990, it was declared a property of patrimonial interest. With a length of approximately 225 meters, this road continues as an unpaved road that leads to Cascada del Amor, Charco Corazón, and, later, La Garrucha.
Mirador Cristo Rey Jardín / Free / Google Maps
To enjoy a beautiful view of the town of Jardín, visit this viewpoint with the monument of Christ. Previously, you could reach this viewpoint by cable car, but this is no longer in operation. Now, you can reach the viewpoint in 30-45 minutes through a well-marked path along a natural trail. To reach the beginning of the trail, go up one block from the church, turn left onto Calle 11 (Hortensias), and walk to the end of the street. You can also go up by bike through a different path. At the viewpoint, there is a store where you can buy food and drinks. A popular plan among locals is to climb to the viewpoint and order a plate of ripe plantains.
Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM. Tuesday and Thursday: Closed. Sunday: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
How to get to Jardín
From Medellín to Jardín by bus and back
From Medellin, you can take a bus from the Terminal del Sur. The cost of a ticket to Jardín is approximately $ 40,000 pesos, and the journey takes about 3 and a half hours. During high tourist season, tickets to Jardín can sell out, so it is recommended that you buy them in advance. There are two companies with daily routes to Jardín:
Go to Jardín with Rápido Ochoa
Rápido Ochoa buses depart from the Terminal del Sur in Medellín from 4:45 a.m., with around 7 departures during the day, until 6:45 p.m.
To return to Medellín, Rápido Ochoa buses in Jardín depart from Calle 8 with Carrera 5. The first bus leaves at 4:45 a.m., and the last leaves at 5:45 p.m., with 7 departures to Medellín during the day.
Rápido Ochoa has a website where you can view and purchase your ticket to Jardín: www.rapidoochoa.com. To purchase your tickets from the Terminal del Sur, go to ticket window #34 (tel: 604-4448888).
Go to Jardín with Transportes Suroeste Antioqueño
Transportes Suroeste Antioqueño buses also depart from the Terminal del Sur in Medellín, from 5:40 a.m. until 6:30 p.m., with around 15 bus or minibus departures during the day.
To return to Medellín, Transportes Suroeste Antioqueño buses in Jardín also depart from Calle 8 with Carrera 5. The first bus or minibus leaves at 5:00 a.m., and the last leaves at 5:00 p.m., with 10 departures to Medellín during the day.
With Transportes Suroeste Antioqueño, you can reserve your ticket by WhatsApp at this link or by calling +57 301 200 6222. You can also buy your ticket at the Terminal del Sur in Medellín, at ticket window #02 (tel: 604-3611998).
Where to stay in Jardín
In Jardín you will find a good variety of lodgings for your stay, from hotels, Airbnbs and hostels.
Having tried various types of accommodations in Jardín, we can make two recommendations:
Hotel Jardín (see availability here)
This colorful hotel has an unbeatable location, right on the main square of Jardín. What we liked about this hotel is how beautiful it is, with a traditional colonial courtyard and bright colors in its decoration. It also has a balcony on the second floor available to guests with a beautiful view of the main square.
The hotel has wifi, rooms with private bathrooms and 24-hour reception.
The only drawback we found with this hotel is that at night it is possible to hear the noise of the music in the bars on the main square.
You can see the availability of Hotel Jardín here.
Hostel Candileja (see availability here)
Hostel Candileja is located a couple of blocks up from the main square, which is close enough to the center but also far enough away to be quiet at night.
This hostel has private rooms and shared rooms for up to 6 people. Shared spaces such as the kitchen, dining room and living room are quite spacious, and the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable about different plans to do during your stay in Jardín.
You can see the availability of Hostel Candileja here.