This guide is for you if you want to see the coffee hills of south-west Antioquia and a working town square, and you are weighing an eleven-hour day against a night away. It covers the season, the coffee harvest, the long road, and who in your group will enjoy it.
When to go
Jardín is a mountain town with mild days, around 19 °C on average. It is not a place with a hot season. What changes through the year is the rain. April and May are the wettest months, and December to March and June to July are drier. Even in the dry months, mornings are usually clearer than afternoons, when cloud can build over the hills.
If you want to see the coffee being picked, the timing matters. In Antioquia the main harvest runs from September to December, with the most coffee picked in October and November. A smaller harvest, the mitaca, comes in the first months of the year. Outside those months the farm visit is still worth it, but you see more plants than pickers.
The town is busiest on Sundays and public holidays, when people come in from the farms around it. Colombian long weekends, the puentes, and Holy Week bring visitors from Medellín as well. If you want the square to yourself, choose a weekday that is not next to a holiday.
The road, and how the day fits together
Be clear about the distance. Jardín is about three hours from Medellín each way, on winding mountain roads. That is around six of the eleven hours in the car. If anyone in your group suffers from travel sickness, take something for it before you set off.
You leave at 07:00 and reach the main square, Parque El Libertador, at about 10:00. It was declared a national monument in 1985. Cafés line it, with brightly painted chairs at their tables, and the fountain in the middle is ringed with benches. At about 10:45 you visit the basilica. It was built between 1918 and 1949 in a neo-Gothic style, from stone cut by hand, and was made a minor basilica in 2003. In 2012 the government named Jardín one of Colombia's heritage towns.
Lunch is at about 12:00 in the town, and it is not included. Try the trout, and look for arequipe, the milk caramel, which the town makes in more than twenty varieties. At about 13:15 you stop at a coffee farm that shows how the bean is grown and dried. The farm visit is paid on the day. You start back at 15:00 and reach your hotel at about 18:00.
Because the car is yours, you can shorten the lunch to give more time to the farm, or the other way round.
A day trip or a night
The square is at its best in the evening, when the people of Jardín gather there. Birdsong is loudest early and late in the day. A day trip misses both, because you leave at three.
That is the main argument for a night. We can drop you in Jardín one day and collect you on another. A night also gives you time for the walks out of town. The Cueva del Esplendor is about ten kilometres on foot from the centre, and the town has two cable-car lines. The walks to the waterfalls take half a day, so they need a longer visit, which we can plan with you.
By bus, or with a driver
Buses run from Medellín's Terminal del Sur, not the northern terminal, and take about three to three and a half hours. That is a sensible way to go if you are staying several nights.
As a return trip in one day, the bus leaves you little time in the town and no easy way to the coffee farm. A private day takes you from your hotel to the square, the basilica and a farm, and back again the same evening. The price depends on the size of your group; see it on the tour page.
What to bring
- Something for travel sickness, if you need it.
- A light jacket. It is mild, and the afternoons can turn grey and wet.
- Cash in Colombian pesos. There are cash machines in town, but small sellers, mototaxis and the hand-pulled cable crossing take cash only.
- Space in your bag for coffee. Farms and shops in town sell it by the bag.
- Binoculars, if you like birds.
Who it suits, and who should think twice
It suits coffee drinkers, photographers and anyone who wants to see a town in Antioquia that still lives around its square. It is the longest of our days from Medellín.
Think twice in these cases:
- Young children, or anyone who gets carsick. Six hours of mountain roads is a lot. Our Santa Fe de Antioquia day is about an hour and a half each way.
- You fly out the next morning early. You are back at about 18:00 after a long day. Keep this trip for the middle of your stay.
- You want waterfalls and the cave. Book a night or a longer visit, not the day trip.
Groups of more than 16 travel in two vehicles on one booking; message us for a price. Our guide to day trips from Medellín compares this with the other four.
Questions people ask
Is the coffee farm visit included?
No. We take you there, and you pay the farm on the day. Lunch is not included either.
Can we buy coffee to take home?
Yes. The farms and the shops in town sell it by the bag.
Can we cancel?
Yes. Cancel up to 24 hours before pick-up and you are refunded in full. See our cancellation page.
Booking the day
Pick a weekday away from the holidays, think about the harvest months if coffee is the reason you are going, and consider a night if you can spare one. The stops, times and what is included are on the Jardín private day trip page, where you choose the size of your group and book.
