Medellín has in recent decades transformed itself into a family-friendly destination for people who love a lively and culture-rich urban vibe. As we step into the second annual instance of this program, which has earned 5-star Google Reviews from families who participated this year, we invite other visiting families with kids ages 4 to 18 for an action-packed month in this pulsing modern city filled with culturally enriching educational experiences sure to strengthen family bonds and create lifelong happy memories. Young people enjoy an experiential language camp on a lush hillside, where they will befriend local youth, learning about their culture while developing Spanish-speaking skills. Parents can embark on weekday excursions, work remotely from well-equipped co-working spaces, or just wander around this fascinating city. Evenings and weekends bring families together to connect and relax with newfound friends.
Disney’s animated film Encanto inspired kids around the world to sing and dance about Colombia’s rich traditions. Now your family can explore the real-world enchantment of this warm and family-friendly culture.
At nearly 5,000 feet in altitude, Medellín's climate is milder than other Colombian regions. Dubbed the “City of Eternal Spring,” the city boasts a comfortable climate year round, with daytime temperatures typically ranging from the high 70s to the low 80s. Most of this lush, green cityscape straddles the Aburra Valley, with outlying neighborhoods sloping up the surrounding mountainsides.
Emerging from the shadow of the cartels that once marred its reputation, the people of Medellín (“Paisas”) are proud of their city which has reinvented itself as an innovative and energizing urban environment just perfect for families.
In 2013, The Wall Street Journal and the Urban Land Institute presented Medellín with their “Most Innovative City of the Year” award in recognition of the city’s ground-breaking solutions that transformed social connections and created economic opportunities for residents living in formerly isolated mountainside neighborhoods.
Now in its second year, Working Without Borders presents a month-long curated itinerary of hands-on learning, educational excursions, mind-expanding fun, and immersive cultural activities for families with kids and teens ages 4 to 18.
Participating families enjoy a uniquely creative program expertly designed to facilitate new and meaningful bonds within your family unit and with others as well. While visiting kids enjoy a fun-filled day-camp, parents can choose to work at a co-working hub, explore the city, or opt for yoga and workouts at the nearby fitness center. Families reunite in the evenings, enjoying local delicacies and sharing the excitement of new discoveries.
WWB empowers families to experience Medellín as their home away from home. Some parents simply want to try remote working in an exciting foreign city as a lifestyle alternative. Others seek a well-organized and culturally enriching family vacation for the fun of it all, connecting with their kids, sharing new experiences and creating memories that the whole family will forever cherish.
We are proud to partner with Thinking Mind, an award-winning provider of summer camps, well-known for their innovative experiential language-learning. Visiting kids and teens learn conversational Spanish in fun, communicative ways through a variety of group activities: science, arts and crafts, sports and games.
On Mondays - Thursdays at 8:30 am, visiting kids will be picked up by minivans outside the apartment complex. They will be whisked up into the hills overlooking Medellín to the camp’s beautiful, expansive, lushly-wooded campus. There, kids and teens will meet in small groups with local peers, guided by a team of skilled bilingual activity leaders. One is an expert in language development and the other is responsible for ensuring that campers are connecting, feeling good and enjoying their time. The result is language-learning, cross-cultural skill development and good, healthy fun.
These small group interactions inevitably foster friendships. At lunchtime in the camp cantina, the new friends mix and mingle. During the afternoon, groups combine for collaborative team-building, sports activities, and social games.
The visiting kids & teens return to the apartment complex at 4:00pm to rejoin their parents for the evening.
A typical weekday morning will likely find you and your family enjoying the delicious complimentary breakfast buffet in your apartment building restaurant, appreciating the spectacular views of the cityscape from the terrace dining area.
As the kids head to camp, parents have plenty of options to fill their weekdays:
On Friday evenings, while the kids and teens are enjoying supervised fun time with pizza and games, parents will appreciate the opportunity to get a unique perspective from local experts and participate in enriching workshops while enjoying delicious cocktails and local culinary treats! Our local partners at MUVon Travel have carefully selected local experts especially for these evenings.
Colombian Gastronomy/Cooking Workshop: During this mouth-watering workshop, you’ll learn about local ingredients and delight your palate as you prepare traditional Colombian dishes with a professional chef.
Medellin’s Transformation: A fascinating tour of the Pablo Escobar House Museum will re-shape your understanding of Medellín’s history of drug cartels and paramilitary violence. Then, you’ll be inspired by a lecture and discussion about the city’s rebirth as a global exemplar of innovation and urban renewal.
Colombia’s Biodiversity: A destination tour & presentation about Colombia’s incredible biodiversity in surroundings that will inspire and amaze you. (Fun Fact: Colombia is the 2nd most biodiverse country in the world and #1 in diverse birdlife)
After being welcomed at the Medellín Airport on Saturday, June 15, and then settling into their apartments, program participants will get to spend the rest of the weekend getting to know the other families and their local hosts. A delicious lunch together and exploring the lush, green outdoors of the city will provide a relaxing setting for families to get oriented and start making friends. Our local hosts will introduce their beloved city Medellín and lead a walking tour of the El Poblado neighborhood.
Participants spend a day together with local Colombian families, enjoying a BBQ picnic in a beautiful outdoor setting while learning about each other and their cultures. Visiting kids and teens will practice the Spanish they’ve been learning at camp, while their local friends can practice their English. The universal language of sports and games provides the backdrop for this fun afternoon. This day promises to be a peak experience of the whole program, a heart-warming day of fun and camaraderie. Building a sense of community and friendship with local families is something that participants of previous WWB Family Learning Adventures have identified as the highlight of their trip.
Families will embark on an eye-opening journey into Comuna 13, a neighborhood rising steeply into the mountainside surrounding Medellín. Thirty years ago, Comuna 13 was the center of the gangs: now, it is a shining example of entrepreneurship, positivity and renewal.
On this tour, families will learn how street artists and unique urban planning propelled this transformation of Medellín into a center of shared learning and inspiration. This specially curated tour, led by a bilingual local guide with personal experience living in the neighborhood, will highlight the importance of the colorful street art for social communication, cultural identity and political expression. The stories shared will be carefully curated to the participant families and kids’ age range.
Participants spend another day together with local Colombian families, enjoying a BBQ picnic in a beautiful outdoor setting while learning about each other and their cultures. Visiting kids and teens will practice the Spanish they’ve been learning at camp, while their local friends can practice their English. The universal language of sports and games provides the backdrop for this fun afternoon. This day promises to be a peak experience of the whole program, a heart-warming day of fun and camaraderie. Building a sense of community and friendship with local families is something that participants of previous WWB Family Learning Adventures have identified as the highlight of their trip.
Also during this 4th weekend, visiting families will experience Medellin’s rich history of “silleteros", flower vendors with origins in Colombian colonial times. Families will spend their day high in the mountains, in the picturesque village of Santa Elena, the heartland of Medellín’s flower farms. This experience will be led by a lively local expert whose family has been silleteros for generations. Families in will delight in learning about this unique cultural symbol of Medellin!
Participants will be thrilled by the comforts and surroundings of their home-away-from-home, a modern, centrally-located apartment building surrounded by verdant spaces in the hip, family-friendly El Poblado neighborhood. Everywhere you turn there are opportunities for dining, shopping, and entertainment for the whole family.
Included with each 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment:
Included in your stay:
El Poblado is leafy and green, exuding a fun, energetic vibe, filled with professionals and travelers. Grab a morning coffee on your short walk to the Tinkko Co-Working Center. Explore local boutiques and shopping centers. Enjoy a family dinner at one of the award-winning local restaurants. It will be no surprise that El Poblado was named “Medellín’s Most Exciting Neighborhood” by Conde Nast Traveler in 2019, and in January 2023, the New York Times included El Poblado in its list of 52 Places to Go This Year.
From your apartment you can walk in under five minutes to the upscale Carulla Fresh Market, a large grocery store that includes a bakery, deli, prepared foods for takeout as well as a beer and coffee bar. Similar to Whole Foods in the U.S.
There are two “Commercial Centers” in Medellín very close to the apartment complex, SantaFe and Oviedo. These are like shopping malls in the U.S. but in Medellín they far exceed what you may have experienced and they are focused on families! These are large, multi-level retail centers with a collection of shops, cafes, a food court and cinema. SantaFe boasts a bowling alley, trampoline park, arcade and bumper cars. Oviedo has an open-air/outdoor beer garden and kids’ play area as well as a large entertainment area that changes monthly and offers activities such as roller skating or ice skating.
Medellín pride in its shopping centers is no doubt connected, to some extent, to its climate. Like springtime weather in many parts of the world, this “City of Eternal Spring” has brief showers nearly every day, so these shopping centers provide a convenient escape from the rain and a chance to do errands at the same time. They also provide a great place for teens to spend time together.
Parents who want to work remotely while in Medellín are in for a treat. After a quick ten-minute walk along a lovely, pedestrian-filled, tree-lined avenue, parents will arrive at the modern, open-air Milla de Oro Building with a myriad of options for grab-and-go breakfasts, delicious lunches and afternoon treats. The Tinkko Coworking Center occupies 4 floors and offers great internet, common areas, private cubicles, meeting rooms and flexible spaces.
Parents interested in working from a beautiful rooftop terrace overlooking the city can hop in an Uber for a quick ten-minute ride to a 2nd Tinkko location and use their Tinkko Flex Zone membership there as well. Each location offers water, coffee, and teas as well as vending machines. Memberships include printing and scanning options.
Families benefit from being part of a congenial and supportive community. Prior to departure, video calls will be organized and a private Facebook Group will be set up so participants can get to know each other before the trip. Participants will also be connected in Medellín via WhatsApp so they can easily coordinate meet-ups. A sense of camaraderie will arise through shared experiences like field trips, potluck dinners, parent-only excursions, and weekend outings for the whole family.
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A core value guiding our program is Contribution. We aim to contribute directly to the community members who graciously host and guide our families, sharing their lives and cultural traditions with us. Often this leads naturally to lifelong friendships that you and your children will cherish. In Medellin, our full-time local host will help connect parents, who are interested, with local organizations where they can volunteer, thus tailoring volunteer activities to the interests and skills of each parent. This personalized approach allows participant families to work on projects that contribute to the mission of these organizations and positively impact the local community. In this spirit, too, we encourage participants to consider contributing a financial gratuity, as they see fit, to the hosts, guides, speakers, and camp staff who enhance your family’s month-long learning adventure in Medellín.
Pricing is based on the number of family members. The base price is for a family of one parent and one kid age 4 to 18. There is no additional charge for kids aged 3 and under, who are too young for the camp but are welcome at the group events and outings. A detailed list of the many things that are included can be found under the Invoice tab.
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Applications are being reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. The program is highly selective and participation is strictly limited, accepting a maximum of eight families to ensure an intimate experience. The application process consists of submitting an online form describing your family, which typically takes about ten minutes. Just 'Express Interest' and you will immediately gain access to the application form.
Banner image is courtesy of the Medellín Bureau and Medellin.travel.
CST 2148820-50
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Colombia, El Poblado, Medellín, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia 
