Who we are
Mike Chartrand is Canadian and has lived in Medellin for about 15 years. Santiago Santos is a paisa, born and raised in the city. Between the two of us we've been through the visa process, bought property, used the hospitals, hired the lawyers, and made most of the mistakes a newcomer can make here, so you don't have to repeat them.
medellin.guide grew out of the questions we kept answering one-on-one for friends, friends of friends, and eventually strangers who found us online: which neighborhood, which visa, which dentist, which bank actually works for a foreigner. We wrote it down, and then we built Catalina, our bilingual concierge, so the answers are available on the site any time, not just when one of us happens to be free.
How we work
Every guide on this site is written from direct experience or from vendors and professionals we've personally used or vetted, not scraped from other travel sites. We update guides when prices, visa rules, or on-the-ground details change, and we mark a visible "Updated" date on every page.
How this site makes money
The concierge chat and the guides are free to use. We earn from a mix of affiliate links (tours, hotels, and travel bookings through partners like Viator and Booking.com, at no extra cost to you) and from local businesses we refer people to, who may compensate us when that referral leads to real business. We don't accept payment to write positive coverage of a business we haven't personally vetted, and a paid relationship never changes a recommendation. Full detail is in our privacy and legal page.
If you want in-person help, hand-holding through a Migracion appointment, a surgery week, an apostille run, that's the separate White Glove service, quoted per project.
Get in touch
The fastest way to reach us is the Catalina chat widget on any page, or WhatsApp at +57 310 325 0953. For anything else, see our contact page.