As a writer, I often prefer working in a cafe to an office or even a coworking, especially when I’m abroad. You have access to good coffee and food and you often meet other digital nomads who are new to the city like you.
During my time staying in Laureles, Medellín, I visited a ton of cafes, tried a ton of cappuccinos, connected to a ton of public wifi networks. There are 10 of those that I would recommend for digital nomads or other remote workers based on:
Internet speed and quality
Coffee and food taste and options
Seating and access to power outlets
Location and hours
General atmosphere
Here they are.
Naturalia Café
What I Liked
Internet: 377 mbps download speed and 343 mbps upload. Naturalia has better internet than most coworkings I visited. You can do pretty much any work you need to, Skype your mom, binge watch Tiger King, whatever.
Location: Right off the southern end of La 70, Naturalia is accessible to anyone staying in central Laureles or Bolivariana. You can easily spend the day working and go out for a drink or dinner in nearby restaurants and clubs like Mondongo and La Tienda.
Menu: Naturalia has local food options in addition to your standard cafe fare like some really good smoothies (I recommend the Tropical.) They’re also one of the few cafes to specifically offer vegan dishes.
Outlet access: At least in the front sitting area, pretty much every table has an outlet.
What I Didn’t
Price: Naturalia is one of the more expensive cafes for digital nomads in Laureles. It’s still Colombia, so I still say it’s a pretty good deal. For reference, a cappuccino is COP$6,900 (USD$1.75) and a smoothie COP$9,500 (USD$2.41). Yeah, still better than your favorite Brooklyn cafe.
Internet: 296 mbps download speed and 134 mbps upload. Zeppelin definitely has enough internet to work, and I had no problems listening to Spotify while I did so.
Theme: It might just be the fact that I envision a future where zeppelins provide an alternative to cramped airplanes as a means of trans-oceanic travel… but I love this cafe’s theme. There’s just a lot of retro, turn-of-the-century decorations that speak to my irrationally nostalgic sensibilities.
Seating options: There are basically three seating areas in Zeppelin. One is a dimly-lit lounge area with sofas. Then there’s the general seating area with a few tables. Finally, you can sit on the refreshing but secluded terrace.
What I Didn’t
Tables: Most of the tables at Zeppelin are made of individual slats. This is only a problem if you have a mouse. It can’t glide over the slats. There are a couple of normal tables, though.
Location: SMASH is right at southern end of La 70 in the same building as the Factory Lofts & Coworking and BBC Laureles bar. There’s also a location in Poblado if you end up in that part of town but are crazing one of their smoothies.
Healthy food: SMASH has a day’s worth of food options from smoothies to pancakes to wraps. But it’s all healthy. You can add protein to the smoothies or get protein pancakes. Plus, there are vegan options. As a result, I ate here regularly when I didn’t have time to cook at home but still wanted to eat healthy.
Hours: SMASH has long hours, but more importantly, consistent hours. 8 AM-10 PM every day. You don’t have to worry about showing up to work and finding it closed.
Staff: There are a lot of staff members in the cafe who are all friendly. Many speak English in case you have questions but are still working on your Spanish.
What I Didn’t
Wait: SMASH is always busy, and despite having one of the largest staffs I’ve seen in a Medellín cafe, it can take them some time to get them in order. If you’re working in the cafe, this isn’t a big deal. Just order a bit before you want to eat. Keep it in mind if you’re ordering to go, though.
Internet: 139 mbps download speed and 69 mbps upload. I wrote a couple of articles, made a video call and played Pokemon Iberia with no issues.
Coffee: Dèlmuri coffee is some of my favorite in Laureles. They have an elaborate coffee menu with espresso drinks in addition to French-pressed or aeropressed local blends.
Food: Dèlmuri has a varied menu with tons of options for breakfast, lunch and snacks. It was hard for me not to just continuously order new things. I’d recommend the smoothies or the sanduche artesanal (artisanal sandwich).
Location: Dèlmuri is located next to Primer Parque de Laureles near other popular meeting spots like Semilla Cafe and Café Revolución. Oh, and KFC.
What I Didn’t
Outlet access: I got lucky with my seating in Dèlmuri. There happened to be a booth tucked away with its own outlet. I basically had my own office for the day. However, most of the tables don’t have outlet access.
Mosquitos: I got bitten by two mosquitoes while I was in Dèlmuri. It might just have been a coincidence, but there are a lot of plants inside. Maybe they can breed there. I’m no mosquito scientist.
Food: Rituales had my favorite food of any cafe I visited. I suggest one of the savory waffle dishes like the one in the photo.
Coffee: Rituales has excellent local coffee which they serve in three “categories”: pureza (traditional coffees), luz (fruity coffees) and paraíso (exotic coffees. You can order any of these filtered or various coffee drinks made with a specified category. You can bags of grounds.
Seating: Rituales has two floors with sofas for lounging as well as plenty of individual tables where you can work without having to worry about taking a table from a group.
Location: Nestled in central Laureles, Rituales is easy to get to, but it’s still in a quiet, uninterruptive part of the neighborhood.
What I Didn’t
Internet: The internet is surprisingly slow in Rituales. Hopefully, they’ll upgrade soon, but when I went, I was getting 3 mbps download speed and 1 mbps upload. If you’re just writing emails and docs, it’s fine, but anything video is going to be hard.
Atmosphere: Semilla is always buzzing with energy, and as one of the big meeting places for expats, it’s a great place to meet other digital nomads. Plus, I love the wood design.
Staff: With the bar and staff right in the center of the cafe, they’re always accessible. They’re friendly, too, and ready to give recommendations.
Attached coworking: If you need more of an office setting for the day, Semilla has a coworking space right upstairs that includes full offices, individual desks and enclosed call areas.
Location: Semilla is in a really convenient spot right next to Primer Parque Laureles, which provides a nice, calming view from inside the cafe.
What I Didn’t
Crowded: When I went to Semilla, it was packed. Every time I passed Semilla, it was packed. On the one hand, that should tell you what a great place it is. On the other hand, it means you should get there early if you want to find your own table to work comfortably on your laptop all day.
Staff: From what I could tell, Azul is a newer cafe. Their staff is enthusiastic and ready to build a customer base. They’re really nice and ready to help.
Seating: As you can see from the photo, Azul has long, booth-style benches that are comfortable next to smooth tables that work great for laptops with mice. Plus, there’s an outlet for just about every table.
Internet: 72 mbps download speed and 13 mbps upload speed. It’s not amazingly fast, but it should be enough for most people. I met a web developer working there at the same time as me, and it was plenty fast for him.
What I Didn’t
Menu: Azul doesn’t really have much food besides snacks like empanadas and some desserts. That said, the carrot cake was delicious.
Location: Azul isn’t too far out of the way, but located near Segundo Parque de Laureles, it can be a bit distant from other Laureles neighborhoods like Bolivariana.
Terrace: One of the main draws of Café Cliché is the large terrace out back that has a lot of tables and is pretty relaxing.
Internet: 112 mbps download speed and 11 mbps upload. That’s pretty good download speed, but the upload speed is surprisingly low. That’s not a problem for most people, but if you’re going to have to upload photos and videos, it could be frustrating.
Desserts: Cliché is a French cafe, and they have a wide range of desserts like various cakes, mousse, crème brulée and tiramisú that are hard to find elsewhere in Medellín.
What I Didn’t
Hours: Cliché doesn’t open earlier than noon on any day. That’s not ideal for getting a good work day in.
Location: Cliché is right off Avenida Nutibara, but pretty far north. You’re starting to get away from nightlife like La 70 as well as primary meeting spots like the two Laureles parks.
Coffee: As you probably noticed from the other column, Forest wasn’t my favorite cafe I visited. Still, I had to put it on the list because the coffee there was my number-one favorite. You can also buy full bags to take home.
Atmosphere: As its name would suggest, Forest does really feel like you’ve gone back to nature. It’s calm, quiet and relaxing.
What I Didn’t
Location: Near Segundo Parque de Laureles, Forest is also tucked into the plaza of an otherwise unremarkable building. It took me forever to find it, and there was nothing particularly exciting in the vicinity.
Chairs: The chairs in Forest aren’t comfortable. There’s no other way to put it. Their height isn’t right for the tables, and I ended up with a sore back after my work day there.
Internet: 30 mbps download speed and 8 mbps upload. This isn’t the worst internet in the world, but in this day and age, it isn’t enough for anything really intensive.
Staff: At least when I went, the staff was not very attentive or friendly.
Coffee: Revolución is probably the most frequently mentioned cafe among Medellín coffee enthusiasts. It’s definitely one of my favorites and is where I bought grounds to take home with me.
Social atmosphere: A lot of expats and other digital nomads frequent Revolución, and you can hear three or four different languages being spoken all the time. If you become a regular there, you’re bound to make some friends.
Location: Revolución is located right next to Primer Parque de Laureles and other fun meetup spots like Semilla Cafe and the bars along Carrera 73.
Hours: Revolución opens at 7:30 AM on weekdays, a great way to get an early start so you can enjoy Medellín nightlife in the evening.
What I Didn’t
Crowded: Revolucíon is always packed, and they don’t have much seating to begin with. If you really want to get a full workday in, take advantage of that 7:30 opening time.
Outlet access: If you’re going to work all day, there are really only two tables you can work from: the ones at the bench inside. Otherwise, you won’t have an outlet.
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