Medellín asks you two questions before you go anywhere, and both have answers that are published but not obvious. Which of the two bus terminals does your destination leave from, and which of the two airports is your flight using.
Two terminals, and the list that decides which one
Terminales de Transporte de Medellín operates both stations and publishes which destinations leave from each. Terminal del Norte is at Carrera 64C No. 78-580 and lists 126 destinations. Terminal del Sur is at Carrera 65 No. 8B-91 and lists 56. Both run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, on three shifts.
The split is by direction of travel, and getting it wrong costs an hour crossing the city. As a rule taken from the operator’s own lists rather than from a map:
| Where you are going | Terminal |
|---|---|
| Bogotá, the Caribbean coast, Santanderes, Urabá | Norte |
| Guatapé, El Peñol, San Rafael, the eastern towns | Norte |
| Santa Fe de Antioquia and the west | Norte |
| Cali, Pereira, Manizales, Armenia, Salento | Sur |
| Jardín, Jericó, Andes, Támesis and the southwest | Sur |
| Quibdó, Chocó and the Pacific | Sur |
Nine destinations appear on both lists, so either terminal works for them: José María Córdova airport, Rionegro, El Retiro, Alejandría, Anzá, Argelia, Nariño, Sonsón and Urrao.
The exceptions that break the map
The rule above fails in one specific direction, and the operator publishes the failure rather than hiding it.
Popayán, Pitalito, Mocoa, Neiva, Ibagué and Florencia are all south or southeast of Medellín, and all six leave from the Terminal del Norte. Pasto, which is further south than any of them, leaves from the Sur. There is no published explanation, and the pattern is not geographic.
Two more traps sit in the operator’s own website. Its destination database returns 160 entries split 104 north, 45 south and 11 shared, while its published answers list 126, 56 and 9. The two sets do not reconcile. The search box built on that database assigns Jericó and Cali to the Norte, while the frequently asked questions, the destination pages and every company selling those tickets put both in the Sur. When the search box and the ticket window disagree, believe the ticket window, or call the operator’s free line on 604 444 8020, answered from the northern terminal Monday to Thursday from 7:00 to 17:00 and Friday until 16:00. The terminal pages themselves still carry placeholder Latin text where the descriptions of facilities should be, so there is no official account of lockers, showers or waiting areas at either station.
Reaching each terminal by metro
Line A is the spine of the city, 21 stations over 25.6 km, 42 minutes end to end. Metro de Medellín names exactly two of those stations as serving a bus terminal, and no others. Caribe serves the Terminal del Norte. El Poblado serves the Terminal del Sur, and the same station lists Olaya Herrera airport among its points of interest.
Caribe sits beside the northern terminal. El Poblado does not sit beside the southern one: the station is on Carrera 49 and the terminal is on Carrera 65, and neither the Metro nor the terminal operator publishes the walking distance or time between them. Budget for a connection rather than a step across the road, and note that the Metro warns that integrated routes around El Poblado may change while roadworks continue in the area.
There are two other ways to the northern terminal. Line O, the bus corridor along Avenida 80, ends at a stop named Caribe-La Palma, described by Metroplús as running to the Terminal del Norte. And Line 1 runs an integrated route called, in full, Picachito-Terminal del Norte-Hospital.
One rule catches travellers with suitcases. The Metro user regulations prohibit carrying objects that exceed 60 cm on any face. A large checked bag does not qualify, which turns the cheap ride to the terminal into a taxi ride.
The metro charges by integration, not by ride
Medellín has the only metro in Colombia, and it does not sell a single ride at a single price. Metro de Medellín publishes fares in bands of one to ten integrations, and the price depends on how many modes you connect, verified September 2026:
| Integrations | With a personal Cívica card | Bearer or occasional card |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 3,820 COP | 4,400 COP |
| 5 to 7 | 4,570 COP | 5,150 COP |
| 8 | 5,320 COP | 5,900 COP |
| 9 to 10 | 6,070 COP | 6,650 COP |
What the Metro does not publish anywhere on its site is what counts as one integration. The tariff page, the how-to-travel page, the glossary and the frequently asked questions all use the term without defining it, so a visitor cannot work out in advance which band a given trip falls into.
The card itself has a cost and a catch. A personal Cívica is free but is only issued at customer points in Niquía, San Antonio, Itagüí, Acevedo and San Javier, Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 18:30, with no weekend or holiday service. The occasional Cívica aimed at visitors costs 12,100 COP for the plastic, once, on top of whatever you load. Ticket windows and recharge machines take cash.
Service runs Monday to Saturday from 4:30 to 23:00, with the last trains leaving Niquía and La Estrella at 22:40. On Sundays and holidays the trains run 5:00 to 22:00, cable Line K starts at 8:30 and cables H, J, M and P at 9:00.
The tourist cable to Arví, Line L, is the exception in every sense: it closes on Tuesdays, runs 9:00 to 18:00, carries a daily cap of 3,000 to 3,300 passengers towards the park, and charges 26,700 COP on a bearer card against 3,900 COP for local residents on the lowest tariff bands.
The second airport, in the middle of the city
Olaya Herrera sits at Carrera 65A No. 13-157, inside Medellín, a short distance from the Terminal del Sur. Airplan operates it and publishes three airlines flying from it, Clic Air, Moon and Satena, across 37 destinations, all domestic. It moved 604,184 passengers in the first half of 2026 against 7,367,098 at José María Córdova.
Its value is the places José María Córdova does not serve: Nuquí, Bahía Solano, Capurganá, Juradó, Acandí, Urrao and a long list of small Chocó and Antioquia airstrips. If your ticket says EOH, you are not going to Rionegro.
The operating window is narrow. The passenger building opens at 4:00 and flights run daily from 5:30 to 18:30 only. There is no night operation, which is the practical difference from the international airport up on the Rionegro plateau.
What a bus ticket costs, and why nobody will tell you how long it takes
Terminales Medellín states plainly that companies set their own fares. It publishes no tariff of its own, and the use fee it charges is billed to the transport companies, not to passengers, at rates set by the Ministerio de Transporte. Around 85 companies operate from the two stations across more than 176 destinations.
Fares published by the companies themselves, verified September 2026:
| Destination | Company and window | Fare |
|---|---|---|
| Guatapé | Sotrapeñol, Norte, window 9 | 20,000 COP |
| Guatapé | Sotrasanvicente, Norte, window 14 | 22,000 COP |
| Santa Fe de Antioquia | Cootransuroccidente, Norte, window 34 | 23,000 COP |
| Bogotá | Rápido Tolima, Norte, windows 26 and 35 | 100,000 COP |
| Cartagena | Rápido Ochoa, Norte, windows 22 and 23 | 160,000 COP |
| Jardín | Trans Suroeste, Sur, window 2 | 40,000 COP by bus |
| Jericó | Transportes Jericó, Sur, window 18 | 41,500 COP |
| Pereira | Flota Occidental, Sur, window 13 | from 60,000 COP |
| Cali | Expreso Palmira, Sur, window 35 | 80,000 COP |
Two of those rows sit side by side in the same building at different prices for the same trip, which is what free tariffs look like in practice. And Sotrasanvicente publishes 24,000 COP on its own website for the Guatapé run that the terminal lists at 22,000 COP. The company is the one that charges.
Not one of these companies publishes how long the journey takes. Departure times and fares, yes. Duration, no. It is the single most requested figure on this whole route network and no issuer commits to it.
Buses to Guatapé leave every 30 minutes from 5:00 to 20:00 according to Sotrapeñol, and Cootransuroccidente runs to Santa Fe de Antioquia hourly from 4:00 to 21:00. The full day trip, including which window sells which fare and what time the last bus leaves, is set out in the guide to getting to Guatapé. Details of each run are in the guides to Guatapé, Jardín, Jericó and Santa Fe de Antioquia.
Taxis and the free bike system
Taxi fares are set by the city. Since 2 February 2026 a standard yellow taxi starts at 5,900 COP, charges 200 COP per 82 metres and has a minimum fare of 8,300 COP. Drivers must carry a calibrated meter and display the sticker certifying the tariff.
EnCicla, the public bicycle system run by the Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá, is free to use. Foreign visitors can register with a passport, but two rules make it awkward for short trips: validation takes up to three working days, and visitors must renew their registration every eight days, against twelve months for residents. Loans last one hour on a mechanical bike and 30 minutes on an electric one. It runs Monday to Friday 5:30 to 22:00, Saturdays 6:30 to 20:00 and Sundays 8:00 to 16:00, with no service on public holidays.
Terminal del Norte. Sotrapeñol sells from window 9 at 20,000 COP and Sotrasanvicente from window 14, listed by the terminal at 22,000 COP and by the company itself at 24,000 COP.
Terminal del Sur. Flota Occidental publishes Pereira from 60,000 COP and Salento at 78,000 COP from window 13.
Caribe station on Line A serves the Terminal del Norte and sits next to it. El Poblado station serves the Terminal del Sur, but the station is on Carrera 49 and the terminal on Carrera 65, and no issuer publishes the walking distance.
The Metro charges by number of integrations, not per ride. One to four integrations cost 3,820 COP with a personal Cívica card and 4,400 COP on a bearer card. The Metro does not publish what counts as an integration.
The user regulations prohibit objects exceeding 60 cm on any face, which rules out most checked luggage.
José María Córdova, in Rionegro, handles all international flights and moved 7,367,098 passengers in the first half of 2026. Olaya Herrera, inside the city, flies three domestic airlines to 37 destinations and operates only between 5:30 and 18:30.
Every route and node in this department, from the eastern reservoir towns to the Urabá corridor, is collected in the Antioquia guides.
About Voytara
Voytara publishes informational guides on how transportation works across Colombia, using figures taken from the operators and authorities that publish them. Every figure on this page was read from its issuer in September 2026 and is named with the body that published it. Where an issuer publishes nothing, this guide says so instead of estimating. Voytara does not sell transport services or operate tours.
