Mercado La Colonia: A New Gastronomic Market in Medellín

Mercado La Colonia is a popular gastronomic market in Medellín located in El Centro along the Tranvía tramcar line with 19 restaurants and bars.

This food market opened in October 2019 and it has several small format restaurants with a variety of cuisines available.

At Mercado La Colonia, food is purchased at the small format restaurants. And food is eaten at several bar-height and several lower tables, which are cleaned quickly and efficiently by the staff. Note two of the above photos are courtesy of Mercado La Colonia.

Inside Mercado La Colonia

This food market is conveniently located next to the Pabellón del Agua tram station. In addition, it has two floors with a nice atmosphere and a nice variety of food and drinks available.

This new gastronomic market is located near several theaters in Medellín in El Centro, including Teatro Pablo Tobón Uribe and Pequeno Teatro. So, Mercado La Colonia is a good place to go before or after going to an event at one of the nearby theaters.

Free co-working space on the second floor

Also, this new gastronomic market has free Wi-fi available and a free co-working space on the second floor with space for 25 workers.

Mexican food, one of many options

Food Options

Food options at Mercado La Colonia include Arabic, burgers, Colombian, Italian, Mexican, Peruvian, pizza, sushi, steaks, Venezuelan and more.

This food market has approximately 100 employees and reportedly has capacity for over 400 people. And they sometimes hold events here such as live music posted on their Facebook page.

Sushi, another of the many options

Inside Mercado La Colonia

Gastronomic Market Competition in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley

There are now nine gastronomic markets in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley, each with collections of many restaurants in one location:

1. Contenedores Food Place – reportedly opened in January 2014.
2. Mercado Del Rio – opened in October 2016 and is the largest gastronomic market in Medellín with about 50 restaurants.
3. Mercado Del Tranvía – reportedly opened in October 2017.
4. Mercado Del Parque – opened in September 2018.
5. Mercado Del Norte in Bello – opened in January 2019.
6. Mercadillo de Aranjuez – opened in February 2019.
7. Mercade de Sabaneta – opened in July 2019.
8. Mercado La Colonia – opened in October 2019.
9. Mercado De La Playa – opened in December 2019.

Mercado De La Playa in El Centro is the newest gastronomic market in the Medellín metro area that opened in December 2019. We also have a guide to the gastronomic markets in Medellín with all nine markets.

Some expats I have talked to thought the first gastronomic market in Medellín was Mercado Del Rio. But actually, the first gastronomic market was Contenedores Food Place in Envigado, which opened in 2014.

But Contenedores is a somewhat different format with several sit-down restaurants located in containers and not a big open warehouse space. In addition, Contenedores is smaller, as it has less than 10 restaurants. However, these are larger restaurants with separate sitting areas.

In addition, Medellín used to have another food market that is now closed. Manila Food Market opened in April 2017 in the Manila barrio of El Poblado in the Los Patios Hostel. But Manila Food Market was small with less than 10 restaurants. Also, it reportedly failed due to a lack of customers in this location and closed in less than a year.

Also, Mercado Del Tranvía Envigado opened in November 2018 in Envigado but reported closed in September 2019. So, it was open less than a year. And Mercado Del Rio La Strada opened in July 2018 but reportedly closed in October 2019.

Mercado La Colonia is on the tram line, photo courtesy of Mercado La Colonia

How to Get to Mercado La Colonia

This food market is located in El Centro. The easiest way to get there is by using the Medellín Metro. To get there take the A Line to the San Antonio metro station and then take the TA Tranvía tram line to the Pabellón del Agua station.

This food market is located on the tram line just east of the Pabellón del Agua tram-line station. And the Teatro Pablo Tobón Uribe and Pequeno Teatro theaters are nearby, both are less than a five minute walk from this food market.

This food market is just east of the Pabellón del Agua tram station

Taxis are other options to get to this food market from your location. Just provide the driver the address below.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/Mercado-De-La-Colonia-120414716021157/

Address: Calle 49 # 40-28, El Centro, Medellín

Phone: +57 321 819 8537

Hours: Sunday to Wednesday: 7:00 am to 10:00 pm; Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 7:00 am to midnight.

Mercado La Colonia

The Bottom Line – Mercado de La Colonia

Mercado La Colonia opened in October 2019 and this food market has already become popular since it’s located near a station on the tram line and there are theaters and a university nearby.

The biggest competition to this new food market is Mercado Del Tranvía, which is also located on the tram line a few stations away in Buenos Aires. Also, Mercado De La Playa is located about a 6-minute walk away.

Medellín and the Aburrá Valley now have nine gastronomic markets with a total of over 175 small format restaurants. Two are located in El Centro, one is in El Poblado, one in Envigado, one in Laureles, one in Sabaneta, one in Bello, one in Aranjuez and one in Buenos Aires. The eight Mercado markets are similar and Contenedores is a different format.

Furthermore, these gastronomic markets in the Medellín metro area are pretty popular. So, it is surprising to me that I haven’t yet found a similar gastronomic market in any other cities in Colombia I have been to.

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Editors note: updated on January 3, 2019 to add Mercado De La Playa in El Centro, which opened in December 2019.