Mercado Del Parque was a gastronomic market in Medellín with about 14 restaurants and bars in a building located at the Primer Parque in Laureles but it closed in April 2021.
This food market was opened in September 2018. And Mercado Del Parque has several small format restaurants with a nice variety of cuisines available. But we confirmed in early May 2021 that this gastronomic market closed at the end of April 2021.
At Mercado Del Parque, food was purchased at the small format restaurants. And food was eaten at several bar-height and several lower tables, which are cleaned quickly and efficiently by the staff.
In addition, it’s was open for lunch and dinner every day. Also, the Smash Avocado restaurant there was open for breakfast. And it has a nice atmosphere and a decent variety of food and drinks available.
Mercado Del Parque in Laureles, photo courtesy of Mercado Del Parque
Food Options at Mercado Del Parque in Laureles
There were a total of about 14 food and drink places at this new food market in Laureles. Food options include Arabic, burgers, Colombian, Mexican, Peruvian, pizza, steaks, sushi and more. Also, there are a couple of bars.
Kebob House – Arabic fast food
Tasty’s – burgers in Mercado Del Parque
Antonella’s – pizzas
Criollo – Colombian comida típica
Gastronomic Market Competition in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley
There are now eight gastronomic markets in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley, each with collections of many restaurants in one location:
- Contenedores Food Place – reportedly opened in January 2014.
- Mercado Del Rio – opened in October 2016 and is the largest gastronomic market in Medellín with about 50 restaurants.
- Mercado Del Tranvía – reportedly opened in October 2017.
- Mercado Del Parque – opened in September 2018.
- Mercado Del Norte in Bello – opened in January 2019.
- Mercadillo de Aranjuez – opened in February 2019.
- Mercade de Sabaneta – opened in July 2019.
- Mercado La Colonia – opened in October 2019.
- 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. And Mercado Del Parque opened in September 2018 but closed in April 2021.
How to Get to Mercado Del Parque in Laureles
The easiest way to get to this gastronomic market in Laureles was using the Medellín Metro. To get there take the Line B metro to the Estadio metro station.
The Estadio metro station on Line B
Mercado Del Parque was located a minimum fare taxi of 5,600 pesos from the Estadio metro station. Also, you could walk, it’s about a 15-minute walk from the metro station to the Primer Parque in Laureles where this food market is location.
In addition, any taxi driver in the city will be able to take you to this gastronomic market in Laureles. Just say “Primer Parque en Laureles” and provide the address below.
Address: Calle 39D # 73-126, Laureles, Medellín.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/mercadodelparquemed/
Phone: +57 4 448 0440
Hours: Closed
Inside Mercado Del Parque in Laureles
The Bottom Line – Mercado Del Parque in Laureles is Closed
Mercado Del Parque in Laureles opened in September 2018. It was a popular location on the weekends before the pandemci. But during the week it was not as busy. We confirmed that the gastronomic market closed at the end of April 2021.
Mercado Del Parque was more of a local gastronomic market for people living in Laureles. In my opinion, it’s not really worth a trip from another part of the metro area to go to this small food market in Laureles, as there are larger gastronomic markets found in El Poblado.
Medellín and the Aburrá Valley now has eight gastronomic markets with a total of over 160 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 July 6, 2019 to add Mercado de Sabaneta in Sabaneta.
Editors note: updated on October 8, 2019 with information that Mercado Del Tranvía Envigado in Envigado is closed.
Editors note: updated on November 14, 2019 with information that Mercado Del Rio La Strada in El Poblado is closed.
Editors note: update on December 5, 2019 to add Mercado La Colonia in El Centro, which opened in October 2019.
Editors note: updated on January 3, 2019 to add Mercado De La Playa in El Centro, which opened in December 2019.
8 thoughts on “Mercado Del Parque: A Gastronomic Market in Laureles in Closed”
How is Mercado Del Parque faring due to the pandemic? Last post on their facebook was March
well, will find out next week. Already three of my favorite restaurants in Bogota have folded.
even before COVID, many Mercados failed.
We will try to find out without going but also reader reports help. So, let us know.
Only two Mercados failed before the pandemic. Mercado Del Rio La Strada – https://medellinguru.com/mercado-del-rio-la-strada/ and Mercado Del Tranvía Envigado – https://medellinguru.com/mercado-del-tranvia-envigado/.
Hi Jeff
I have a question. I was born in Barranquilla, Colombia. But raised in the US. I came to the US at the age of 18 months. I was included in my mothers passport along with my sister. Therefore we didn’t have infant passports nor cedulas. I became a US citizen when my mother became one in 1983. I have a US passport. I returned to Colombia to visit for 3 months back in 1992 using my US passport. Did not have any issues. However, I recently traveled to cartagena this month and at customs in Colombia I was asked for my Colombian passport and cedula. Since i was an infant when I entered the US I don’t have wither one of these documents. I was told that i need to get them or a letter renouncing my Colombian nationality. Ideally I would like to have dual citizenship since I’d like to retire in Colombian. So my question is how do I do this and can it be done in the US via the Colombian Consulete? Would appreciate any info you can share.
This is a question better for a visa agency. We have partnered with a visa agency and you can chat directly with this agency at the bottom right of this page: https://visasincolombia.com/
Great post-Jeff. We have eaten at a few of the places and our favorite is Smash Avocado for breakfast or lunch and the taco place next to Smash is a bargain!
Hi John and Susan, thanks. Agree about Smash and I need to try out the taco place.
Thanks for the post. Wow, now there are 7 gastronomic markets in the Medellin area. How many more will there be before the market is saturated?
Good question about market being saturated, probably won’t be more in El Pobaldo or Envigado. But they are popular so perhaps in Sabaneta or Belén next?