Cocktail Bars & Speakeasies
in Medellín — The Real List.
Medellín's bar scene is more interesting than the club circuit suggests. There are craft cocktail bars where the drinks are the point, hidden speakeasies you have to know about to find, and neighborhood spots in Laureles that feel nothing like the tourist economy of Poblado. Here's what's worth seeking out.
Casa de Ruby — the speakeasy behind the ice cream shop
Casa de Ruby is the best-known hidden bar in Medellín, and one of the few places in the city where the discovery mechanic is the actual point. It's located in El Poblado — not behind a bookshelf or through a phone booth, but through a Japanese ice cream shop. You walk in as if you're there for ice cream, speak to someone at the counter, and you'll be directed through to the bar behind.
It's worth clarifying what makes it good beyond the gimmick: once you're inside, it's a genuinely well-run bar with good drinks and a crowd that skews toward people who specifically sought it out. Hidden venues attract a different person than street-facing ones — someone who heard about it from a friend, who made an effort to find it, who is there for the bar and not because it was the closest option. That filters the experience in a way that most Poblado venues don't.
It's also the kind of place that gets talked about — which in Medellín's highly social, highly transient foreign community means it spreads fast. If you go and it's genuinely good, you'll tell people. That's the best kind of recommendation.
The cocktail scene — what's actually developed
Medellín's craft cocktail scene has matured considerably in the last few years. The better bars are concentrated in Poblado and Laureles, and the ones worth going to share a few things in common: bartenders who understand what they're making, menus that make use of Colombian spirits (aguardiente, ron, local liqueurs), and enough repeat business that the operation has had time to get things right.
A note on Colombian spirits worth knowing before you go: aguardiente is the national spirit — anise-flavored, around 29% ABV, and deeply embedded in Colombian social culture. It's almost always drunk as a shot rather than mixed, but the better cocktail bars are doing interesting things with it as a base. Ron de Medellín is a locally produced rum that punches well above its price point. Ordering local rather than defaulting to imported spirits is both cheaper and genuinely better at most Medellín bars.
Laureles — the underrated bar scene
If you've been going out exclusively in Poblado, Laureles will feel like a different city. The bars around Avenida 70 and the surrounding blocks are less tourist-facing, less hustled, and often higher quality for the same spend. The crowd is a mix of Colombians and longer-term expats rather than tourists — which changes the atmosphere entirely.
The Laureles bar scene rewards exploration over research. Walk the blocks around La 70 on a Thursday or Friday evening and follow the noise. The venues that look like they're doing well usually are — Laureles doesn't have the same level of tourist-extraction operations as Poblado, which means a busy bar is busy because it's actually good.
What to order — and what to avoid
Order: anything with aguardiente if the bar does it well, Ron de Medellín, a limonada de coco (lime and coconut water, non-alcoholic but ubiquitous for a reason), local craft beer (Medellín has a small but growing microbrewery scene).
Be thoughtful about: drinks handed to you by strangers, rounds bought by people you just met, leaving your drink unattended at unfamiliar venues. The scopolamine risk in Medellín is real and concentrated at the drink vector. For more on this, see our scopolamine guide. The craft cocktail bars covered in this article are generally safe — this is more relevant to the club and tourist-bar circuit.
Rooftops — the evening layer before the night starts
The rooftop scene in Medellín is worth its own guide — and we have one. The short version: rooftops are best for the 7–10pm window before things move to bars and clubs. The view of Medellín from a rooftop at dusk is one of the better things about the city — the valley setting and the lights coming on across the hillsides is genuinely impressive. See our rooftop bars guide for specific spots.
The Owners Circle bar — what we're building
The venue Owners Circle is built around is a public bar and nightclub in Poblado — open to anyone, operating across the clock from brunch to late night. The bar program is part of the experience, not an afterthought. Members at Owner tier and above get 20–30% off house account purchases, which at serious cocktail bar spend adds up quickly.
More to the point: it's a place where the staff knows what they're making and knows who you are. That combination — a genuinely good bar where you're recognized — is what most people who've spent real time in Medellín are looking for and can't consistently find. That's what membership buys.
Yes — Medellín has a small but genuine speakeasy scene, concentrated in El Poblado. The most talked-about is Casa de Ruby, a hidden bar accessed through what appears to be a Japanese ice cream shop in Poblado. You order (or appear to order) at the ice cream counter, mention what you're looking for, and you're shown through. It's a real speakeasy in the original sense — not just a bar with a themed aesthetic, but a bar you have to know about to find. There are a few others in the city with similar hidden-entry mechanics.
Casa de Ruby is one of Medellín's best-known speakeasies — a bar hidden behind a Japanese ice cream shop in El Poblado. The entry mechanism: walk into the ice cream shop, speak to someone at the counter, and you'll be directed through. It's a genuinely good bar once you're inside — not just a gimmick. The setup means it stays relatively uncrowded compared to street-facing venues, and the crowd tends toward people who sought it out rather than people who wandered in.
Medellín's craft cocktail scene has matured significantly in the last few years, concentrated mostly in El Poblado and Laureles. The best options tend to be smaller, reservation-recommended spots with bartenders who take the drinks seriously. The cocktail menu at most good Medellín bars will feature aguardiente and ron as base spirits alongside standard options — worth trying rather than defaulting to what you'd order at home.
See our dedicated rooftop bars guide for the full list. The short version: Laureles has an underrated rooftop scene (look for the Piso 10 area), Café Primavera and Avocaria are both worth visiting. In Poblado, the Click Clack hotel rooftop is well-established and worth it for the view. The rooftop scene in general skews toward earlier evenings rather than late night.
Yes — Laureles has a quieter but genuinely good bar scene centered around Avenida 70 and the surrounding blocks. The bars in Laureles tend to be less tourist-facing than Poblado equivalents, which often means better quality and lower prices for the same experience. Worth exploring if you've exhausted the Poblado circuit or want a night that feels more like living in the city and less like visiting it.
A bar in Poblado where the drinks are good and the staff knows your name.
Members get 20–30% off house account purchases, free entry every visit, and a room that operates like a private club inside a public venue. For anyone drinking seriously in Medellín, the math is simple.
Membership starts at $149.