Medellin’s coworking scene is built for nomads
Most cities have coworking spaces. Medellin has an entire ecosystem. Within a few square kilometers you can find everything from quiet, corporate-grade offices with ethernet ports to buzzing cafe-coworking hybrids where you will make five new friends before lunch. The density of options means you never have to compromise: there is a space that fits exactly how you work, whether that means heads-down coding in silence or networking over Colombian coffee between calls.
I spent weeks testing the workspaces that Reddit’s digital nomad community actually recommends, and what follows is the unfiltered version. Some famous names disappoint. Some hidden gems deserve far more attention. If you are setting up your life in Medellin for remote work, your workspace choice will shape your daily experience more than almost any other decision.
Best coworking spaces
Selina / Socialtel (El Poblado)
The most famous name in Medellin coworking, and the most debated. Selina has rebranded to Socialtel, and recent reviews are mixed on whether the transition has been smooth. The coworking space itself remains solid: ergonomic chairs, a dedicated network separate from guest WiFi running around 20-25 Mbps up and down, and phone booths for calls. It is the most “plug and play” option for someone arriving with zero contacts who wants to be productive on day one.
The catch is noise. Selina is fundamentally a hostel, and the party energy bleeds into the workspace. The phone booths are often occupied, and people take loud calls at open desks. If your work requires deep focus for extended periods, you will find yourself fighting the environment rather than flowing with it. The best strategy, echoed across dozens of Reddit threads, is “live elsewhere, work here.” Buy a daily or weekly coworking pass, get the social benefits without sleeping through the 3 AM bar noise, then retreat to your quiet Airbnb at night.
Best for: Solo arrivals who want instant community and networking. First week in Medellin when you need a guaranteed desk and WiFi while you figure out the city.
Day pass: Around $15-20 USD. Monthly memberships available.
Semilla Cafe and Cowork (Laureles)
If I had to recommend a single workspace in Medellin, it would be Semilla. The concept is simple and effective: a cafe downstairs for socializing and casual work, and a dedicated coworking space upstairs behind a code-locked door with phone booths for calls. You get the community when you want it and the focus when you need it, all under one roof.
Semilla appears in virtually every Reddit recommendation thread about coworking in Medellin, and for good reason. The community hosts events, the layout encourages interaction during breaks, and the Laureles location means you are in the most walkable neighborhood in the city. The upstairs space is the real differentiator. Unlike cafe-coworking hybrids where “quiet area” means a slightly less loud corner, Semilla’s upstairs is actually separate and professional enough for client calls.
Best for: The nomad who wants both productivity and community. Long-term members who value routine and a home base.
Day pass: Around $10-15 USD.
Tinkko (Milla de Oro / Poblado)
For those who need a proper office environment, Tinkko is the answer. Located on the Milla de Oro (Golden Mile), the business corridor of Medellin, this is not a “nomad” space. It is a business center with high-end views, private offices available for daily rental, direct ethernet connections, and the kind of corporate polish that makes clients on video calls assume you are in a Manhattan office. If you are optimizing for productivity, Tinkko removes all friction.
The trade-off is obvious: zero community. People here are working, not socializing. If you need a space where nobody will tap you on the shoulder for a chat, that is actually the selling point.
Best for: Professionals with client-facing calls, people who need ethernet and private offices, anyone who prioritizes focus over networking.
Day pass: Around $15-25 USD depending on private vs. shared desk.
WeWork (Milla de Oro)
The global chain delivers exactly what you expect: fast internet, clean facilities, meeting rooms you can book, and consistent quality. WeWork in Medellin lacks the local community feel of spots like Semilla, but it guarantees the infrastructure. If you have used WeWork anywhere else in the world, you know exactly what you are getting.
Reddit nomads tend to view WeWork as the “boring but reliable” option. It is more expensive than local alternatives and attracts more corporate Colombian professionals than international nomads. But if your employer requires a specific type of business address or you need guaranteed meeting room availability, it fills that niche.
Best for: Corporate remote workers, people who need meeting rooms and business infrastructure, those who value consistency over character.
Circular Coworking (Laureles)
Formerly known as La Casa Redonda, Circular attracts more local Colombian entrepreneurs than transient tourists. If you want to network with the Medellin startup scene rather than the nomad circuit, this is where to go. The atmosphere leans creative, and the crowd skews toward people building businesses in Colombia rather than just passing through. It is a solid alternative if Semilla is full or if you want a more “native” professional experience.
Best for: Networking with Colombian entrepreneurs, a more local professional atmosphere.
Open Space (Poblado)
A creative coworking option in Poblado that balances professional desk space with a social layout. Open Space has large desks and a welcoming atmosphere. It works as a good “second choice” in Poblado if Selina is too chaotic and Tinkko is too corporate. The crowd is mixed: nomads, freelancers, and local professionals.
Best for: A middle ground between Selina’s chaos and Tinkko’s corporate formality.
Best cafes for remote work
Medellin’s cafe scene is strong, but working from cafes here requires a different approach than in most cities. The critical safety rule: always sit inside, never on a street-facing patio with your laptop visible. Snatch-and-grab thefts from motorbikes targeting people sitting near the sidewalk are a known risk. With that caveat, here are the cafes where remote workers actually get things done.
Pergamino
The most famous cafe in Medellin, and deservedly so for the coffee itself. Pergamino serves some of the best specialty coffee in the city with beans sourced from Colombian farms. The problem is that everyone knows this, so it is perpetually crowded and loud. The WiFi is decent for browsing but unreliable for video calls, and finding an outlet can be a competitive sport during peak hours.
Verdict: Great for casual email and the best coffee in town. Terrible for calls or deep focus work.
Cafe Zeppelin (Laureles)
A Laureles spot that flies under the radar. Zeppelin has a relaxed, quiet atmosphere with comfortable seating that does not destroy your back after two hours, which is rarer than you would think in Colombian cafes. The WiFi is reliable, and the staff is tolerant of laptop workers camping out. If you are based in Laureles and need a change of scenery from Semilla, Zeppelin is the move.
Hija Mia
Excellent coffee, hip atmosphere, and popular with both locals and nomads. The space is small, which means it fills up fast and can get loud. It works best for a morning session before the crowds arrive. Not the place for afternoon calls.
Urbania
Consistently recommended by long-term residents for having better WiFi stability than most cafes and a more spread-out layout that gives you some breathing room. If you find a corner spot, it works well for video calls, though you will want noise-canceling headphones regardless.
Hotel lobbies: the pro move
Here is a tip that experienced Medellin nomads swear by: work from hotel lobbies. Places like the Click Clack or Marquee have quieter environments, better air conditioning, and cleaner bathrooms than any cafe. You order a coffee, find a comfortable seat, and nobody bothers you. It is the closest thing to a “quiet cafe” you will find, because as one Reddit commenter put it, “there is no such thing as a quiet cafe in Colombia.”
By neighborhood
El Poblado
The highest concentration of options in the city. Selina/Socialtel for community, Tinkko and WeWork for corporate needs, Open Space for a middle ground, and Pergamino for coffee. The downside is gringo pricing across the board, steep hills between venues, and the tourist-heavy atmosphere. If you are based in Poblado, you will not lack for workspace options, but you will pay more for the same quality you could get cheaper elsewhere.
Laureles
The clear winner for the working nomad. Semilla is the anchor, but the neighborhood is full of smaller cafes where you can work comfortably. The flat terrain means you can walk between options easily, and the whole area has a more “work-focused” energy compared to Poblado’s social and party orientation. Cafe Zeppelin and several smaller spots along La 70 provide alternatives when you want variety. Circular Coworking is nearby for more formal needs. If you are in Medellin specifically to get work done as a digital nomad, base yourself in Laureles.
Envigado
Fewer dedicated coworking spaces, but reliable home internet and several quiet cafes. Envigado works best for nomads who prefer working from their apartment and only occasionally need a coworking space. The Metro connection means Laureles and Poblado workspaces are accessible when you need them, but the daily commute adds friction that Laureles residents avoid entirely.
Pricing comparison
Here is a rough breakdown of what to expect across workspace types in Medellin, so you can budget accordingly for your cost of living in Medellin:
Cafe (buying drinks/food): $5-15 USD/day. Sounds cheap until you add it up over a month. Three or four coffees plus a meal at a place like Pergamino runs close to the cost of a daily coworking pass.
Budget coworking (Semilla, Circular): $10-15 USD/day, $80-150 USD/month. Best value for dedicated workspace with community.
Mid-range coworking (Selina, Open Space): $15-20 USD/day, $150-250 USD/month. More amenities, bigger networks.
Premium coworking (Tinkko, WeWork): $15-30 USD/day, $200-400 USD/month. Corporate facilities, private offices, meeting rooms.
The math usually favors a monthly membership at a space like Semilla if you are staying more than two weeks. The ergonomic chairs alone save you from the back pain that Colombian cafe furniture will inflict, and the reliable internet removes the anxiety of wondering if your next call will drop.
Community and networking
Medellin’s coworking spaces function as real community hubs, not just shared desks. Semilla hosts regular events. Selina has built-in social programming. And the broader nomad community has created its own infrastructure that extends far beyond any single workspace.
The Parceros Community is worth mentioning. It is an activity-based group focused on alcohol-free networking: hikes, dinners, volunteering. It filters out the party crowd and attracts people looking for real connection, which is exactly what you want when you are trying to build real community rather than just collecting Instagram followers.
For tech professionals, the scene is surprisingly deep. MedellinJS, Python Medellin, and other language-specific developer meetups are active and welcoming to foreigners. These tend to be in Spanish, but code is universal. Ruta N, the government-backed innovation center, hosts startup events and pitch nights. If you are looking for people who share your professional interests, not just your travel timeline, Medellin delivers.
Gringo Tuesdays at Vintrash remains the biggest weekly social event, a language exchange that turns into a party. Even if that is not your scene, going once gives you a sense of the scale of the community here. Language exchanges in general are the single best way to meet both locals and other nomads. They work better than apps, better than “networking events,” better than anything else I have tried in any city. The connections flow naturally when everyone is already in a learning mindset.
Tips for working from Medellin cafes
A few practical lessons that will save you headaches:
Sit inside, always. This bears repeating. Never work from a street-facing patio with visible electronics. Snatch-and-grab thefts from motorbikes are a real risk, not a theoretical one.
Never leave your laptop unattended. Not even for a bathroom break. Pack up your gear or have someone you trust watch it. This is not like a cafe in Copenhagen where you can leave your MacBook on the table and come back to it.
Carry a mobile hotspot. A Claro or Tigo SIM with a data plan costs around $15-20/month and saves you when cafe WiFi inevitably drops during a storm. For important calls, tether to your phone as a backup.
Check upload speeds, not just download. Many cafes have decent download but throttled upload, which makes video calls freeze. Ask for a speed test or run one yourself before committing to a spot for the day.
Budget for a coworking membership. The math makes sense. Buying multiple coffees and food at a cafe every day costs nearly as much as a monthly coworking pass, and the coworking space gives you ergonomic furniture, reliable internet, and a professional environment for calls. Your back and your clients will thank you.
Use public libraries as a backup. The Parque Biblioteca system in Medellin is excellent. Libraries like Parque Biblioteca Belen offer silence, good WiFi, and beautiful architecture. They are free and underused by the nomad community. It is a great option for deep focus work when you need absolute quiet.
For more strategies on maintaining productivity while traveling, having a workspace routine is the foundation. Pick one primary spot, make it your daily default, and you will be surprised how quickly Medellin starts feeling like home base rather than a vacation.
Continue your journey
Finding the right workspace is just one piece of building a great life in Medellin. Here is where to go next:
- Complete Digital Nomad Guide to Medellin — neighborhoods, visas, safety, and everything else
- Medellin Cost of Living for Digital Nomads — budget your workspace spending in context
- Things to Do in Medellin — what to do when you close the laptop
- Coworking Spaces in Buenos Aires — how the other South American giant compares
- South America Digital Nomad Guide — the bigger picture for your continental adventure
- Best Cities for Digital Nomads — where Medellin stacks up globally
Find your people
The workspace you choose in Medellin is really a choice about the kind of community you want. The party-hostel coworking crowd, the quiet cafe regulars, the corporate professionals, the local entrepreneurs: they are all here, all accessible, all building something. The city has enough options that you do not have to compromise.
At HitchHive, we know that the best travel experiences come from the people you share them with. A great coworking space is not just a desk and WiFi. It is a gateway to the relationships that make a city feel like home.
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