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Medellin Historical Tour: Insightful Journey guided by Ex-Police SWAT Member Carlos
4.9
15 Ratings
Envigado
Join ex-police SWAT member Carlos Palau on a captivating historical tour of Medellin. Hear firsthand accounts of his pursuit of Pablo Escobar and gain insights into the city’s past and present.
Join ex-police SWAT member Carlos Palau on a captivating historical tour of Medellin. Hear firsthand accounts of his pursuit of Pablo Escobar and gain insights into the city’s past and present.
Duration:
4 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
-
Envigado - Visit Pablo
s hometown - **Cementerio Jardines Montesacro** - Learn about Pablos family and the black widow -
Placita de Florez - Visit Pablo
s final hideout - **Parque El Poblado** - Drive near Pablos building Monaco - Monasterio Santa Gertrudis La Magna - Visit Pabloâs private prison and enjoy the views from the so called cathedral
- Medellin - Learn about the old Medellin vs new
-
Envigado - Visit Pablo
s hometown - **Cementerio Jardines Montesacro** - Learn about Pablos family and the black widow -
Placita de Florez - Visit Pablo
s final hideout - **Parque El Poblado** - Drive near Pablos building Monaco - Monasterio Santa Gertrudis La Magna - Visit Pabloâs private prison and enjoy the views from the so called cathedral
- Medellin - Learn about the old Medellin vs new
What's Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Professional guide
- Local taxes
- Transport by private vehicle
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Professional guide
- Local taxes
- Transport by private vehicle
What's Not Included
- Food and drinks
- Gratuities
- Food and drinks
- Gratuities
Additional Information
Various tour agencies are attempting to emulate this intriguing journey through Medellin’s historical and contemporary periods, led by Carlos, a former police officer. Don’t hesitate to request his identification and full name, CARLOS PALAU. He was once part of the SWAT team pursuing Pablo in those days. Due to security concerns, Carlos moved to the…
Various tour agencies are attempting to emulate this intriguing journey through Medellin’s historical and contemporary periods, led by Carlos, a former police officer. Don’t hesitate to request his identification and full name, CARLOS PALAU. He was once part of the SWAT team pursuing Pablo in those days. Due to security concerns, Carlos moved to the United States, where he honed his exceptional English capabilities. Fast forward 30 years, Carlos has returned to Medellin and is now a father to two remarkable adolescents.
Medellin City Services® and Medellin City Tours© are sibling companies and are the sole providers of the exclusive service around the city guided by the former officer. For a fair fee, embark on a unique 4-hour tour with Carlos to uncover fascinating insider stories from one of the remaining witnesses of those turbulent times.
The tour will be an enriching educational encounter that reminds us what a society should avoid and who the true heroes should be.
- Dress code is smart casual
- May be operated by a multi-lingual guide
- The duration of transfers are approximate, the exact duration will depend on the time of day and traffic conditions
Location
Envigado
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.9
(15 Ratings)
5 stars
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1 star
161ladislav
Oct 23, 2021
Great experience, lots of things learned - Great experience! Very professional and forthcoming guide with loads of knowledge on the "Escobar period". I enjoyed it a lot, definitely think it's something special and worth the money.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tom_cv3023zp
Oct 3, 2021
City tour with cop Carlos - Had an awesome time with Carlos the cop, this tour is totally worth it
From start to finish we felt really welcome
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Stefano
Sep 7, 2021
Hear the true story of a policemen and search block member - It has been a great pleasure to meet someone like Carlos providing the context on what has happenend.
I feel that this is a great opportunity to hear first hand experience and story of how was it like during the challenging time of the narco traffic in medellin.
Listening to a policeman of that time it allows to give perspective that cannot be reached only via netflix or few documentaries.
Take advantage now that he is still around!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gini
Oct 30, 2019
Loved the trip with Carlos - Carlos picked us up as exactly the right time at our hotel and guide us through the Escobar-period with - obviously - a lot a knowledge.
We visited all the major sites that are still avalable and got a lot of interesting background from our friendly guide. It was a very interesting experience !
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Hellu27
Aug 26, 2019
Amazing! - Ex Cop Carlos picked us up at the hostel an we started our tour!
He provided us with so many informations and photos during the tour, spoke about his life as a cop during the Escobar time! Funny tour with Carlos! Recommend it!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ashuk86
Aug 18, 2019
Interesting, fantastic and amazing - What a fantastic morning we had with Carlos exploring the amazing, cosmopolitan city of Medellin. We loved visiting the different sites associated with Pablo Escobar, as well as listening the stories Carlos had. Another highlight was the visit to Comuna 13. A brilliant morning and would recommend without question. Thanks, Carlos!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Christina
Jul 13, 2019
Amazing day with Carlos Palau - We had a brilliant day with Carlos. It’s so interesting to hear the dark history from someone who actually lived it and put their own life in danger by becoming a police man. He’s very brave but very modest.
We’re on honeymoon so were dubious about taking a tour about bleak history, however, Carlos is a fantastic character so although there were lots of dark stories, he is very respectful, and there were many moments and light hearted insights into Colombian culture which had us laughing. We also laughed because my husband wore the most ridiculous tourist shirt and we made him take it off because he was embarrassing us!
I have a few friends visiting Colombia from England next year and I will be sure to send them Carlos’s way!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Victoriadeclety
Jul 11, 2019
Great experience with Carlos - Medellín is clearly not only about Pablo Escobar but we found it really interesting to know more about those dark years Colombia went through and especially by having a more realistic view of what happened during those years.
Of course you can watch Narcos on Netflix but having a guided tour with a ex cop that was fighting the cartel back in the time gives you a other perspective.
They are only few left to tell those stories since his fellows were simply assassinated by the cartel. “Every cop had a price to be shot” said our guide.
Don’t expect to see much of the remaining of house, labs, prison (la cathedral) where Pablo was but rather having a lot of stories from someone that came back alive from the conflict.
This is probably the only tour of Pablo Escobar that will give you that vision ! Thanks again for that emotional and interesting morning.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mctmase
Feb 22, 2025
The murk of Medellin - While visiting Medellin, it's hard to escape the shadow of Pablo Escobar. We were looking for a tour that would teach us more about the history, legacy and consequences of Pablo - without the Netflix glorification aspects, we were glad to find this authentic tour.
Our guide (Daniel) was extremely knowledgeable and explained the complicated dynamic of the Escobar history, with sensitivity to the people who were killed and/or negatively impacted, while acknowledging some still hold him in high regard due to some of the community projects he built. The tour was well organised, the guide spoke a high standard of English and everything was safe.
Why not 5/5?
Substitute guide - while Daniel was an excellent guide, we were disappointed that Carlos was unavailable on our tour date, this was not disclosed until after we had booked and paid. The tour company kindly offered a partial refund as compensation, however despite multiple follow ups with the agency and nearly a month after we completed the tour, I still have not received anything back.
Missing stops - our tour did not include all the stops mentioned in the listing, most notably we didn't visit Monasterio Santa Gertrudis La Magna (Pablo's prison), the helipad which is the main photo of this listing.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
122bal_zsb
Apr 3, 2019
Super tour with Carlos around the city and Escobar - We took part on the tour where we visited the main features of the city in connection with Pablo Escobar (the cemetery, El Cathedral - his privately built prison :), the place where Escobar was finally shooted, the Hacienda "La Manuela" which is located at Guatape) in the morning. In the afternoon we climbed up to La Piedra el Penol and the made a short walk within the city Guatape. We booked the tour especially with the ex-cop Carlos who was a very friendly and talkative guide. We were absolutely delighted with this tour, Carlos told us many stories related to Escobar and in connection with his professional career at the beginning of the '90s therefore we got a big personal insight that part of the history of the city. The trip was good organised, Carlos was always very helpful and after a tour he sent us many more information about the drog cartels, the "war" in the city and that old ages, which provided answers also to our questions. Carlos was very kind to take a lot of photos about us during the trip also. :)) It was a long, but interesting day with lot of salsa music which we heard in the car from Carlos' big collection, we liked that cultural part of the trip too. Thanks, every tour should be on this very good quality level, go ahaed! Best wishes!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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